Masquerading as a horror movie on Netflix, or in your local video store, is actually an ultra-low budget bondage flick called Kill The Scream Queen, that is literally filled from start to finish with bare-breasted starlets tied up, raped, and/or subjected to torture. Interested yet? Yup, I thought so.
The mastermind behind this project and also its star, writer, director and cameraman is Bill Zebub (Clever name, huh? Say it fast.), a New Jersey filmmaker who apparently has a cult following. He's bound to pick up a few more fans once bondage fans discover what's in this DVD.
Let me state right now that IMO, this is not a great movie. Maybe not even a good one. It's crudely put together, the editing is choppy, and the acting ranges from quite good to downright amateurish. Yet, once I saw it, I returned my rental copy and immediately ordered a new one for my own collection. This will be one that I'll watch several times.
The plot, which is really just an excuse for Zebub to tie up several women, is about unsuspecting B-movie actresses who audition for a filmmaker who tells them he's making a "snuff" movie, except he really intends to tie them up and kill them and release the footage as a DVD. They won't know that until it's too late.
The opening scene features a middle-aged blonde, Debbie Dutch, who gets tied topless to an X-frame, ballgagged, and beaten bloody with a chain by Zebub. The violence isn't as explicit as it sounds; it's mostly loud music, rapid editing and obvious fake blood, and even the butcher knife to the pussy scene is clearly simulated and only implied. I didn't find Debbie Dutch to be especially attractive, but fortunately after the first 4 minutes, she's gone and there's not a drop of blood glimpsed until the very end.
The next girl, Heather Taylor, is much more appealing. She's a cute redhead with a natural acting style who easily gives the best performance in the movie. Zebub ties her standing to the X-frame (onscreen), tapes up her mouth and cuts off her bra while she squeals through her gag.
When he next see her, the X-frame has been lowered to a horizontal position, and Heather is still tied to it with her legs spread wide. Zebub shows her a butcher knife and calmly explains that she can choose whether he will penetrate her, or the knife. He directs her to look into the camera while he goes through the steps of molesting and then raping her, and while there's no direct sexual contact shown, the scene works brilliantly due to a combination of Zebub's direction and Heather's frightened, tearful reactions.
Kerri Taylor (probably no relation to Heather) is the next to audition for Zebub. After a dull striptease dance sequence...only worthwhile to see her topless...she ends up on a table with her hands behind her (although she appears to be faking it, no ropes in sight) and her mouth duct taped. Zebub tells her he's going to fuck her and gets up between her legs to mount her, but nothing really gets shown, so it's kind of lame.
The next sequence, about 2 minutes long, shows a new girl (Isabelle Stephen) tied up in the shower with her arms over her head and cleave-gagged. She is topless and wearing a black garter belt. Nothing happens here except she acts scared for the camera, but she looks awfully hot doing it.
The actress known as Debbie D is featured next. Zebub interviews her at a bar for a role in the movie. She doesn't notice that he must have slipped something into her drink to knock her out. It isn't long before he is dragging her unconscious body across the floor.
He strips her down to her panties, straps a ballgag into her mouth and ties her spreadeagled to the X-frame, and again, we get to see the bonds applied onscreen. After blindfolding her with duct tape, he uses more of it to tape electrical cords to her body, winding the ends of the bare wire around her nipples. We know what that means. Oh yeah, baby!
A simple flip of the switch on the power strip makes her squeal loud and clear through her ballgag. Zebub decides to enhance things a bit, to fuck her while he's zapping her at the same time. He peels off her panties, and we do get to see some lower female nudity for the first time. The shock-rape is only implied, but it's still exciting.
The following sequence sounds better than it plays, as Zebub next leads a blonde girl (Sica) deep into the woods and ties her to a tree. He cuts off her bikini top and tells her that he plans to rape and kill her. Sica, an otherwise attractive girl, pretty much sinks this entire sequence with her lifeless acting, never once acting scared. Fast forward.
The actress Elena Kagan is the final girl in the movie. She allows Zebub to tie her to a chair as part of the audition. She protests a bit when he confesses he's a serial killer, but unfortunately, she doesn't give a real convincing performance. But she's so gorgeous I could live with it. Zebub cuts open a portion of her top to expose her boob, then tells informs her that she must suck his dick so that he can capture her humiliation on film. Although she doesn't want to, she does it without protesting, but it's filmed in such a way that you can't see anything sexual anyway. The film finishes with Elena supposedly biting down on his dick and him preparing to cut her with a razor blade while she's tied between two posts. Nothing real believable here.
Every review I've read on this film has been negative, but here comes the first positive one. It's not great art, and a lot of it doesn't work, but I admire the fact that Zebub made an entire film about tying up naked women and doing bad things to them. That's to be commended. It's a film with limited mainstream appeal, but fans of extreme bondage should be excited about this one. Most of the girls are cute, the ropework is generally quite good and a couple of the scenes are standouts. On top of that, the film has a low budget charm that endeared me to it. I wish he could have made it hardcore, but I'll accept the limitations of the genre he's working in.