A detective investigating a series of murders discovers that they are similar to the slayings that occur in the new script of a Hollywood screenwriter.A detective investigating a series of murders discovers that they are similar to the slayings that occur in the new script of a Hollywood screenwriter.A detective investigating a series of murders discovers that they are similar to the slayings that occur in the new script of a Hollywood screenwriter.
Rufus Butler Seder
- Edgar Allan
- (as Rufus B. Seder)
James M. Connor
- Nicky Blair
- (as Jim Connor)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis is the only projected ever made by Rufus Butler Seder. His multi-tasking functions includes direction, writing, editing, acting in the lead role, art-department, sound editor, and special optical effects.
- GoofsThe 'dead' drag queen blinks twice.
- Quotes
Al Weiner: *Jesus*, what happened to you?
Edgar Allan: Somebody tried to kill me.
Al Weiner: Now who would want to kill a talented kid like you?
[last lines]
Edgar Allan: [Having mentored an aspiring actress named Holly throughout the film] Hollywood. or Holly would.
- ConnectionsFeatures The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
Featured review
Stylish, clever and fun.
What I love about watching extremely obscure, low-budget movies is that, every once in a while, amidst all the garbage, a true gem is discovered; Screamplay is one such movie, a refreshingly original, wonderfully observed movie rich in style, with pitch-perfect performances from all involved.
Screamplay tells the story of aspiring oddball screenwriter Edgar Allen (played with relish by the film's director Rufus Butler Seder) who arrives in Hollywood hoping to make it big. At a diner, Edgar has a close encounter with a roller-skating transvestite mugger, but is saved by Martin (George Kuchar), owner of a cheap apartment complex inhabited by a disparate collection of characters, including an ageing actress (M. Lynda Robinson), her beautiful student (the lovely Katy Bolger), a wannabe agent (Ed Callahan) and a hippie guitarist (Bob White).
Martin offers Edgar a room to live in and a job as janitor; when not performing handyman tasks, Edgar continues his murder mystery screenplay, channelling his anger and frustration into his writing, using those around him as inspiration for his script's victims. But when the occupants of the complex start to turn up dead, killed in the same manner as in his script, Edgar becomes the prime suspect of Hollywood cop Sgt. Joe Blatz (George Cordeiro).
Shooting in black and white, director Seder employs movie-making techniques from the age of the silent movie—vignettes, back projection and crude optical trickery—giving his film the look and feel of a German expressionist horror or an early Universal film, the effect heightened by the exaggerated mannerisms adopted by his cast. Seder, as Edgar, is redolent of Dwight Frye from Dracula (1931) while Bolger looks just like those dusky eyed damsels that used to get menaced by mustachioed villains in cliffhanger serials.
Seder wraps up his mystery in great style, with Edgar writing himself into his script as the final victim as a way of finding out the identity of the killer. The best, however, is saved for the very end, the film closing with one of wittiest final lines I can remember (I won't spoil it for you—watch the film to find out!).
Screamplay tells the story of aspiring oddball screenwriter Edgar Allen (played with relish by the film's director Rufus Butler Seder) who arrives in Hollywood hoping to make it big. At a diner, Edgar has a close encounter with a roller-skating transvestite mugger, but is saved by Martin (George Kuchar), owner of a cheap apartment complex inhabited by a disparate collection of characters, including an ageing actress (M. Lynda Robinson), her beautiful student (the lovely Katy Bolger), a wannabe agent (Ed Callahan) and a hippie guitarist (Bob White).
Martin offers Edgar a room to live in and a job as janitor; when not performing handyman tasks, Edgar continues his murder mystery screenplay, channelling his anger and frustration into his writing, using those around him as inspiration for his script's victims. But when the occupants of the complex start to turn up dead, killed in the same manner as in his script, Edgar becomes the prime suspect of Hollywood cop Sgt. Joe Blatz (George Cordeiro).
Shooting in black and white, director Seder employs movie-making techniques from the age of the silent movie—vignettes, back projection and crude optical trickery—giving his film the look and feel of a German expressionist horror or an early Universal film, the effect heightened by the exaggerated mannerisms adopted by his cast. Seder, as Edgar, is redolent of Dwight Frye from Dracula (1931) while Bolger looks just like those dusky eyed damsels that used to get menaced by mustachioed villains in cliffhanger serials.
Seder wraps up his mystery in great style, with Edgar writing himself into his script as the final victim as a way of finding out the identity of the killer. The best, however, is saved for the very end, the film closing with one of wittiest final lines I can remember (I won't spoil it for you—watch the film to find out!).
helpful•20
- BA_Harrison
- Sep 17, 2017
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- Screamplay: Asesinatos anunciados
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- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 32 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
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