Product Details

• Actors: Eric F. Adams, Marcelle Baer, Edrick Browne, Leanne Cochran, Thomas C. Daniel
• Directors: Steven C. Miller
• Writers: Anthony C. Ferrante, Jacob Hair
• Producers: Anthony C. Ferrante, Bobby Ranghelov, Courtney Solomon, Gregory M. Walker, James Portolese
• Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Lionsgate
• DVD Release Date: July 26, 2011
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B004Z2PLZS
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #37,235 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "Scream of the Banshee (After Dark Originals)" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Consider this an argument against good housekeeping: while poking around in their college's cluttered basement, an anthropologist (Lauren Holly) and her students unearth an extremely cranky head in a box, which proceeds to wreak some serious mythological havoc. Blood, eye-related violence, and a rather gnarly bit of business involving a lip piercing follow. As with many of the films produced for the SyFy Channel, this brisk horror film's ambitions are curtailed by a severe budgetary stumbling block, most notably during some medieval flashback scenes that appear to be shot in someone's backyard with balsa wood swords. On the positive side, while many films in this vein go for winking self-parody, director Steven Miller here plays things admirably straight, generating a decent sense of atmosphere and a few genuine scares. (The genial commentary track by Miller and composer Ryan Dodson detailing the numerous production problems makes what does show up on the screen seem fairly heroic.) While not exactly a case of a diamond in the rough, Scream of the Banshee stands as a promising genre effort, boosted by some nicely blecchy effects (the previously mentioned severed head is a nasty piece of work, especially when it starts hollering), and a too-brief appearance by horror legend Lance Henriksen, who appears to be enjoying himself mightily as a Southern-accented monster specialist. --Andrew Wright

Product Description

A college professor and her students discover an ornate box in the basement of their university. When they open the artifact, a bloodcurdling scream is unleashed. According to Irish lore, those who hear a banshee scream will die – which is what begins to happen as the creature comes for each of them.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars We All Scream For More Originality--A Decent Idea Executed in A Way That Seems Overtly Familiar May 9, 2011

By K. Harris HALL OF FAMETOP 10 REVIEWER

Format:DVD

I won't contend that "Scream of the Banshee" is a terrible movie, only that in the horror realm--it lacks anything to really distinguish it from dozens of other films in an overcrowded genre. Taking on a bit of Irish lore and unleashing the myth of the banshee upon a modern world seems like a solid enough concept. But aside from that scream, the banshee might as well have been a ghost or demon or nightmare boogeyman for it has no real consistent mode of terror. Sometimes it works in your mind driving you to insanity, sometimes it attacks you like a haggard Freddy Kreuger making your dreams a dangerous place, sometimes it is entirely corporeal wreaking havoc in a physical manifestation. The whole thing just seems ill conceived and only moderately thought out. The logic derives from the fact that if you hear the scream, it will kill you--after that, the movie makers tend to adopt an anything goes mentality. That might be forgiven if, again, the kills had a creativity or innovation that seemed fresh. But you've seen this movie before in various forms with various beasts, and there's just not much new here.

Headed by Lauren Holly, a team of academics uncover a mysterious box in the school's archives. It has been brought to their attention by a former scholar who seems to have bought a one way ticket to crazy-ville (an underutilized Lance Henrickson). The banshee reveal is the film's biggest moment and its first cry after being released has a pleasingly eerie effectiveness. However, from here on out--the picture plays out precisely as you would expect. Anyone exposed to the initial scream or a recording of it are dispatched in an entirely random order in entirely random methods. Is it real, is it a hallucination, is it both concurrently? In truth, it really doesn't matter. The final confrontation will bring the survivors together and, in reality, is a bit of an anticlimax.

Holly, who I like at times, has little to work with here. As the film spends little time investing in its characters, it's hard to muster much concern about who dies or lives. The film feels so generic and familiar in the long run, I just wished something (anything) would have connected more vividly. I didn't hate "Scream of the Banshee"--it might be pleasant enough for a singular viewing. I doubt, however, it will inspire many to recommend it as must-see entertainment. Passable, if unimaginative, addition to the horror film canon that is easy to watch but just as easy to forget. KGHarris, 5/11.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Screaming for it to end October 28, 2011

By HAUNTRESS

Format:DVD

I gave this movie two stars for the first 20 minutes. After that it seemed to me to become a mish-mosh into unoriginal horror fluff. Feh.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars IT'S IN SECTION 3 August 27, 2011

By Michael TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:DVD

The opening scene has a group of "knights" chasing a woman on horseback, 1188 AD. She is dressed in white with a long flowing red cape. The color contrast is excellent. They managed to skewer the woman, who falls off her horse. The men move closer, and to my surprise she arises and they begin combat. One of the knights uses a special box to entrap the banshee, one with special markings, like a large "Hellraiser" puzzle box. At this point I am hooked as the movie shifts to modern times.

A college professor (Lauren Holly) and her students are at work cataloging items when they come across the box and try to decipher the markings. At this point the plot isn't tough to figure out. They open the box, the banshee screams, all who hear it must die, starting with the black guy. yadda yadda yadda. Eventually someone figures out how to get the genii back in the bottle and it is just a matter of who lives, who dies, the peripheral subplots, and special effects that either make or break the movie.

The attacks are a combination of real and psychological, so you never know what is happening. The professor gets stabbed by the banshee, but doesn't die as it wasn't "real" but has marks from the attack, which BTW are not in the same alignment (the blades marks are perpendicular) as the weapon that caused them.

The acting was so-so. Marcelle Baer, who played Lauren Holly's daughter was Kristen Stewart bad and perhaps the worst in the lot. There is a rift between her and her mom which was never fully developed, as none of the characters were developed.The plot holes along with a weak and predictable plot are the downfall of this film...That and the ending they stole from Indiana Jones.

No f-bombs, no nudity, one love scene.