10 Things to Know About 'Scream for Help' (1984) A Forgotten Bit of 80s Horror

10 Things to Know About Scream for Help (1984)

10 John Paul Jones Provided the Film Score

Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones broke into the world of film score working on the music for Scream for Help. Jones provided the full length score and all of the songs for the film’s soundtrack featuring guest appearances by his bandmate Jimmy Page and former Yes lead singer John Anderson.

9 Jimmy Page Got Jones the Job on Scream for Help

When director Michael Winner, known for his work on the Death Wish franchise, began work on Scream for Help, he turned to his neighbor, Jimmy Page to help with the film score. Page had provided the score for Death Wish 2. However, Page was busy launching his new super-group, The Firm and instead recommended his bandmate John Paul Jones who eagerly accepted the gig.

8 John Paul Jones’ Teenage Daughter Wrote One of the Soundtrack Tunes

15 year old Lucinda Jones contributed the lyrics for one of the songs on the Scream for Help soundtrack, with a little help from her dad. Lucinda’s lyrics became the song Silver Train which was sung by Yes lead singer, John Anderson.

7 Director Michael Winner Was Caught Up in a Tragedy Back Home in London during the Promotional Phase of Scream for Help

As Scream for Help was ramping up for release, Director Michael Winner had other things on his mind. Back home in England, Winner’s role as Chairman of the Police Memorial Trust became urgently important following the murder of Police woman, Yvonne Fletcher. Fletcher was killed while responding to a growing disturbance at the Libyan Embassy in London, one that would turn into a multi-day siege.

Winner pulled together celebrity friends from around the world, including Mel Brooks, Jack Lemmon, and Robert Mitchum, to make donations to the Police Memorial Fund that became a lovely stone memorial to Fletcher, the first of its kind honoring a Police Woman killed in the line of duty in England.

6 Director Michael Winner was Already Developing Death Wish 3 Before Scream for Help Hit Theaters

Scream for Help was barely in the can before director Michael Winner had begun planning Death Wish 3. As promotion was rolling out for Scream for Help, Winner appears to have spoken more about Death Wish 3 plans during interviews than he ever spoke about Scream for Help.

5 The Title Now has a Darkly Ironic Quality

During the Me-Too Movement, despite it being nearly 5 years after he’d passed away, Winner became a subject of a number of credible allegations, chief among them Dame Helen Mirren, an Academy Award winner who was the first of several women who claimed to have been sexually harassed by Winner during auditions for his films dating back to the mid-1960s.

This detail becomes even more relevant to Scream for Help as Winner joked about having to have the Chief of the New Rochelle Police Department in New Rochelle, New York calm the fears of parents when Winner showed up in town to hold auditions to find a 17 year old actress for a major role in Scream for Help. Winner laughingly recounted having the Police Chief reassure parents that he wasn’t a creep.

4 Lolita “Lorre” Lesheim Left Scream for Help off of her Resume

To say Lolita Lorre didn’t enjoy her time on the big screen seems pretty fair, she never made another movie after Scream for Help. She didn’t stop acting, she was a regular in the Off Broadway crowd and helped originate roles in shows that went on to become Broadway staples.

But how do we know she didn’t care for her work on Scream for Help? The blog A Scream in the Streets tried finding where Lorre went after Scream for Help and tracked down a resume she used on her return to the theater circuit. The resume makes no mention of her one and only film role.

3 Lolita Lorre Was Not Related to Casablanca actor Peter Lorre and Never Claimed to be

IMDB Trivia enjoys inventing anecdotes and claiming that actress Lolita Lesheim chose the name Lolita Lorre for her screen-name as a way to claim she was related to the legendary character actor is yet another of those invented narratives.

The simple answer is that Lesheim felt her real name was ‘too ethnic’ for helping her find work. She was a fan of Peter Lorre and borrowed his last name as a tribute. It’s also apt for Scream for Help as Peter Lorre was known for playing creeps and villains throughout his career, and Lesheim’s Brenda in Scream for Help is definitely a creep and a villain.

2 Director Michael Winner Said of the Film “It’s the Least Work I’ve Ever Done”

I’m being a little cheeky, Winner actually said this about the screenplay for Scream for Help which he claims he left mostly untouched from what screenwriter Tom Holland wrote. Winner only took the gig directing Scream for Help because he loved the screenplay and then he chose not to change a word of it as he brought it to life on screen.

1 Screenwriter Tom Holland Hated What Winner Did with Scream for Help

It is perhaps every screenwriter’s dream to hear a director say they didn’t want to change anything about the screenplay. But, for screenwriter Tom Holland, this dream was no dream at all. Despite director Michael Winner making no major changes to his script, it quickly became apparent to Holland that Winner didn’t understand what Holland had intended in the screenplay. Speaking about Scream for Help as part of the making of a Blu-Ray release, Holland, who went on to direct Fright Night, criticized Winner’s approach to the film as over the top, melodramatic,

According to Holland, what he wrote was a psychological thriller and that Winner “didn’t have a clue about suspense.” Winner pushed for needless excess from his actors leading to overwrought, overripe, line readings and heavily melodramatic staging. What was meant to be a slow burn suspense flick became melodramatic camp.

On the bright side, sort of, Scream for Help is remembered today because it is so campy and broad. So, there’s that.