Scared to Death (2024) Review

Fledgling filmmaker Jasper (Olivier Paris) has landed a gig as a production assistant to director Max Wolf (Lin Shaye) on upcoming horror film Dead House, only the job seems to have little in the way of perks and lots in the way of one-way belittling as Max shows Jasper who’s the boss in front of the production team. Max also takes the credit for Jasper’s ideas, one of which is to indulge in a little field trip to a long abandoned orphanage, where they intend to hold a séance.

Said séance is to be conducted by local realtor and horror fan Felix (Bill Moseley), who happens to be a big fan of genre icon and Dead House cast member Gregory “The Grog” Grogstone (Kurt Deimer) and is keen to offer his medium skills for a cut price in order to meet his idol. Jasper has also cut a deal of his own, negotiating a role in filming the behind the scenes footage at the deserted building after proving to Max that he can stand his ground when he really needs to. What could go wrong? It’s not like five orphans were found dead of fright there, seventy years ago. Oh, what’s that? Five orphans were found dead of fright there, seventy years ago. Ah, well…

Setting out as a haunted house horror, then veering into film making satire territory before turning back towards ghostly apparitions, possessions and things that go bump in the night, Scared To Death occasionally finds itself in its own, odd hinterland. Its premise – the spirts of terrorised orphans being raised after decades of slumber – would suggest hard driving horror but more often than not the proceedings are played for laughs (and you will almost certainly laugh). Even so, Paul Boyd’s film pauses the chuckles to deliver a handful of genuinely creepy sequences and, as effective as those are, I’ll admit I was sometimes caught between enjoying the scares and wondering about the tonal shift.

As predictable as it is for me to say so, Scared To Death’s trump cards are Shaye and Moseley, the former giving an expressive performance as the outwardly formidable, inwardly vulnerable Max (just don’t call her Maxine) while the latter plays against his usual type as the cheerful, decent – well, mostly decent – Felix. Having said that, having Bill Moseley play against type does raise the question of “When is he going to turn into a psycho?” and, of course, I’m not going to provide the answer to that.

With two horror stalwarts on the team, it would have been easily for the movie to fall back on them for the runtime but the focus is often on Jasper and Olivier Paris makes for an engaging, sympathetic lead, while much of the comedic duty is assigned to Deimer, whose portrayal of a genre staple is pleasingly gentle on the parody. The character of The Grog could have been an excuse for a series of increasingly stupid running gags but there’s emphasis on making him a rounded protagonist with fewer of the obvious thespian affectations about him.

Writer/director Boyd is a veteran of music videos, including one featuring a certain Shania Twain wandering the desert in a leopard print outfit. Unlike the title of that country/pop earworm, Scared To Death did impress me much. As you would expect from someone with Boyd’s background, the visuals are striking without being overly fussy and his screenplay, littered with film industry archetypes, suggests that he has no axe to grind but knows how to poke gentle fun at those he may have worked with in the past.

Scared To Death will find its people in those who enjoy a horror comedy whose increasingly daft developments conceal a darker and more chilling centre than you’d often find in movies of this type. Best enjoyed with a genre-savvy crowd, there are more than enough audience pleasing moments to carry it to an ending which doesn’t immediately suggest a sequel. Fun in the particular way that horror fans use that word, this is more than just a showcase for its topliners and continues the amusement into its end credits which throw in some further reference to the filmography of Dead House’s monster. After all, he is The Grog.

Movie Rating:

Scared to Death trailer