Movie Review: When the Screaming Starts (2022)

When the Screaming Starts is a horror film written and directed by Conor Boru. It has some elements of comedy and is filmed like a documentary. It’s about a documentary crew who is following around a guy named Aidan (Ed Hartland). He and his girlfriend Claire (Kaitlin Reynell) are obsessed with death and serial killers. Claire likes to photograph death, and Aidan is determined to become a serial killer himself.

The film starts off with Aidan attempting to get his first kill, and when that plan doesn’t quite go his way, he decides to make a family of serial killers similar to the Manson family instead. This also doesn’t go according to plan, or it goes to plan too well, and things start getting out of control.

This film has a lot going for it. We initially thought this was going to be more like Behind the Mask where the film crew follows Aidan around as he kills people, but it happily took a few unexpected turns throughout the story that sets it far apart. The writing was pretty good overall and we were impressed with the pacing of the story. The character development was just enough without spending too much time on it, the plot and story were good, the dialogue was written well and just made sense, there were some comedic elements mixed in that were funny and well-executed, and the unexpected turns made it that much more interesting. The acting in this was also much better than anticipated. Most people had a decent amount of experience, but even those who didn’t have as much did a good job.

There was also a decent amount of gore in this with some nicely-done practical effects. The production department overall was fantastic. The lighting, cinematography, and sound were all great. It felt like a much bigger-budget film than it probably was.

Overall, we really enjoyed When the Screaming Starts. It really leans into a different take on a documentary-style horror film, and then even stabs that concept in the back and twists it, but in a good way. We would definitely recommend this to any horror fans out there looking for something new to watch, and we hope to see more from Boru and team in the future.

When the Screaming Starts is streaming on Screambox starting tomorrow, September 20th, which offers a 30-day free trial!

Check out the trailer below, and be sure to check it out!