Scream Bloody Murder 1973
Directed by
Marc B. Ray
Made by
University Film Company
Scream Bloody Murder Plot Summary
Read the complete plot summary and ending explained for Scream Bloody Murder (1973). From turning points to emotional moments, uncover what really happened and why it matters.
Matthew Fred Holbert is a boy whose life is brutally shaped by a tragedy: as his father works on a tractor, the boy accidentally starts it and fatally injures his father, while his own left hand is mangled in the process. This traumatic event lands him in a psychiatric hospital, where doctors replace his ruined limb with a hook. Eighteen years later, Matthew is released and returns home to find that in his absence his mother has married a neighbor, Mack Parsons, Robert Knox. The new family setup unsettles him, and he wrestles with disturbing, incestuous feelings toward his mother even as he recoils from sex. In a furious act born of jealousy and rage, he murders Mack Parsons with an axe. When his mother discovers the crime, a heated argument ends with her knocked to the ground and dying after striking her head on a rock.
The next morning, a distraught Matthew hitches a ride with a young couple, whom he murders in rapid succession: he beats the man’s head with a rock and drowns the woman in a roadside stream. He drifts into a town where he encounters Vera, a painter and prostitute who Leigh Mitchell reminds him of his mother. Vera becomes the central fixation of his disturbed mind, and his obsession grows ominously as he fixes on her. His passion boils into violence when he slits the throat of one of her clients, a drunken sailor, Ron Bastone in a fit of jealousy.
Seeking to bind Vera to a life with him, Matthew bluffs his way into a mansion where he brutally murders the owner by smothering him with a pillow, hacks the maid to death with a cleaver, and even beheads the pet dog. He eventually brings Vera to the mansion, but she resists his attempts to control and possess her, prompting him to imprison her. He also bluntly brutalizes a visiting doctor, who had come to check on the owner, while Vera watches the horrifying scene. Vera senses his deep-seated discomfort with sexuality and uses it to her advantage, coercing him into an attempted sexual encounter. While he is momentarily distracted, she stabs him with a loose door hook and tries to escape; Matthew catches her and rips her throat out with his hook.
With Vera dead, Matthew’s grip on reality unravels completely. He runs through the town, haunted by visions of his victims, until he breaches a church. Surrounded by the phantoms of those he killed, he ends his own life with a fatal strike of his hook.
Scream Bloody Murder Timeline
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Childhood tractor accident and hospitalisation
As a child, Matthew starts his father's tractor and accidentally kills him. He also cripples his own left hand in the process. He is placed in a psychiatric hospital, where his mangled limb is replaced with a hook, signaling a permanent break from ordinary life.
Release at eighteen and return home
At eighteen, Matthew is released from the asylum and returns to his family home. He finds that his mother has remarried their neighbor Mack Parsons during his absence. He harbors incestuous feelings for his mother despite his aversion to sex, a tension that already distorts his view of family life. His return unsettles the town and foreshadows the violence to come.
Murder of Mack Parsons
Matthew immediately dislikes Parsons and murders him with an axe in Parsons' home. The killing marks his first adult murder and cements his isolation from others. He returns to the house where he grew up without showing any remorse.
Murder spree begins: couple by the road
The following morning, Matthew hitches a ride with a young couple and kills them. He beats the man’s head with a rock and drowns the woman in a roadside stream. The brutal spree demonstrates his escalating willingness to kill indiscriminately.
Meeting Vera in town
Matthew reaches a town and meets Vera, a painter and prostitute who reminds him of his mother. He becomes obsessed with her, and his fixation deepens as he drifts further from sanity. Vera's presence pulls him further into a dangerous path.
Murder of a client: jealousy act
In a jealous rage, Matthew slits the throat of one of Vera’s clients, a drunken sailor. The murder reinforces his control over Vera and signals a descent into even greater brutality. This act foreshadows the coercive violence he will wield later.
Bluff into a mansion and murder of owner and staff
Matthew bluffs his way into a mansion, smothers the owner with a pillow, and hacks the maid to death with a cleaver. He even beheads the owner's pet dog, showing no mercy for anything or anyone. The mansion becomes a stage for his escalating assault.
Prisoner of Vera at the mansion
He brings Vera to the mansion, but she refuses to share his dream of a new life there. She is kept prisoner as he tries to impose his control over the house and its inhabitants. The situation reveals his increasingly fragile grip on reality.
Vera uses his fear of sexuality to her advantage
Realizing his aversion to sexuality, Vera uses the moment to push him toward intimacy and asserts her own autonomy. She stabs him with a loose door hook and tries to escape while he is distracted. The confrontation ends with the threat of violence looming over them.
Murder of Vera
Matthew catches Vera during her escape attempt and rips her throat out with his hook, killing her. The murder marks the final collapse of his humaneness and solidifies his transformation into a completely unhinged killer.
Descent into madness and pursuit
With Vera dead, Matthew becomes completely unhinged and runs through town, haunted by hallucinations of his victims. The phantoms chase him down the streets as his grip on reality slips away.
Final act in the church
Matthew breaks into a church, surrounded by phantoms, and uses his hook to kill himself. The final act is a suicide born of madness, sealing his descent from a broken psyche.
Scream Bloody Murder Characters
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Matthew (Fred Holbert)
A deeply disturbed killer whose acts stem from a twisted need for control and a fear of sexuality. After his hand is replaced with a hook, his capacity for violence grows, and he methodically pursues victims with brutal resolve. His mind fractures under trauma, jealousy, and isolation, fueling a relentless spree.
Young Mathew (J.M. Jones)
From a traumatic childhood scene—where a fatal accident with a tractor sets his path toward violence—Young Mathew carries the seeds of his later cruelty. The event marks the beginning of a troubled trajectory that leads to institutionalization and eventual release.
Vera / Daisy Parsons (Leigh Mitchell)
A painter and prostitute who catches Matthew's eye and becomes the focus of his obsessive fixation. She senses his limitations and turns his fear of sexuality to her advantage, entering a dangerous power dynamic before attempting to escape.
Mack Parsons (Robert Knox)
The neighbor who marries Matthew's mother, representing a normalizing presence that incites Matthew's jealousy and rage. He becomes one of the early victims in the escalating spree.
Mr. Simpson (Cecil Reddick)
Owner of the mansion who falls victim to Matthew's homicidal break, becoming overwhelmed by the intruder's determined violence.
Mrs. Simpson (Gloria Earl)
A resident of the mansion who becomes entangled in the violent upheaval surrounding Matthew's siege on its occupants.
Sailor (Ron Bastone)
A drunken sailor who falls prey to Matthew's jealousy-driven rage, one of the multiple victims in the blood-soaked spree.
Doctor
A visiting physician at the mansion who is bludgeoned by Matthew during the violent unraveling of events.
Scream Bloody Murder Settings
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Time period
The story unfolds across several years, beginning with Matthew's childhood trauma and progressing into his late adolescence and adulthood. The pacing moves from confinement and recovery to a widening spree of murders, escalating the sense of inevitability and doom as the timeline advances.
Location
Psychiatric hospital, rural hometown, mansion, church, roadside, countryside
The narrative shifts from a stark psychiatric hospital to a quiet rural setting, then to a secluded mansion that serves as the main stage for the killings. The countryside, open roads, a riverbank, and a church contribute to a tense, claustrophobic atmosphere despite the wide spaces. The mansion acts as a focal point for violence, transforming domestic spaces into sites of horror.
Scream Bloody Murder Themes
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Violence
The film centers on a relentless killing spree that escalates from initial acts of brutality to a broader serial-plot arc. Violence is depicted in stark, unflinching terms, driving the narrative forward and shaping the killer's psychology. Each murder amplifies the sense of danger and tragedy, leaving a trail of fear in its wake.
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Mental Health
Matthew's confinement, hook replacement, and subsequent breakdown highlight how mental distress is portrayed and perceived within the story. Hallucinations and a fractured psyche propel the violence, suggesting that internal turmoil manifests as outward aggression. The film frames mental disturbance as both origin and amplifier of dread.
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Obsession
Vera's resemblance to Matthew's mother triggers a dangerous fixation that drives his actions. Desire is weaponized and distorted into control, with Vera becoming both object and catalyst for his rampage. The plot uses obsession to escalate conflict and ultimately seals the killer's downfall.
Scream Bloody Murder Spoiler-Free Summary
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In the quiet outskirts of a grain‑streaked countryside, a tragic accident on a farm tractor shatters a boy’s world, leaving his father dead and his own left hand broken beyond repair. The loss is so profound that it marks the beginning of a lifelong fracture, both physical and psychological, as surgeons replace the mangled limb with a cold, iron hook. The countryside’s slow, rust‑colored light becomes a backdrop for a haunting sense of inevitability, setting a tone where ordinary life trembles on the edge of the uncanny.
The boy is thrust into the stark confines of a psychiatric institution, a place where the hum of fluorescent lights mirrors the steady, relentless clank of his new prosthetic. Within these walls he wrestles with the echo of that first, catastrophic moment, his mind swirling with guilt, jealousy, and a burgeoning dread of intimacy. Years slip by, and when the doors finally open, he steps back into a world that has moved on without him, carrying the weight of his altered body and unsettled psyche.
Returning home, Matthew discovers that his mother has rebuilt her life with a new husband, a development that unsettles the fragile balance he has tried to maintain. The rearranged family dynamic sparks a volatile mix of longing and resentment, and a strange fixation begins to surface around a woman who bears an uncanny resemblance to his mother. This obsession, paired with his lingering trauma, hints at a darkness that threatens to erupt, pulling everyone around him into a tense, unpredictable current.
The film breathes an atmosphere of slow‑burn dread, where rural isolation meets a mind on the brink. Every glance, every quiet conversation feels charged, suggesting that the quiet streets and empty fields may soon become arenas of desperate survival. The story promises a relentless, visceral journey that forces each character to confront the thin line between containment and chaos.
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