| Scared to Death | |
|---|---|
DVD cover art |
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| Directed by | William Malone |
| Produced by | Rand Marlis Gilbert M. Shilton |
| Written by | William Malone Robert Short |
| Starring | John Stinson |
| Music by | Thomas Chase Dell Hake |
| Cinematography | Patrick Prince |
| Editing by | Warren Chadwick |
| Running time | 93 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $74,000[1] |
Scared to Death, also known as The Aberdeen Experiment and Scared to Death: Syngenor, is a 1981 B horror/science fiction film directed by William Malone.[1]
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A monster stalks Los Angeles as a Bio-Engineered creature called a Syngenor (which stands for SYNthesized GENetic ORgansism) takes refuge in in the cities sewer system and then hits the streets at night in search of human spinal fluid.[2]
Wanting to become a director, William Malone decided to make a monster movie because it was the type of film one could get a lot of production value for very little money. He also had experience with monster designs as he had previously worked as a designer at a Halloween mask factory so he knew he could design the monster himself. In order to raise enough money for the film Malone had to sell most of his personal belongings including his car and mortgaging his house. After raising enough money he began building and sculpting the monster suit. Being inspired by H.R. Giger's design from the movie "Alien" he took 3 months to build the suit. During this process Malone began casting the film and surprisingly he originally cast actor/pop star Rick Springfield in the lead role. Springfield however called up Malone the night before filming began saying he could not be in his film because he was going to miss too many acting classes. Malone then called up actor John Stinson whom he remembered from an improv class and begged him to be in the film, to which he agreed. Filming began in February 1979 and the shoot lasted a total of 4 weeks, a rather long time for a low budget film.[1]
After filming Lone Star Pictures, a Texas based company, picked up distribution of the film and wanted the premier to be in Texas. Director William Malone agreed and flew to Texas only to be shocked that the premier was actually at a Drive-In theater. After the premier the first sale for the picture was to Malaysia for $90,000. They were already making a profit since the film only cost $74,000 to make.[1]
The film was released on VHS by Media Home Entertainment in the 1980s.[3]
The film was released on DVD by Retromedia Entertainment in 2010.[4] The title on the box art was changed to Scared to Death: Syngenor to show a connection to the film's 1990 sequel Syngenor.
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