Prologue

In the small Tennessee town of Oldfield, historian Julian White relates four horror stories to local journalist Beth Chandler, who has just attended the public execution of Julian's niece, Katherine, convicted for murdering her husband. The stories that Julian presents to Beth are connected to the past and present of Oldfield, which, according to Julian, is an inherent epicenter for pure evil. White's narration serves as a wraparound story for four otherwise unconnected segments set during different periods in the town's history.

"Stanley"

The first of the stories, set in contemporary times, involves awkward and lonely grocer Stanley Burnside, who takes care of his codependent ailing sister, Eileen. Stanley attempts to date Grace, his younger, glamorous boss. She agrees to a dinner date, but rebukes Stanley's sexual advances, after which Stanley strangles her to death. Grace's murder goes unsolved, but prior to her burial, Stanley breaks into the mortuary and has sex with her corpse. Nine months later, Stanley murders Eileen in a fit of rage. That same night, a mutant zombie offspring—the product of Stanley's sexual violation of Grace's corpse—breaks into the house and terrorizes Stanley, eventually killing him right after he discovers the identity of the creature.

"On the Run"

The second story, set in the 1950s, follows Jesse Hardwick, who is shot and injured by ruthless gangsters over a gambling debt. He flees into the swamp, where he is saved by Felder Evans, an elder voodoo practitioner who nurses him back to health. In Felder's cabin, Jesse finds newspaper clippings that suggest Felder was an escaped slave in the late-1800s. Believing Felder has the secret to immortality, Jesse pleads that Felder make him immortal too. When Felder's ritual fails, the men get into a violent fight, ending in Felder incapacitating Jesse after discovering that the latter was trying to steal his immortality formula. Felder reveals that he already had fed Jesse the life-giving elixir when he first saved him, which has given Jesse another 70 years of life. Angered by Jesse's betrayal, Felder dismembers and burns him, though this does not kill Jesse. Later, Jesse's mutilated body is found on a country road. Doctors manage to piece his disarticulated body parts back together, but are unable to explain how he is alive, while also stating (while Jesse hears them) that he is destined to live in an eternal screaming agony, without the ability of speaking.

"Lovecraft's Traveling Amusements"

The third story, set in 1933, follows Amarrillis Caulfield, a young woman who falls in love with Steven, a glass-eating carnival sideshow performer. Steven's relationship with Amarrallis is met with the ire of the controlling, cruel snakewoman who owns the carnival and manipulates the performers with voodoo. The snakewoman curses Steven, making the sharp objects he ingests emerge from his skin when he touches Amarilliss. Steven flees with Amarrillis, but, under the snakewoman's curse, all of the sharp objects he has ingested over the years burst out of his body, killing him. Later, Amarrillis, now under the snakewoman's control, is put on display in the carnival as a "human pincushion."

"Four Soldiers"

In the fourth segment, set during the American Civil War, Union soldier Sgt. Gallen and his men encounter a group of disfigured children living alone in an isolated farmhouse in an uninhabited land. The children are powerful and tactical, taking the soldiers hostage. Gallen manages to escape by killing one of the children, Amanda, only to find the others outside using one of his men's dismembered torsos as a piñata. He is recaptured and comes to learn the children are all orphans of Confederate soldiers, avenging their parents while at the same time creating a cult to rule over their forgotten territory. The children bring Gallen outside, where they burn him alive, announcing that this act will serve as the official inauguration of the town of Oldfield.

Epilogue

After relaying the final story, Julian is confronted by Beth, who reveals she corresponded via letter with Katherine while the latter was in prison. In her letters, Katherine claimed that Julian, who raised her from childhood, "poisoned her mind" with his beliefs that Oldfield is a place full of evil, which itself brought on her desires for murder. Blaming Julian for Katherine's actions, Beth states her desire to avenge Katherine and stabs Julian in the throat with a switchblade, mortally wounding him. Before dying, Julian utters his last words, ironically stating: “Welcome to Oldfield”.

Development

From a Whisper to a Scream was developed by Jeff Burr, C. Courtney Joyner, Mike Malone, and Darin Scott, all former film students and friends who met one another while attending the University of Southern California.^[3] Burr devised the idea of a "haunted Southern town" in which various horror stories would take place.^[4] The four each wrote screenplays for short films that would be relayed within the frame story, with the fictional town of Oldfield being the common denominator.^[5] Each of the stories was written with certain taboos being central to the plot, such as necrophilia and children committing murder.^[6]

Casting

Director Jeff Burr, whose only prior film was the American Civil War drama Divided We Fall, had limited experience in Hollywood, and met much of the cast (Rosalind Cash, Clu Galager, Terry Kiser) through friends, rather than through a traditional casting process.^[7]

In order to secure Vincent Price for the role of Julian White in the frame story, Burr went in person to Price's house with a bottle of wine (aware that Price was a wine connoisseur) and gave him the script in person. Burr would later recall,

We came bearing gifts, and wouldn't you know ... he opened the door himself when we knocked! It was a flurry of "Gee, Mr. Price, we're fans of your work ..." and "we wrote this script," and he actually invited us inside. He had every reason to ignore us, and even if it was on a polite level, he could have said, "Okay boys, contact my agent," but he was just so gracious. He invited us in, sat and talked with us for about 15 minutes, took the script, and that's how it all started.^[8]

Price—who at that point in his career was reluctant to do more horror movies—later expressed regret at taking the role in a letter to German actor and puppeteer Gerd J. Pohl, claiming his agent had misrepresented the film.^[9] Nevertheless, Burr recalls Price as "professional, gracious, and accommodating", praising his performance and his professionalism on set, despite Burr's suspicion that From a Whisper to a Scream was "the lowest budget film [Price] ever made as a professional".^[8] The film became Price's last horror role (though he would later play a villain in the zombie-themed action/comedy Dead Heat).

Filming

From a Whisper to a Scream was filmed between 1985 and 1986. During the shooting stage, Vincent Price's scenes for the framing story were the last to be filmed. Seeing footage from the finished segments helped convince Price to take the role.^[8]

Critical response

Michael Price of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram gave the film a three out of ten-star rating, noting that the film's veteran actors "make stale baloney seem palatable," and that the film bears "no evidence of good or bad directorial style."^[11] L. Kent Wolgamott of the Lincoln Journal Star wrote that "a couple of the segments are good," but added that some of the sequences are "pretty bloody and hard to believe."^[12]

Michael Wilmington of the Los Angeles Times gave the film a favorable review, noting: "There's a mood throughout of foul things squirming up to the light. Writer-director Jeff Burr and co-writers Courtney Joyner and Darin Scott show a welcome reverence for the past of movie horror."^[13] Conversely, Lou Cedrone of The Baltimore Sun panned the film, deeming it "bad movie making" and adding that the most remarkable thing about it is that "it's been given an ad campaign."^[14]

Home media

From a Whisper to a Scream was released on DVD under its original title. The film was released on Blu-ray by Scream Factory on April 28, 2015.^[15]