I'm back! At least for this review anyway. I'm not ready to come back full time since I still find it annoying to do even a short review on Letterboxd sometimes. I wanted to give And Now The Screaming Starts! (1973) a full review though. There is a reason behind this actually. One of my favorite blogs was given the same name by my friend CRWM. After reading my blog, he decided to try his hand at his own blog, so I inspired him somehow. His blog was one of my favorite reads and he hit his peak during the years of 2008-9. I believe that during the next year his wife had their first child and his posts didn't publish as frequently, which is to be expected. He disappeared for a couple of years before making a return and then disappearing again. He emailed me once, saying he would be in my area if I wanted to meet up, but I didn't see it in time to do that with him. CRWM is the only person who ever asked me to do a guest review, so his blog is special to me in that way as well. I got And Now The Scream Starts! in a HorrorPack box so I was excited by that. Since I knew I would be watching it, I wanted to give it a proper review since it inspired the name for one of my favorite blogs. CRWM, if you are still out there, this one is for you.
Set in 1795, Catherine (Stephanie Beacham) is moving in with her soon to be husband Charles (Ian Ogilvy). As he shows her around her new home, Catherine seems fixated on a painting of Charles' grandfather. A hand appears to come out of the painting, but when Charles rushes to her side, there is nothing there. As they walk away, we see a severed hand crawling along on the floor. The two get married and that night, as Charles gets ready for his bride in his own bedroom, Catherine doesn't notice that the lock on her bedroom door seems to turn on its own. A hand covers Catherine's mouth but she still manages to scream eventually. Charles has to break-in but, once again, nothing is there. Catherine soon learns that she is pregnant, but not by her husband apparently. Charles calls in Dr. Pope (Peter Cushing) in order to find out if Catherine is losing her mind or if there is something going on.
I don't remember if CRWM had actually watched this movie or just liked the title of the movie. I remember him either telling me or reading about it on his blog, but it has been too long for me to remember that now. Anyway, I'm glad that I was able to watch this movie. Since it was set in 1795, there are plenty of stylish clothes to look at. I don't know if they filmed at a location or on a set, but it was beautiful either way. One of the things that I liked about the story was that it doesn't waste much time before letting us know something is up. Poor Catherine is constantly seeing things it would seem. There are times when it would appear Catherine is just going insane and seeing things, but I felt that was for the benefit of the other characters and not for us to decide if that was actually the case. I don't know why they would show us a severed hand crawling across the floor when no one else sees it if they wanted us to possibly think it is all in Catherine's head. The cause of all of this is a curse that was placed on Charles' family, but Catherine knows nothing about this or the events leading up to it. The curse is explained in a flashback that is kind of lengthy but not so long that it takes up too much time.
On the other side of it, despite things happening at a regular rate, the pacing was a bit on the slow side. I did get a little bored with the story in places because of the pacing. Since And Now The Screaming Starts! comes from the UK around the time Hammer films was popular, I was expecting the slower pace though. This isn't a Hammer film, by the way, it was made by their biggest competition at the time, Amicus. Another thing that I didn't care for much was the way things ended. It wasn't a bad ending really, but I felt that it didn't wrap things up in the best of ways. Another thing that bugged me was the servents in the film. Catherine had been screaming and crying, Charles was there trying to give her some comfort when a maid walks by and closes a window without a glance at them.
There wasn't a lof for effects, not that I expected there to be much. Some ghostly effects here and there and, of course, the severed hand. The hand looked pretty cool and was ghostly as well at times, disappearing before anyone but Catherine saw it. There is a scene where they show how the severed hand came about, but it is pretty mild really. The acting was pretty good. I enjoyed Stephanie Beacham in the lead role. She is very pretty in this movie and does a nice job with her role as well. Peter Cushing is great as always but isn't around a lot until towards the end. In fact, the top three actors billed in this movie aren't around all that much. I guess some things never change. A big star who is barely in a movie still gets top billing.
And Now The Screaming Starts! is a pretty good movie. I would watch it again someday for sure, but I didn't love it. I'm glad that I was able to watch it. I'm pretty sure this is the first film from this studio that I have watched so that is always cool. The movie brings back memories of CRWM's blog, as I'm sure it always will. So, as far as me being back. I have one other review planned that was requested. I don't know if I will do anymore after that here, but I might eventually. I never know when I will come across a movie I want to talk more about like this one. I don't know when I will get the requested review done, but I'm thinking sometime before the end of the month. Until then, see you all on the flip side.
3 out of 5 There was actually a lot of screaming
Set in 1795, Catherine (Stephanie Beacham) is moving in with her soon to be husband Charles (Ian Ogilvy). As he shows her around her new home, Catherine seems fixated on a painting of Charles' grandfather. A hand appears to come out of the painting, but when Charles rushes to her side, there is nothing there. As they walk away, we see a severed hand crawling along on the floor. The two get married and that night, as Charles gets ready for his bride in his own bedroom, Catherine doesn't notice that the lock on her bedroom door seems to turn on its own. A hand covers Catherine's mouth but she still manages to scream eventually. Charles has to break-in but, once again, nothing is there. Catherine soon learns that she is pregnant, but not by her husband apparently. Charles calls in Dr. Pope (Peter Cushing) in order to find out if Catherine is losing her mind or if there is something going on.
I don't remember if CRWM had actually watched this movie or just liked the title of the movie. I remember him either telling me or reading about it on his blog, but it has been too long for me to remember that now. Anyway, I'm glad that I was able to watch this movie. Since it was set in 1795, there are plenty of stylish clothes to look at. I don't know if they filmed at a location or on a set, but it was beautiful either way. One of the things that I liked about the story was that it doesn't waste much time before letting us know something is up. Poor Catherine is constantly seeing things it would seem. There are times when it would appear Catherine is just going insane and seeing things, but I felt that was for the benefit of the other characters and not for us to decide if that was actually the case. I don't know why they would show us a severed hand crawling across the floor when no one else sees it if they wanted us to possibly think it is all in Catherine's head. The cause of all of this is a curse that was placed on Charles' family, but Catherine knows nothing about this or the events leading up to it. The curse is explained in a flashback that is kind of lengthy but not so long that it takes up too much time.
On the other side of it, despite things happening at a regular rate, the pacing was a bit on the slow side. I did get a little bored with the story in places because of the pacing. Since And Now The Screaming Starts! comes from the UK around the time Hammer films was popular, I was expecting the slower pace though. This isn't a Hammer film, by the way, it was made by their biggest competition at the time, Amicus. Another thing that I didn't care for much was the way things ended. It wasn't a bad ending really, but I felt that it didn't wrap things up in the best of ways. Another thing that bugged me was the servents in the film. Catherine had been screaming and crying, Charles was there trying to give her some comfort when a maid walks by and closes a window without a glance at them.
There wasn't a lof for effects, not that I expected there to be much. Some ghostly effects here and there and, of course, the severed hand. The hand looked pretty cool and was ghostly as well at times, disappearing before anyone but Catherine saw it. There is a scene where they show how the severed hand came about, but it is pretty mild really. The acting was pretty good. I enjoyed Stephanie Beacham in the lead role. She is very pretty in this movie and does a nice job with her role as well. Peter Cushing is great as always but isn't around a lot until towards the end. In fact, the top three actors billed in this movie aren't around all that much. I guess some things never change. A big star who is barely in a movie still gets top billing.
And Now The Screaming Starts! is a pretty good movie. I would watch it again someday for sure, but I didn't love it. I'm glad that I was able to watch it. I'm pretty sure this is the first film from this studio that I have watched so that is always cool. The movie brings back memories of CRWM's blog, as I'm sure it always will. So, as far as me being back. I have one other review planned that was requested. I don't know if I will do anymore after that here, but I might eventually. I never know when I will come across a movie I want to talk more about like this one. I don't know when I will get the requested review done, but I'm thinking sometime before the end of the month. Until then, see you all on the flip side.
3 out of 5 There was actually a lot of screaming
