Jeanne Crain comes home to find her preacher husband (Alex Nicol from The Screaming Skull) has been crucified by some religious fanatics. She testifies in court and the nuts are put behind bars. While babysitting one night, she begins receiving threatening phone calls, and eventually, she and a quartet of kids (children of the judge who sentenced the Jesus freaks) are plagued by attacks from a hooded figure bent on revenge.
The Night God Screamed is novel in that the killers aren’t Satanists but Jesus freaks. It’s a clever enough twist to make it memorable, but the execution isn’t strong enough to make it worth watching. The opening scenes of the gonzo cult leader butting heads with Nicol are well done. However, the ensuing courtroom drama is kind of lethargic and takes some of the wind out of the movie’s sails.
The film switches gears in the second half when it becomes a home invasion thriller. The skull the killers leave hanging as a warning to Crain is pretty cool looking, but it’s kind of all downhill from there. The constant bickering between Crain and the bratty teens she’s protecting quickly grows tiresome, and the cat and mouse suspense scenes are drawn out and lack punch. The twist ending is OK. However, it's less successful when it tries to toss in yet another twist in there at the last second. It just doesn’t quite work as it feels rushed, sloppy, and unfinished.
Of course, this was trading in on the Manson hysteria. Director Lee (The Manhandlers) Madden’s direction is much too staid to make for a crackling thriller. I dug the ‘70s vibe and all, but the pacing is much too slow and the highlights too few to make it worth a look. I guess we can give it points for doing the whole Babysitter in Peril thing before Halloween made it a cliché.
The Night God Yawned was more like it.
AKA: Scream.
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