Screamtime

Screamtime is a 1983 British-American horror anthology film directed by Michael Armstrong and Stanley A. Long (dually credited as Al Beresford), written by Armstrong, and starring Jean Anderson, Robin Bailey, Dora Bryan, Ann Lynn, Yvonne Nicholson, Ian Saynor, and David Van Day. It was produced by Peter Long and Stanley A. Long. Presented as an anthology with a wrap-around story, the film opens with a pair of young men stealing three videotapes, which happen to each contain a tale of terror. The first story is about an evil puppeteer, the second is a haunted house story, and the third is about a caretaker in a haunted garden.

The films second segment, "Dreamhouse", was remade and expanded to a feature-length film in 2010 as Psychosis, starring Charisma Carpenter.

Plot
Two young men enter a video store and steal three videotapes, which they take to a friend's house to watch. The three stories include "Killer Punch", about a puppeteer (Robin Bailey) slowly drawn to homicidal insanity by his nagging wife (Ann Lynn) and stepson (Jonathon Morris), "Dreamhouse", about a young newlywed couple (Ian Saynor and Yvonne Nicholson) whose lives are turned upside down when the wife begins having increasingly disturbing premonitions, and "Garden of Blood", the tale of a young man (David Van Day) who becomes a handyman of a house owned by two women (Dora Bryan and Jean Anderson) with the intention of robbing them, without knowing that the house has a garden protected by gnomes and fairies. The wrap-around story sees the men change the videotapes out for each segment, with a twist ending.

Cast

 * Robin Bailey as Jack Grimshaw
 * Ann Lynn as Lena
 * Ian Saynor as Tony
 * Yvonne Nicholson as Susan
 * David Van Day as Gavin
 * Dora Bryan as Emma
 * Jean Anderson as Mildred
 * Vincent Russo as Ed
 * Marie Scinto as Marie
 * Dione Inman as Suzy
 * Bosco Hogan as Doctor
 * Lally Bowers as Mrs. Kingsley
 * Veronica Doran as Miss Burns
 * Jonathon Morris as Damien
 * Matthew Peters as Tim
 * Phillip Bloomfield as Colin
 * Gary Linley as Frank
 * Michael Gordon as Bill
 * Brenda Kempner as Woman
 * Kevin Smith as Shop Owner
 * John Styles as Punch Voice
 * Kim Thompson as Lady Anne

Reception
AllMovie stated: "The real gem here, though, is "Scream House" [Dreamhouse], a truly unsettling tale that unfolds at a perfectly creepy pace and boasts a simple but surprising twist ending." But felt that "the American sequences that glue the three stories together could have been tossed off in an afternoon, but they do offer some entirely unnecessary nudity and boneheaded Brooklynese that should amuse slumming horror fans who give Screamtime a chance. Conversely, TV Guide singled out the film's final story, "Garden of Blood", as the film's best, but concluded there is "not a shock or scare to be found anywhere."

Bloody Disgusting wrote: "There is no denying this anthology feels like a quick money grab. Yet, even as low-cost as the film comes across, the content itself is for the most part entertaining and not as uneven as other slapdash compilations that cropped up later. What Screamtime lacks in budget it makes up for in charm." They also praised the film's approach to the wrap-around segment: "As is custom with nearly all anthologies containing a wraparound, the main characters are never safe regardless of their distance from the featured stories. However, Armstrong and Long's film takes an innovative approach to how Ed, Bruce, and Marie come upon these cursed videos and meet their doomed fates. It all feels like a precursor to more recent anthologies, such as V/H/S."

Screen Rant called it a "charming British offering", and included it in their list of "10 Underrated 1980s Horror Movies", stating: "As with many horror anthologies, the quality ebbs and flows, but Screamtime is overall a good time."

Home video
The film was originally released on VHS in 1985 by Lightning Video in the United States. As of 2024, it has yet to be officially released on DVD or Blu-ray, but can be streamed on Amazon Prime Video.