Somewhat Entertaining, Probably Not the Worst Movie Ever, But Be Warned, Very Gory!
The 1987 American anthology horror film From a Whisper to a Scream was given a U. S. theatrical release as The Offspring. Neither title really describes the film but they probably should have stuck with the original. The alternate titles made VHS and DVD releases confusing. The title onscreen is From a Whisper to a Scream.
This film is pretty grim. It starts with the execution of a female serial killer, Katherine White, played by Martine Beswick. A female reporter, Beth Chandler, played by Susan Tyrrell, then proceeds to visit the serial killer’s uncle, who raised her, Julian White, played by Vincent Price. He accepts no blame whatsoever for how Katherine turned out, but casts all responsibility on the town, Oldfield, Tennessee, and says he has proof it is pure evil, showing Beth four stories going progressively into the past, dating from a few years earlier to just after the Civil War, explaining that the town went bad at least by then and how it got that way. As always Vincent Price makes a great host.
I believe this just might be the most gruesome film I have ever seen, and I have watched Stephen King films including Creepshow, to which this might be most compared, as both consist of a series of stories with a linking narrative device. As Stephen King says, the finest emotion is terror and that's what he tries for. If he can't achieve terror, he goes for horror. If he can't achieve horror, he's not proud, he goes for the gross out. This film went for the gross out many times and achieved it to a remarkable degree. For a low budget offering the special effects were quite convincing enough.
In the second segment, a radio announcer reports the birth of Desi Arnaz Jr. (who a few years earlier appeared in another Vincent Price film, House of the Long Shadows). Desi Arnaz Jr. was born on January 19, 1953, while the story clearly takes place in the summer. Tennessee is not that far south that the foliage would be lush and green in January. This is one error on the part of the film of which there are probably others but with all the carnage going on, errors were the least of my concern.
Three of the four segments concentrate on misplaced trust, treachery, and fatal betrayal. The film manages to include a huge number of murders achieved by both conventional and paranormal means, occult rituals with Satanic overtones, voodoo curses, nudity, foul language, necrophilia, disfigurement and dismemberment, shooting, stabbing, burning, an axe attack, and a zombie attack. The second to last segment, about a 1930s creepy carnival, features the goriest death, with splatter all over the room. About the only things this film doesn’t get to are incest (although the first story features a strange and bizarre brother/sister relationship), animal abuse, and cannibalism. It seems almost pointless to mention smoking and drinking but yeah there’s that too. It has a well-deserved R rating. In most if not all of the segments there are either no survivors, or not in a condition to have reported events, leaving the viewer wondering whether this is a true history of Oldfield or whether part or all of it was fabricated by Julian White.
The last segment, the one set just after the Civil War, concerns a group of war orphans straight out of Children of the Corn who play the most twisted game of pin the tail on the Donkey ever. (As I say no animal abuse occurs...they use, uh...something else.) If I enjoyed any of the movie I think this part was the best. The boy who played the eldest and lead child was exceptionally good, fine-looking and a fine actor. I am very sorry I can’t praise his performance by name but the credits went by fast, I can’t find them elsewhere, and I’m not sure the character was mentioned by name. In the end credits a theater group local to where the movie was filmed in the American South was listed so it’s quite possible the children were locals who didn’t go on to appear in other films.
I would recommend at least 16+ on this gross spectacle which I wouldn’t have liked at 16. I spent most of Creepshow cringing in my seat with my eyes covered and I was over 16 then, but whatever. The cinematography and acting were fine and I wouldn’t call it bad but would recommend it with strong warnings. I watched it as part of my MGM+ subscription. It is not available for free and I am glad I didn’t pay extra to watch this.