HORROR EXPRESS -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 11/3/11

 

Growing up with Forry Ackerman's "Famous Monsters of Filmland" magazine, I tended to drool over all the tantalizing stories and pics about cool-looking horror films that, for one reason or another, I never got to see over the years.  One of those was the Spanish shocker HORROR EXPRESS (1972), which, thanks to the new Blu-Ray/DVD combo from Severin Films, I've finally gotten to experience in all its 70s-Gothic glory.

Fans of Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing should be ecstatic about this pairing of the two horror superstars as reluctant allies against a deadly supernatural force aboard the Trans-Siberian Express.  It's 1906, and stuffy Professor Alexander Saxton (Lee) has discovered the missing link in an icy cave in Manchuria.  Transporting it West by train, he runs into an old rival, Dr. Wells (Cushing), and his diminutive assistant Miss Jones (Alice Reinhart).  The prehistoric creature returns to life and escapes from its crate, causing a reign of terror aboard the train which Saxton and Wells must join forces to stop.

The horrific fun gets under way right there in the station when a thief breaks into the crate, gets a load of it contents, and drops dead, his eyes a blank white.  The baggage man meets the same fate during the monster's escape, as do several other passengers in a series of lively death scenes.  Julio Peña of THE WEREWOLF VS. THE VAMPIRE WOMAN plays the increasingly irked Inspector Mirov, who suspects Saxon himself of foul play until he meets the creature face to face.  At that point, what started out as a simple horror-adventure yarn suddenly turns sci-fi when we discover that an alien entity capable of transferring from one body to another is behind it all.



This new wrinkle, reminiscent of John Campbell's "Who Goes There?" and its subsequent screen adaptation THE THING, adds a whole new element of suspenseful horror to the story as the being's victims either become possessed or have their brains sucked dry.  More weird science comes into play when Saxon and Wells do an autopsy on the missing link and discover that his optic fluid contains images of everything it has seen, including a view of planet Earth from outer space. 

Speaking of autopsies, the film features a couple which were fairly strong stuff back in '72 with graphic images of pop-top skulls and exposed brains.  Other makeup effects are good, including the glowing red eyeballs of the being's hosts and the blank, bleeding ones of its victims.  The reanimated ape creature sports a nice body suit with appropriately hideous facial features that have been partially decayed over time. 

Just when the story has already gone in a number of unexpected directions, Telly Savalas arrives as Captain Kazan to awesome things up even more.  Kazan and his fellow Kossacks barge their way onto the train and start terrorizing everyone, with Savalas having a scenery-chewing field day in the role.  All hell breaks loose after Kazan inadvertently forces the entity's hand and sets the film's chaotic and zombie-packed finale into high gear--Lee hacks his way through the living dead with a sword, Cushing struggles to unhook a baggage car full of civilians from the speeding train as it heads toward a cliff, and Telly goes all bloody-blank-eyes on us.  It just doesn't get any better than this.

Director Eugenio Martin adds a number of clever directorial touches to this handsomely mounted production, which is undermined only by some bad dubbing and awkward handheld camerawork.  In addition to the full-size antique locomotive, a very cool model train (left over from Savalas' PANCHO VILLA) chugs through beautiful miniature Siberian landscapes with numerous cutaways adding to the forward momentum of the film's pace.  An unusual musical score by John Cacavas is alternately atmospheric and cheesy.



Heading an outstanding cast, Peter Cushing's wryly humorous Dr. Wells is a fine counterpoint to Christopher Lee's stuffy Professor Saxton and it's fun to watch them play off each other.  One of the choicest bits of humor comes when Inspector Mirov remarks to them, "What if one of you is the monster?", to which an indignant Cushing responds, "Monster?  We're British, you know!" 

Gorgeous Silvia Tortosa (WHEN THE SCREAMING STOPS) is captivating as Countess Irina Petrovski, whose traveling companion is a mad monk named Father Pujardov (Alberto de Mendoza).  Resembling a cross between Jesus and Rasputin, Pujardov is the stereotypical "crazed religious fanatic" whose allegiance to the entity gives the actor a chance to go way over the top.  Also on hand are a number of Spanish character actors familiar to Spaghetti Western fans. 

The DVD from Severin Films is in 16x9 widescreen with English and Spanish Dolby Digital Mono soundtracks.  No subtitles.  In place of a commentary track there's an 80-minute audio interview with Peter Cushing from 1973 which should delight his fans.  (Cushing reveals during the audience Q and A that he got into acting mainly due to his love of Tom Mix westerns.)  We also get an introduction by Fangoria editor Chris Alexander, new interviews with director Eugenio Martin and composer John Cacavas, the film's trailer, and "Notes from the Blacklist: Producer Bernard Gordon Discusses the McCarthy Era."

Whether you're an old fan or just seeing it for the first time like me, HORROR EXPRESS is a delightfully entertaining old-school horror/sci-fi romp that's bursting at the seams with ridiculous fun.  They don't make 'em like this anymore.

HORROR EXPRESS -- DVD Review by Porfle

THE BEAST MUST DIE! -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 6/29/20
 

Having already released it on Blu-ray back in 2017 as part of "The Amicus Collection", Severin Films is now giving the cult classic THE BEAST MUST DIE (1974) an even better-looking updated release based on newly-discovered elements.

In Severin's own words: "A superior 35mm pre-print element of THE BEAST MUST DIE was recently unearthed in France and made available to us. On the previous Amicus box exclusive only an old HD telecine was available of the censored TV version and the censored scenes were scanned from a 16mm print and inserted. The newly available superior element was given a brand new 4k scan and fully restored by Studio Canal in France."

Having just viewed the latest version, I found it superior to the previous release. Not only that, but the disc contains the original bonus features in addition to some brand new ones.

Still included are an audio essay by horror historian Troy Howarth, an informative commentary track with director Paul Arnett, the featurette "Directing the Beast" with Arnett again, and the theatrical trailer.

New features consist of an audio interview excerpt with Milton Subotsky conducted by Philip Nutman, an audio interview with producer Max J. Rosenberg conducted by Jonathan Sothcott, and a trailer commentary by genre scholars Kim Newman and David Flint.

Both English and Spanish 2.0 mono soundtracks are available, with English subtitles.


As for the movie itself, here's our original review:


One of the most hard-and-fast rules of cinema is that any movie is worth watching if it has a "Werewolf Break."

Okay, I made that up, but I do find it to be true in the case of the 1974 Amicus werewolf thriller THE BEAST MUST DIE! (Severin Films), which not only does have a "Werewolf Break" but happens to be the only film I can think of to boast such a distinction.

It opens with a lively title sequence featuring eccentric millionaire Tom Newcliffe (American actor Calvin Lockhart, COTTON COMES TO HARLEM, UPTOWN SATURDAY NIGHT) being hunted by his own ex-military security staff in order to test their capabilities. This is in preparation for an antipated guest--namely, a werewolf.

Newcliffe, in fact, has invited a varied array of men and women to his secluded estate for the weekend, believing one of them to be a werewolf and looking forward to the opportunity of hunting it down to satisfy his sadistic lusts for sport and blood, as he does every other kind of wild beast he comes in contact with.

Thus, we already get a strong THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME vibe, especially when Newcliffe makes it clear that none of the guests--that is, werewolf suspects--is free to leave the grounds until one of them has been exposed and terminated.

There's also sort of a low-rent Agatha Christie flavor a la "And Then There Were None"/"Ten Little Indians", including even the traditional gathering of the suspects and surprise reveal at the end. (The script is actually adapted from a short story by James Blish, author of the very first Star Trek novel "Spock Must Die!")

What makes this variation on the old saw so much fun--besides, of course, the werewolf angle, which will have the attention of old-school monster fans from frame one--is the pure, undiluted 70s-era cheesiness of the whole thing.

While capable enough, the direction by Paul Annett, as well as cinematography,  editing, and some rather broad acting, give the film the look and feel of a quickie TV-movie of the era.

The original score by Douglas Gamley is perfectly fine and even somewhat reminiscent of Bernard Herrmann until he tries for a 70s funk-rock effect, which recalls the old thwacka-wacka 70s porn-movie backing tracks.

This, however, by no means hampers one's enjoyment of the film.  Rather, it increases it for viewers with a taste for fine cheese who revel in seeing such a cast, including Peter Cushing, Anton Diffring, Michael Gambon, and Charles Gray, taking part in such goings on.

Calvin Lockhart himself overacts his role with such magnificent abandon that I kept wishing he could skip the werewolf and go up against Rod Steiger in a ham-actor cage match.

With three successive nights of full moons, THE BEAST MUST DIE! gives us plenty of furious action (although the murky day-for-night photography sometimes makes it hard to see just what's going on) as well as lots of ensemble drama pitting the hot-blooded hunter against his own reluctant guests as he tries to trick each into revealing his or her hidden lycanthropy.  This includes even his wife, Caroline (Marlene Clark, who also tends to emote rather robustly).

When we see the werewolf itself, it's rather disappointingly played by an actual canine rather than a person in werewolf makeup (which I, being a lifelong fan of such films as THE WOLF MAN and CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF, would much prefer).

I got used to this, however, and was primed when the film finally paused for its delightfully hokey "Werewolf Break", a gimmick harkening back to the days of William Castle in which we're given thirty seconds to weigh the clues and decide the true identity of the werewolf.  (I was wrong, and you probably will be, too.)

There are those, of course, who will find this  practically unwatchable if they require their horror films to be more costly, refined, and sophisticated.  That's fine for them, but I'm one of many who can watch a movie like THE BEAST MUST DIE! and relish it every bit as much as those other ones--and, occasionally, even more.

THE BEAST MUST DIE! -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

THE BEAST MUST DIE! -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

THE BEAST MUST DIE! is exclusive to "THE AMICUS COLLECTION" (Blu-ray 4-volume box set) from Severin Films.
(And Now the Screaming Starts!/Asylum/The Beast Must Die/The Vault of Amicus)

 

Originally posted on 12/18/17

One of the most hard-and-fast rules of cinema is that any movie is worth watching if it has a "Werewolf Break." 

Okay, I made that up, but I do find it to be true in the case of the 1974 Amicus werewolf thriller THE BEAST MUST DIE! (Severin Films), which not only does have a "Werewolf Break" but happens to be the only film I can think of to boast such a distinction.

It opens with a lively title sequence featuring eccentric millionaire Tom Newcliffe (American actor Calvin Lockhart, COTTON COMES TO HARLEM, UPTOWN SATURDAY NIGHT) being hunted by his own ex-military security staff in order to test their capabilities. This is in preparation for an antipated guest--namely, a werewolf. 

Newcliffe, in fact, has invited a varied array of men and women to his secluded estate for the weekend, believing one of them to be a werewolf and looking forward to the opportunity of hunting it down to satisfy his sadistic lusts for sport and blood, as he does every other kind of wild beast he comes in contact with.

Thus, we already get a strong THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME vibe, especially when Newcliffe makes it clear that none of the guests--that is, werewolf suspects--is free to leave the grounds until one of them has been exposed and terminated. 

There's also sort of a low-rent Agatha Christie flavor a la "And Then There Were None" and "Ten Little Indians", including even the traditional gathering of the suspects and surprise reveal at the end. (The script is actually adapted from a short story by James Blish, author of the very first Star Trek novel "Spock Must Die!")

What makes this variation on the old saw so much fun--besides, of course, the werewolf angle, which will have the attention of old-school monster fans from frame one--is the pure, undiluted 70s-era cheesiness of the whole thing. 

While capable enough, the direction by Paul Annett, as well as cinematography,  editing, and some rather broad acting, give the film the look and feel of a quickie TV-movie of the era. 

The original score by Douglas Gamley is perfectly fine and even somewhat reminiscent of Bernard Herrmann until he tries for a 70s funk-rock effect, which recalls the old thwacka-wacka 70s porn-movie backing tracks.

This, however, by no means hampers one's enjoyment of the film.  Rather, it increases it for viewers with a taste for fine cheese who revel in seeing such a cast, including Peter Cushing, Anton Diffring, Michael Gambon, and Charles Gray, taking part in such goings on. 

Calvin Lockhart himself overacts his role with such magnificent abandon that I kept wishing he could skip the werewolf and go up against Rod Steiger in a ham-actor cage match. 

With three successive nights of full moons, THE BEAST MUST DIE! gives us plenty of furious action (although the murky day-for-night photography sometimes makes it hard to see just what's going on) as well as lots of ensemble drama pitting the hot-blooded hunter against his own reluctant guests as he tries to trick each into revealing his or her hidden lycanthropy.  This includes even his wife, Caroline (Marlene Clark, who also tends to emote rather robustly).

When we see the werewolf itself, it's rather disappointingly played by an actual canine rather than a person in werewolf makeup (which I, being a lifelong fan of such films as THE WOLF MAN and CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF, would much prefer). 

I got used to this, however, and was primed when the film finally paused for its delightfully hokey "Werewolf Break", a gimmick harkening back to the days of William Castle in which we're given thirty seconds to weigh the clues and decide the true identity of the werewolf.  (I was wrong, and you probably will be, too.)

The Blu-ray from Severin Films looks good despite occasional imperfections in the source material.  Personally, I prefer my vintage monster flicks with a hint of the old grindhouse look since that's the way they used to look running through a theater projector for the thousandth time back in the good old days.  So to my eyes, the film looks just fine.

Special features include an audio essay by horror historian Troy Howarth, an informative commentary track with director Paul Arnett, the featurette "Directing the Beast" with Arnett again, and the theatrical trailer.  These extras, like the film itself, are exclusive only to the Severin 4-volume set "The Amicus Collection", which also includes "Asylum", "And Now the Screaming Starts", and "The Vault of Amicus."  Both English and Spanish soundtracks are available, with English subtitles.

There are those, of course, who will find this  practically unwatchable if they require their horror films to be more costly, refined, and sophisticated.  That's fine for them, but I'm one of many who can watch a movie like THE BEAST MUST DIE! and relish it every bit as much as those other ones--and, occasionally, even more. 


THE BEAST MUST DIE! is exclusive to "THE AMICUS COLLECTION" (Blu-ray 4-volume box set) from Severin Films.
(And Now the Screaming Starts!/Asylum/The Beast Must Die/The Vault of Amicus)

Read our reviews of:

AND NOW THE SCREAMING STARTS
ASYLUM
THE VAULT OF AMICUS

THE BEAST MUST DIE! -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

THE UNCANNY -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 

 

Originally posted on 5/13/19

 

 

It's no wonder I was predisposed to like THE UNCANNY (Severin Films, 1977), being a fan of both those old Amicus anthologies such as TALES FROM THE CRYPT and ASYLUM and early Cronenberg classics like SCANNERS.  This British-Canadian horror anthology comes to us via co-producers Milton Subotsky, one of the founders of Amicus, and Cronenberg producer Claude Héroux (SCANNERS, VIDEODROME), giving this production quite a nice pedigree right from the start.

Having an absolutely stellar cast doesn't hurt at all, either. The wraparound segment stars Amicus veteran and all-around horror legend Peter Cushing and Old Hollywood genre icon Ray Milland (PANIC IN YEAR ZERO!, X:THE MAN WITH THE X-RAY EYES, THE THING WITH TWO HEADS) as an author with a deadly fear of cats (Cushing) trying to convince a skeptical publisher (Milland) that his manuscript about how cats are secretly controlling the human race must be shared with the world at once.

As their fireside exchange is quietly observed by Milland's watchful cat, Cushing relates his first cautionary cat tale, "London 1912", which stars venerable actress Joan Greenwood as dying millionairess Miss Malkin and genre sweetheart Susan Penhaligon (PATRICK) as her maidservant Janet. 

Miss Malkin, it turns out, is a cat fancier about to will her entire fortune to her many feline friends, something which Janet and her boyfriend, Miss Malkin's ne'er-do-well nephew, cannot allow.

But when Janet attempts to steal Miss Malkin's will from a hidden wall safe, the old woman is awakened by her vigilant cats and pandemonium ensues, with Janet being viciously attacked in a whirlwind of fangs and claws.  Trapped inside a storage closet guarded by mewling cats, the situation grows more desperate for her even as it gets more and more fun for us.  A well-acted and nicely-mounted period terror tale, "London 1912" gets THE UNCANNY off to a delightful start.

Cushing's next strident narrative, "Quebec Province 1975", concerns a recently-orphaned little girl named Lucy (Katrina Holden) sent to live with her unloving aunt Mrs. Blake (Alexandra Stewart, GOODBYE EMMANUELLE) and hateful cousin Angela (Chloe Franks), both of whom strongly disapprove of Lucy's last friend in the world, a cat named Wellington. 

It's an effectively emotional tale as poor Lucy suffers the callous treatment of Mrs. Blake and cruel bullying from the loathesome Angela, but the last straw comes when Wellington himself is threatened with euthanasia.  This sets off a thrilling finale involving some witchcraft books left to Lucy by her mother, and we're treated to a wealth of wonderful practical effects that aren't always totally realistic but offer loads of giddy, vengeful fun. 

"Hollywood 1936", Cushing's frantic final tale, has a cast to die for--Donald Pleasance (HALLOWEEN, PHENOMENA, ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK) as Valentine De'ath, a ham actor emoting his way through a lurid horror production, John Vernon (ANIMAL HOUSE, THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES) as his harried director, and Samantha Eggar (THE BROOD) as a young actress groomed to replace Valentine's wife after she dies during filming in an "accident" of his own device.

With poor Madeleine gone, Valentine is free to romance his mistress and new co-star--until Madeleine's cat becomes the instrument of her revenge from the grave. This sets the stage, so to speak, for another frightful yet enjoyably tongue-in-cheek tale in which the best laid plans of mice and men sometimes get foiled by a bewhiskered hairball with a mind for murder. 

Director Denis Héroux (NAKED MASSACRE, JACQUES BREL IS ALIVE AND WELL AND LIVING IN PARIS) capably brings the script by Michel Parry (XTRO) to life and the production values are sufficiently eye-pleasing.

Severin Films' print, scanned from an inter-negative recently discovered in a London vault, looks very good despite a few imperfections here and there which, for me, give it character and only add to its appeal.  On a side note, my initial qualms about possible animal abuse were, thankfully, largely unfounded, as the cast of kitties don't appear to have suffered too much discomfort during filming.

As you might guess, the wraparound segment itself is ultimately resolved in cat-astrophic style as Peter Cushing and Ray Milland each play out their string to its horrific and comfortably inevitable conclusion.  It all adds up to a deliciously good time in the Amicus style, and whether or not you're a cat fancier, THE UNCANNY is catnip for fans of good old-fashioned 70s horror. 



Special Features:
    The Cat’s Victim – Interview with actress Susan Penhaligon
    Trailer

THE UNCANNY -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

THE VAULT OF AMICUS -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 

(Originally posted on 12/19/17)

 

THE VAULT OF AMICUS is exclusive to "THE AMICUS COLLECTION" (Blu-ray 4-volume box set) from Severin Films.
(And Now the Screaming Starts/Asylum/The Beast Must Die!/The Vault of Amicus)

So you like Amicus Pictures, and you also like trailer compilations, eh?  Well then, Severin Films has just the thing for you--namely, their new Blu-ray collection entitled THE VAULT OF AMICUS (B&W/color, 63 min.), which gathers 30 or so Amicus trailers from 1960-81 together into one nice, watchable batch and also adds a commentary track and a couple of lengthy interviews with the company's founders, Max Rosenberg and Milton Subotsky, for good measure.

It's exclusive to Severin's new 4-volume boxed set, THE AMICUS COLLECTION, which also contains Amicus classics ASYLUM, AND NOW THE SCREAMING STARTS, and THE BEAST MUST DIE!  The trailers for these show up later, of course, but the disc begins with Rosenberg and Subotsky's pioneer foray into film, a pre-Beatles teen music show called "Ring-a-Ding Rhythm" which is delightfully out of touch with where pop music was headed at the time.

What follows is an account of how the producing partners followed trends, tried new things, learned their craft through trial and error, and ended up putting out a widely-varied body of work which happened to concentrate mainly upon horror and science-fiction, the two most lucrative genres for the independent filmmakers. 

Some of the more familiar titles in the latter category are "Dr. Terror's House of Horrors", "Dr. Who and the Daleks", "The Skull", "Daleks Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D.", Robert Bloch's "The Psychopath", "The Terrornauts", "They Came From Beyond Space", "The Mind of Dr. Soames", "Torture Garden", and one of their least successful efforts, "The Deadly Bees." 

A departure for them was the spy thriller "Danger Route" with Richard Johnson.  Forays into more high-brow and/or experimental territory would come with such films as "The Birthday Party" with a young Robert Shaw (who would later play Quint in "Jaws"), "What Became of Jack and Jill" (a psychological thriller), and "Thank You All Very Much" with Sandy Dennis.

But it's the good stuff (as far as I'm concerned, anyway) that Rosenberg and Subotsky kept coming back to.  As the commentary points out, experience taught them what worked and what didn't, so they just kept doing what worked as well as they could.

This resulted in a string of classics and near-classics that gave Hammer Studios a run for their money in the 60s and 70s, with such titles as "The House That Dripped Blood", "Scream and Scream Again", "I, Monster" (Christopher Lee doing Jekyll and Hyde), "Asylum", "And Now the Screaming Starts", "The Beast Must Die!", "From Beyond the Grave", "Madhouse", and that beloved duo of EC Comics adaptations, "Tales From the Crypt" and "The Vault of Horror."

Later, Amicus would venture into Edgar Rice Burroughs fantasy-adventure romps with "The Land That Time Forgot", "At the Earth's Core", and "The People That Time Forgot."  Rosenberg and Subotsky's partnership would conclude with "The Uncanny" and "The Monster Club."

This is the stuff I read about in "Famous Monsters" magazine as a kid and was occasionally lucky enough to see on the big screen. I particularly recall seeing "Dr. Who and the Daleks" as the second half of a double bill with "Night of the Living Dead."  The colorful and relatively cheerful "Daleks" came as quite a relief for a kid who just endured Romero's grueling nightmare of terror for the first time.
 
The trailers, as usual for a collection such as this, are a mixed bag with some more interesting than others, but all in all it's a splendidly entertaining set.  Casting was an Amicus strong point, so many of them are jam-packed with familiar faces such as Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Vincent Price, Jack Palance, Burgess Meredith, Patrick Magee, Caroline Munro, Ingrid Pitt, Diana Dors, Harry Andrews, Carol Lynley, Robert Vaughn, Nigel Davenport, Patrick Wymark, Doug McClure, Robert Powell, Terence Stamp, and many others.

The commentary track by horror authors Kim Newman and David Flint is knowledgeable and fun, with nary a dead spot.  The bonus menu consists of very lengthy, in-depth interviews and remembrances by Rosenberg and Subotsky themselves (with accompanying pictures) which should prove absolutely invaluable to any interested parties. 

The trailers themselves have that wonderful grindhouse look that fills me with nostalgia--most of them look like they've been around the block a few times. (Look for the really cool Easter Egg for some fun TV spots.)

THE VAULT OF AMICUS, like any good trailer compilation, is a treasure trove of juicy clips from lots of great movies, in this case the best of a legendary production duo whose solid genre output kept us horror and sci-fi fans going back in the days before such things became mainstream and plentiful.  It's the kind of nostalgia that you just want to settle into and wallow around in for awhile.


THE VAULT OF AMICUS is exclusive to "THE AMICUS COLLECTION" (Blu-ray 4-volume box set) from Severin Films.
(And Now the Screaming Starts/Asylum/The Beast Must Die!/The Vault of Amicus)

Order THE AMICUS COLLECTION (Blu-ray 4-volume box set) from Severin Films

Read our reviews of:
ASYLUM
AND NOW THE SCREAMING STARTS
THE BEAST MUST DIE!

THE VAULT OF AMICUS -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

AND NOW THE SCREAMING STARTS -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

AND NOW THE SCREAMING STARTS is part of "THE AMICUS COLLECTION" (Blu-ray 4-volume box set) from Severin Films.
(And Now the Screaming Starts/Asylum/The Beast Must Die/The Vault of Amicus)]

(This review was originally posted on 12/17/17)


The title of the original novel by David Case was "Fengriffen", with Roger Marshall's screenplay similarly dubbed "The Bride of Fengriffen."  To the actors' dismay and my delight, the title of this 1973 Amicus production ultimately became AND NOW THE SCREAMING STARTS (Severin Films). 

I find this not only more interesting-sounding but quite apt, as leading lady Stephanie Beacham (DRACULA A.D. 1972, "The Colbys") and various of her co-stars emit piercing, full-bodied screams every five minutes or so in reaction to some unbearable horror visited upon them by the script.

It all starts when 18th-century British nobleman Charles Fengriffen (genre stalwart Ian Ogilvy) brings his new bride Catherine (Beacham) home to the rustic but extravagantly elegant family estate in the country.  (Perennial film location Oakley Court provides the lavish exteriors, with equally elaborate interiors constructed and shot at Shepperton Studios.)

What Catherine doesn't realize--and which both Charles and everyone else take pains to hide from her--is that due to the heinous crimes of Charles' grandfather Henry against his woodsman Silas (Geoffrey Whitehead), there's a terrible curse on the house of Fengriffen that's to be visited upon the first virginal bride to reside there.  (For which she, to her grave misfortune, qualifies.)

This offers director Roy Ward Baker a chance to punctuate the formal, richly Gothic atmosphere with shocking flashes of lurid imagery as the horrified Catherine is subjected to ghostly visions such as a bloody hand plunging through Henry's portrait and glimpses of the disembodied but ambulatory hand making its way around inside the house while a spectral Silas appears intermittently at the window with gory holes for eyes. 

We're led to wonder if such visions are real or merely figments of her heated imagination--that is, until various household staff and others connected with the Fengriffens begin to die off in violent ways.  Catherine herself needs no more convincing after a spectral presence seems to force itself upon her sexually on her very wedding night, setting into motion what will become the eventual ghastly fruition of the curse.

Baker's surehanded directorial experience on such classics as A NIGHT TO REMEMBER, ASYLUM, and FIVE MILLION YEARS TO EARTH comes into play as he moves the camera fluidly within the spacious indoor sets.  Lighting, costumes, and other production details also contribute to give this film a look beyond its relatively modest budget.

This look is similar to that of the earlier Gothic-tinged Hammer films, and indeed seems to be trying to fill the gap left by Hammer's move at the time toward a more modern image.  Yet it somehow retains what I think of as the distinctive, perhaps indefinable visual ambience of an Amicus production.

Even with its R-rating, gore is kept to a minimum although that severed hand stays quite busy and Silas' bloody axe gets its chance to swing as well.  A couple of implied rape scenes (one featuring second-billed Herbert Lom in a revelatory flashback as the evil Henry Fengriffen) and some brief nudity add to the adult content.

The closing minutes also contain a scene in which a grave is desecrated in such a violent way that it comes off as shockingly morbid, and almost makes everything that came before seem sedate in comparison.  The final twist is no less effective for its predictability--the fact that what we expected all along finally comes to pass is, in fact, somewhat satisfying.

Performances are fine, with the always-reliable Ogilvy and the wonderfully expressive Beacham aided by supporting castmembers such as Patrick Magee (A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, ASYLUM) as a family doctor all too familiar with the curse, and the aforementioned Lom in his brief but effective flashback scenes. 

Distinguished genre legend Peter Cushing doesn't make his appearance until around the halfway mark or later, but he makes the most of his role as a psychiatrist who tries to make scientific sense of what's happening to Catherine and those around her.  Even in those moments when the film's stately pace begins to lag, he and the other leads are always interesting to watch.

The Blu-ray from Severin Films offers a lovely remastered print with only the occasional rough patch.  The bonus menu is nicely stocked as usual, with a lengthy, clip-filled featurette about Oakley Court hosted by horror authors Allan Bryce and David Flint, an audio interview with Peter Cushing (with accompanying photo montage), a review of the film by horror author Denis Meikle, plus a trailer and radio spot.  Two seperate commentary tracks are available, one with Roy Ward Baker and Stephanie Beacham, the other with Ian Ogilvie, and both are marvelous fun to listen to.

AND NOW THE SCREAMING STARTS is one of those simmering Gothic tales that might've been a bit slow for me in my younger days, but now it's just the thing for me to settle into and enjoy like a good book. Only turn the pages in this book and you never know when a bloody hand or an eyeless woodsman with an axe are going to jump out at you.  

Read our reviews of: 

ASYLUM
THE BEAST MUST DIE!
THE VAULT OF AMICUS

AND NOW THE SCREAMING STARTS -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle