My review was written in December 1985 after a screening at UA Twin theater in Manhattan.
"Scream" is one of the crummiest horror films made during the late, unlamented boom of five years ago. Shot in 1981 under the title "The Outing", pic was briefly released in Florida in 1983 and has just bowed in New York.
Filmmaker Byron Quisenberry uses the hoary formula of several folks out hiking for the weekend at a remote western ghost town, where they are killed off one by one. Most of the killings occur offscreen (with sound effects) and the killer is never shown. What makes the film so bad is that Quisenberry does not include any interesting incidents between killings. All there is consists of people wandering around foolishly in the dark or sitting around moping (they're 30 miles from the nearest town and unable to get help).
Tedious exercise in minimalist horror is not helped by poor acting and sluggish editing. The only interesting moment comes when after an hour Woody Strode rides into town on horseback out of a mist, styled like his Western persona from John Ford and Sergio Leone films. He cryptically regales the confused cast with a tale of his exploits 40 years ago as a sailor, rides out of town, and then comes back to save the day with a well-timed rifle shot.
Final explanation scene is completely bungled, with unintelligible voice-over narration and panning camera over to a 1891 sea captain's portrait which attempts to connect the murders with Strode's seafaring story.