The Night God Screamed Reviews

Drug-addled hippie Christians decide that a friendly small-town preacher is a corrupt stooge for the "pigs" and murder him in a twisted blood ritual. The victim's wife witnesses the act but is too frozen by fear to help in time. Her testimony in court leads to a guilty verdict, and the Jesus freaks vow vengeance against her for squealing. The devastating experience renders the widow nervous and withdrawn, but she agrees to babysit the presiding judge's teenage children for a long weekend. The teens aren't happy about her presence, and soon sinister hooded figures are haunting the woods and making threatening phone calls. Has the widow drawn a psychotic religious cult to their door? The Night God Screamed is an effective thriller that builds a quiet tension throughout, but stumbles with a weak "twist" ending. As the stalked widow, Jeanne Crain finds the perfect tone, playing the character's guilt as openly as her fear. Most of her co-stars are professional standard, although co-screenwriter Dan Spelling bludgeons each line in his role as a confrontational teenager, and in an attempt to play a Manson-esque cult leader, Michael Sugich hams hard enough to be a silent-era actor. The Night God Screamed can't entirely live up to its florid title, but there are some reliable chills along the way, redeeming it from complete inertia.