Screamityville - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Screamityville



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:



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Movie
For the longest time Christmas was always seen as the holiday that sparked the most creativity, with the most rabid fanatics outdoing themselves to be “best in show” for decorations year after year. We’ve seen it lampooned and shown in movies for literally decades (Christmas Vacation anyone?) with families spending thousands, if not TENS of thousands of dollars upgrading their decorations and light shows to the point that they get noticed in national media, and have entire sub cultures centered around going to the biggest neighborhoods with the most decorations in them like they’re trick or treating, or visiting the Louvre. HOWEVER, there is one holiday that is probably almost as intense about the holiday, and probably spend just as much on their decorations. Yes, it’s that time of year for Halloween and the annual home haunters who deck their entire front yard (and often house itself) out in the creepiest and goriest decorations known to man. And I would dare to guess that the participants in said home haunting are as rabid, if not MORE into the holiday than the Christmas goers.

And in enters Screamityville, a short 84 minute ambient film that takes a look at some of the biggest and the best Halloween decorated houses all across the nation, shot using professional film crews and edited together. Now of course this review is not going to have a nuanced look at the subculture of Halloween or a huge film synopsis being that the entire 84 minutes is literally non dialog “ambient” imagery that feels more like it is a guided tour, or ambient fireplace like mood imagery than an actual film. And in that respect it actually does quite well. The film does a great job with the professional camera work to zoom in and focus on various creative decorations, while utilizing different wipes and cuts to make it seem a bit more cinematic.

If I had to be super nerdy and breakdown the quality of the houses shown, I would say it can be a bit mixed. Some houses are absolutely fantastic, with just the right amount of decorations and set pieces to enjoy, while a few of them feel overstuffed. Almost like they were just trying to outdo their neighbors instead of sticking with a particular theme or space things out properly. Probably my favorite house out of the entire batch would be the ones with the cavalcade of evil clown imagery. It’s a nice theme for those of us who have a serious clown phobia (I’m one of them...creeps me OUT).

I will say this though. While this is a cool little treat for people looking to pop this disc on as mood music/visuals for a Halloween party, I wish there would have been a bit more human interaction. Interviews with people who participate in the holiday decorating binge, or at least a narrator describing the areas and the like. It just feels like it left a little bit on the table and went for the lowest common denominator of simply filming and editing. But then again, that may not have been what the creators were going for.




Rating:

Not Rated by the MPAA





Video:
The film appears to be shot at night using digital cameras (I couldn’t find much info on the shooting style or resolution of the master, but I’m guessing 2K for the DI), and while shot at night, looks surprisingly clean and clear. I noticed a few artifacts like crush here and there, but overall it’s a nice looking image with contrasting orange/white/red colors from the typical Halloween motifs. Ironically the “clarity” of the image can be a detriment as you can see the molding seams and tape from where different decorations were pieced together or printed from. But other that that, things look nice, even if they never look like Planet Earth or nature documentaries that David Attenborough would narrate.









Audio:
The audio track is a simply 2.0 Stereo in lossy dolby digital 192kbps. Simple, concise, and kinda disappointing that we didn’t get lossless audio. It’s not the end of the world as the track sounds solid enough for a Dolby Digital track, and with just “mood music” as the only sound, this is more than enough. The audio choices are a mixture of creepy sounds and scores in a generic Halloween tone, with some actually nice LFE thrown in. When I processed the track via my receiver to get 5.1 out of it the mix really came alive, with a punchier LFE channel and a reasonable facsimile of surround sound. It’s not perfect, but it’s good for what it is and I have no real complaints.









Extras:

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Final Score:

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As a final wrap up for this thing, let me say that I really enjoyed Screamityville for what it was. One of those “play in the background as ambiance for a spooky Halloween themed party”, and I don’t really see it as being anything more than that. It’s one of those things that works well for background activity and I’d probably pay about $10 or so for it. Past that, this has a VERY limited audience and I understand why it would appeal to a niche audience. The Blu-ray that Borderline Media put out is solid in all regards, and due to their being no subs or dialog, the menu itself is stupid simple. Just a play button, and once the film ends it restarts instead of going to the menu. (apologies for the trailer below. I had to pull the trailer from MVD themselves as YouTube doesn't seem to have a copy online, and our software wouldn't turn it into a clickable media window like normal).


Technical Specifications:

Starring:
Directed by:
Written by:
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 AVC
Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0
Subtitles:
Studio: Borderline Media Group
Rated: NR
Runtime: 84 minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: October 14th, 2025

Recommendation: Background Atmosphere

https://customers.mvdb2b.com/media/play.php?s=MVD18849D&id=19700&TB_iframe=true&height=400&width=690++