SCREAM: THE TRUE STORY Review: Is it the worst Shock Docs yet?

How bad —or good— is Scream: The True Story? Is it the worst Shock Docs yet, or one of the best?

That answer will differ depending on the viewer. In this review, I’ll share a few reasons why I thought it wasn’t one of the best, but also why it’s not the worst either.

To gain some perspective, let’s first take a look at all of the Shock Docs from best to worst so far.

Shock Docs Ranked

According to IMDB, these are how viewers rank each of the Shock Docs on a scale of 10 stars:

1. The Devil Made Me Do It – 7.0
2. This Is Halloween – 6.8
3. The Exorcism of Roland Doe – 6.7
4. Devil’s Road: The True Story of Ed and Lorraine Warren – 6.6
5. Alien Invasion: Hudson Valley – 6.6
6. Amityville Horror House – 6.5
7. The Curse of Lizzie Borden – 5.2
8. Ed Gein: The Real Psycho – 4.7
9. Demon in the White House – 4.4

I didn’t include Scream: The True Story because, as of this publication, it had only just begun streaming on discovery+ and there weren’t any ratings yet. We’ll have to see how it stacks up.

I’m curious to see if it’ll average somewhere in the six stars range too, though.

Scream: The True Story Review

I love the concept of the Shock Docs series. They examine a good blend of real life, horror movie inspiration, true crime, and the paranormal. However, for the most part, I’ve found them disappointing.

Not that we’re talking thousands, or even hundreds, of ratings for each Shock Docs installment on IMDB, but I’m not going to lie. I’m surprised to see that most rank as high as they do.

Not that the quality of production is bad or anything like that. They’re all well produced.

However, like with Demon in the White House, sometimes they tread too fine a line between fact and fiction. (Maybe that’s why that one is the lowest ranking of them all?)

I was hoping Scream: The True Story might be an exception, though. Mostly because the original Scream is one of my all-time favorite horror movies.

The Title

And maybe that’s what bugged me most of all about this Shock Docs. The title.

Other Scream fans might appreciate my frustration with the desperate attempt to ride the coattails of one of horror’s most beloved and iconic movies. The Gainesville Ripper murders did not inspire the Scream storyline. Not like people think they did.

However, what happened to Kevin Williamson after watching an episode of Turning Point about the Danny Rolling Florida campus murders case inspired him to write a script titled “Scary Movie.”

If you hear that side of things, you can totally see the correlation with the movie’s plot. But there is absolutely none with the deaths of the five college students —Sonja Larson, Christina Powell, Christa Hoyt, Tracy Paules, and Manny Taboada— who Danny Rolling murdered in 1990.

But now everyone’s tossing around how the true story of the Gainesville Ripper inspired the movie. My heart breaks for the victims’ families who hoped Rolling would fade into obscurity and be forgotten when he died from lethal injection in prison on October 25, 2006.

This Shock Docs, including me writing about him here, only helps keep his memory alive.

However, my stomach-churning disgust aside, I can’t help but wonder if another title would’ve helped. It might’ve been more accurate to name it The Gainesville Ripper: Did a Demon Make Him Do It? But then there it is again. Making him the star.

The Theories

So many of us want to know what makes serial killers tick. Or rather, explode and give in to their personal demons. Why do they do what they do?

In Scream: The True Story, Steve Shippy and Cindy Kaza try to figure out why Danny Rolling snapped like he did. They pose a few theories, including a generational curse, a multigenerational possession, and, as Kaza put it, the “typical serial killer soup” of childhood trauma and a beyond-average dysfunctional family environment.

Clearly, Rolling fits the mold for the “serial killer soup” theory, including an abusive, domineering dad.

But it’s more sensational to believe humans can’t be evil and if it’s present in our actions, then we’re either cursed or possessed by a demonic entity. Especially because Rolling claimed to be possessed by a demon named Gemini. So…the demon theory is the prevalent one they run with.

But was it passed down from his father? And his grandfather?

The problem is, you’re never going to answer that. Maybe by asking/studying another serial killer, but not with Rolling. He’s dead.

Oh, wait. You can contact the dead and ask, right? Cue Kaza to make contact with the other side.

I’m not going to elaborate on what happened with all of that because I don’t have anything nice to say. I don’t buy the routine, but others might, and if they enjoy it? It’s not my place to rain on their parade.

The Focus

I sort of covered this above, but throughout Scream: The True Story they try to paint Rolling as a sympathetic character. They really emphasize his abusive father and his tormented upbringing.

To be fair, at the very end, Shippy does allude to that not being an excuse for what he did. What he did was evil. But he’s also open to the idea that maybe it’s not his fault. Maybe he was a victim of his circumstances —including demonic possession or a multigenerational curse.

Nope. Not buying it. Some people are evil. No curse or supernatural interference required.

The Leading

One of the things that bothers me the most with almost any paranormal TV show, including most of the Shock Docs, is how they lead the viewer in a certain direction to arrive at a certain conclusion.

One of the most egregious instances of that in Scream: The True Story was when Shippy and Kaza were investigating the campsite Danny Rolling stayed at near the University of Florida when he committed the campus murders.

Kaza said she got the sense that Danny Rolling felt inadequate sexually. She said she sensed he may not have been a “long laster,” if you catch the drift.

Well, then shortly after that, they cut to a scene where Shippy and Kaza meet with Sondra London, Rolling’s finacée. Low and behold London shares that feelings of inadequacy, including of the romantic kind, haunted Rolling.

Convenient.

The Self-Centeredness

I don’t know who came off as more self-absorbed, self-serving, and self-involved in this Shock Docs, but there were two top contenders: Sondra London and Steve Shippy.

At one point, London pitched a mini-hissy fit about how irritated she gets when people don’t ask her about Danny. After all, she wrote the book on him. If anyone should know what made him tick, it’s her.

Note: This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Can you say, “Publicity stunt?” (Back then, as well as now.)

After all, as The Cinemaholic pointed out, London’s no dummy. She “score[d] 1245 on her SAT, earned a college degree in literature, and wrote many well-detailed pieces on all kinds of killers.”

Yes, she has a unique perspective since she’s been romantically involved with two murderers. (In addition to Rolling, she was the girlfriend of Deputy Sheriff Gerard John Schaefer, a suspected serial killer who was also convicted of murder.)

She also has a strong personality and her abrasiveness is gold —as far as controversies go. Drama sells and people like her are the currency producers love to trade in.

But all I saw was a desperate woman trying to make a name for herself. Forget that, in total, her alleged fiancé murdered eight people. She’s trying to profit off of that, a condemnation she admitted she’s no stranger to. That doesn’t make it any less disgusting. (And, yes, I’ve linked to her book, which I stand to profit off of, so I’m just as guilty.)

Then there was Shippy, who floored me with what at first seemed to be a callous, dismissive answer.

Sheila Jackson now owns Danny Rolling’s childhood home in Shreveport, Louisiana. During a walk-through with Mrs. Jackson, where she explains the type of paranormal activity her and her husband experience in the home, she asks, “How can I get rid of him?”

Because Shippy has already alluded that Rolling’s spirit is there.

Shippy says, “Well, I mean that’s a whole different story. I’d like to investigate to see if he’s actually here. If that’s what’s actually causing it. But it sounds like certainly, something is here.”

What? Mrs. Jackson was by far the most likeable person in this Shock Docs. Help her, Steve!

Spoiler: he does.

But at first, I was like, “Wow. Talk about being focused only on the ghost —and the filming process.”

Which was a bit unusual, because he doesn’t usually come off like that.

Scream: The True Story Rating

Right from the get go, when Shippy and Kaza are driving and talking about this case, they bring up how Scream was inspired by the Gainesville Ripper. As I addressed above, it’s not. Not like how Ed Gein inspired Psycho and Silence of the Lambs.

It almost seemed like Kaza was about to say, “I don’t see the correlation,” but she didn’t.

I wish she had. The fact they just ran with it, excitedly thinking, “Wow. We’re about to investigate the Scream murders!” made me want to scream.

No! That’s not the deal at all!

If either one of them had just alluded to that, I wouldn’t have had such a hard time watching to the end. (Which I barely did, and only got through because of Sheila Jackson, which I’ll address in a separate post.)

And all of the conjectures and theorizing about something that Danny Rolling took with him to his grave? Well, it’s a case of not being able to suspend disbelief enough to enjoy the shenanigans playing out on screen.

I’m tempted to give Scream: The True Story two out of five skulls, but at least it wasn’t based on a novel like Demon in the White House was. For that reason alone, I’ll give it two and a half skulls.

For More Info

Scream: The True Story is now streaming on discoveryplus.com.

Check-In

Are there any surprises in the Shock Docs IMDB ratings for you?