When The Screaming Starts (2021): A Mockumentary on a Killer Subject (VOD Review)

Premiering at Frightfest last year as part of their First Blood strand, Conor Boru’s When the Screaming Starts is finally released on digital platforms through Signature Entertainment.

Boru co-wrote the script with Ed Hartland, who also stars as Aidan, an aspiring serial killer who becomes the subject of a documentary being made by Norman Graysmith, a “two-time award-winning” documentary filmmaker. The film takes on the mockumentary style as Graysmith observes Aidan and his girlfriend Claire forming their own Manson-like family of murderers and embarking on their first attack. Things go bloodily and hilariously wrong from there.

The film is a firmly low-budget, indie British film but has enough charm and originality to be more than just a British rehash of What We Do in the Shadows. A bigger source of inspiration is Ben Wheatley, particularly his earlier work Down Terrace and Kill List, in fusing British domestics with familiar horror tropes. The central couple of Aidan and Claire demonstrates this dichotomy perfectly with Aidan being a David Brent-like figure, pitiable in his lack of commitment, while Claire has stepped out of David Cronenberg’s Crash, (her and Aidan had even met at a hit and run), always armed with a camera to add pictures to her scrapbook of the dead and channelling Wednesday Adams in her deadpan deliveries to the camera.

They are just two of the many endearing cast of characters, particularly the family itself. Time constraints mean the characters mostly fall into set types but have enough roguish dimensions to avoid being simple caricatures, such as Jack, a fishmonger selling “fresh tuna in the tin” who spent time in Wandsworth for an unspecified crime but clearly can’t let go of his criminal background. Amy is the most developed of the family members, living on a diet of built-up frustration at her family who refused to tolerate her rebellious ways.

The other family members begin as shallow ethnic stereotypes but fortunately, have enough personality to avoid feeling like offcuts from a Little Britain sketch. The European twins, Victoria and Veronica, are charmingly eerie, flicking between dryly comic to menacingly imposing. Meanwhile, Masoud just wants to do yoga, with his lack of English understanding resulting in numerous misunderstandings. Even the interviewees who don’t make the cut are entertaining with special mention to the ever-neglected Mickey.

As you can gather, the comedy is played broad as is the horror, which may fail to appeal to some. I personally got on board with both aspects, particularly the central set piece at a dinner party. The film begins with news coverage of the slaughter that happened there and the scene lives up to the anticipation, especially as it twists the narrative in interesting directions. It is in this second half that Graysmith comes into further focus as his Louis Theroux wannabe persona is peeled away to reveal something darker, highlighting the question we should’ve asked from the beginning: what kind of person wants to make a documentary about someone becoming a serial killer?

There are clear shortcomings to the filmmaking and your tolerance depends on how patient you are with these sorts of low-budget British horror comedies. There are plenty of great lines and I’ll only spoil one from Aidan: “You don’t want people thinking you’re a terrorist when you’re a serial killer with no political affiliation.” The cast gets their teeth into the material which helps keep the film lively and watchable. Yes, it doesn’t entirely maintain the mockumentary style, but that’s hardly unusual, few examples from this genre ever totally commit. Having watched this with friends via virtual Frightfest last year and alone this year, it held up both times as a slight but entertaining take on the horror mockumentary which, alongside the recent Deadstream, is clearly becoming a genre on the rise.

When the Screaming Starts