The Night God Screamed (1971)

There's a murderous Manson-like Jesus freak cult, following the unibrowed Jesus-lookalike Billy Joe and his enforcer, the hooded cross-toting Atoner The followers are hippy-dippy teenagers with motorcycles.After the preacher husband of the female lead doesn't let them rob his donations without a few words, he's crucified and stabbed by them. His wife, who did not have a particularly stable mind to begin with, becomes more unhinged. Three of the cultists are put on death row, but The Atoner remains unidentified and free, as do the other cultists who weren't there at the robbery.A judge invites the preacher's wife to babysit his four teenagers, not wise as she flipped out even more after being threatened with "vengeance" by the cultists after the trial. From there, it becomes a tale of a home invasion, mostly. I don't share the high admiration of the other raters, but it's not bad.

This unimaginably obscure gem of horror perfectly epitomizes why I, and surely many regular members of this website with me, absolutely worship the 70's decade! "The Night God Screamed" is genuinely creepy without there being much of a budget for make-up effects, the concept is very original and I even daresay unique, the tone throughout the whole film is devastating and grim, the acting performances are far better than they have any right to be and – even though it didn't even need one – the script provides a very clever and almost unpredictable twist near the end. Quite a number of 70's horror movies revolved on satanic cults and devil worshiping ("Enter the Devil", "The Devil's Rain", "Race with the Devil"…), but this film centers, or at least partially centers, on the members of a fanatic Catholic movement and I assure you these Jesus freaks are equally uncanny as Satanists; if not uncannier. Billy Joe, a self-acclaimed prophet oddly resembling Jesus Christ himself, and his herd of brainwashed disciples crucify a preacher before the eyes of his poor and defenseless wife Fanny. The woman testifies in court and the culprits are sentenced to death, but naturally not before Billy Joe swears he'll avenge himself. A certain time later, Fanny becomes stalked and terrorized by religious maniacs, not coincidentally whilst she's babysitting the (adolescent) kids of the judge that sentenced the verdict. In case of movies like "The Night God Screamed", the lack of budget is actually the biggest trump. Director Lee Madden obviously searched for different ways to create suspense and an atmosphere of disturbance, other than the usual visual shocks effects and grisly murders, and he definitely succeeded! The remote rural settings are sublime, the music is chilling and all the characters are terrifically cast. Jeanne Crain is excellent as the dame in distress and especially the Jesus freak dude is supremely eerie. But, undeniably, the biggest triumph here remains the simple yet effective story. "The Night God Screamed" doesn't rely on zombies, vampires or supernatural phenomena. The menace here comes from seemingly normal human beings, with their unpredictable moves and dark twisty minds. It's a truly great film, and I know it's difficult to track down, but luckily enough the people looking for this type of cinematic gold are very persistent.

The Night God Screamed, despite the interesting title, is not a very well known horror film; whether or not that's just down to poor distribution I don't know, but what we have here is an interesting and well made little seventies gem in the exploitation vein, though preceding a lot of the better known entries such as Wes Craven's The Last House on the Left. The title made me expect some sort of religious themed horror movie, but actually religion only plays a minor part in the movie and the movie is actually more of a creepy horror flick with exploitation themes. The main player is a preacher's wife who testifies against a fanatical religious group when they crucify her husband. Time goes by and the judge who put members of the group away invites the woman to look after his kids while he and his wife go on holiday. He gives the kids strict instructions not to leave the house while under her care; which doesn't go down well considering they're all teenagers. The situation gets worse still when they start being terrorised by a bunch of unknown attackers...The Night God Screamed is a slow burning horror movie that doesn't utilise high amounts of gore and violence but delivers its scares through atmosphere and tension. The film has a real gritty feel to it and this bodes well with the dark plot line. The film stars Jeanne Crain in the lead role. She's not the usual horror movie star, but she does well among a cast of lesser actors and helps to ensure that the film is always interesting. The main bulk of the film focuses on the main characters trapped inside a house and this section of the film is tense throughout. Some of the scenes leading up to the finale are not all that interesting, but the film never actually becomes boring. The ending is decent and the twist does make sense, although it's not exactly impossible to guess. It is a shame that this film is so obscure because I'm sure that a lot of horror fans would enjoy it; somehow, however, I can't see it getting a DVD release any time soon. If you can find a copy of this movie, it is well worth getting hold of.

Great early 1970's "shocker"...if you are a fan of "Don't Look in the Basement", "Last House on the Left", or various late-night cheapie thrillers. The double shock ending on this one, is surprising and chilling! I'm surprised this movie is not well known by Psychotronic movie fans. The plot is original enough, the cast is a mixture of battle-worn old people and "blah" newcomers. The family / "teens" that Jeanne Craine goes to babysit for...are too old, and all the same age! This movie moves quite well (no boring parts) I think the producer was responsible for the equally obscure and weird 1973 movie "The Baby" (which also has a shock ending). Not on DVD, I had to buy the VHS on E-Bay. Look for this! "The Night God Screamed" must have played at drive ins at one point.