Triple distilled horror... as powerful as a vat of boiling acid! (Scream and Scream Again (DVD))

Member Name: hogsflesh

Product:	Scream and Scream Again (DVD)
Date:	25/08/08 (130 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good cast, some nice sequences

Disadvantages: Confusing plot, tried to do too many things at once

A review of just the film. A region 1 DVD (a double bill with The Oblong Box) is available through amazon, although it's quite expensive (more than £20).

This is a confused and confusing British horror film from 1970. Made by Amicus, Hammer's principle rival, it's an unusually full-blooded film from what was a notoriously prudish studio; AIP part financed Scream and Scream Again and made it considerably racier than Amicus wanted. Its main selling point was that it was the first film to feature all three major horror stars of the era: Christopher Lee, Vincent Price and Peter Cushing. But if that's why you're watching, you'll be disappointed.

The film has a bizarre mishmash of plots. A jogger has a heart attack and keeps having his limbs removed while he sleeps. Someone is raping and murdering dolly birds in London - and drinking their blood! A totalitarian regime somewhere in Europe has captured a British spy plane. And more. Much, much more. This combines spy thriller, police procedural, pop music, action, horror and mad science. It would be lovely if it all came together in the end. While all the plots do pretty much meet in the climax, the film, by cramming too much in, comes across as rushed and not entirely satisfactory. While some plot elements are nowhere near developed enough to be effective, others are far too prominent.

Which isn't to say that the film isn't enjoyable; it has some good sequences and a great cast. The director, Gordon Hessler, had just made the disappointing Oblong Box for Tigon; this film is a vast improvement. He again makes good use of extreme close-ups of his actors' faces, and there are some impressive moments. It's really the too-busy script from Hammer stalwart Christopher Wicking that stops this being a classic. One plot element being removed could have made all the difference.

The three horror stars, though, are in it for fewer than ten scenes between them. Price and Lee are on screen together for about a minute; otherwise the three don't meet. Cushing (as a dictator) is his usual self - classy, but with an all-too-obvious hairpiece. Lee (as some kind of politician) is also his usual self - imposing but not putting in any effort. Price (as a scientist) makes the best impression, giving a concentrated burst of camp in the film's closing minutes.

The rest of the cast is unusually good, though, and features lots of faces familiar to the horror enthusiast. Alfred Marks is great as the policeman leading the chase for the killer, with Judy Huxtable adorable as a WPC. Julian Holloway, Yutte Stensgaard and Peter Sallis are also familiar faces (Sallis' uncanny resemblance to Heinrich Himmler really comes across here). Michael Gothard, soon to chew scenery in Ken Russell's The Devils, is very good as the killer, like Klaus Kinski in a Beatles wig. We even get The Amen Corner performing in a nightclub.

The nightclub scenes are good - hilarious 60s dancing combined with a sense of looming menace (although the Amen Corner's song - 'Scream and Scream Again' - isn't so good. They should have got them to sing '(If Paradise is) Half as Nice' since that's all they're remembered for anyway). Otherwise the incidental music wouldn't be out of place in an old cop show, highlighting the fact that this isn't really a horror film. There's a chase sequence that goes on for more than ten minutes, first in cars, then on foot. Then in cars again. You'll be tired of it within about three minutes, although it does have a good payoff.

There are problems apart from the plot. The evil country (it's never named) looks like Wales, and its logo is rubbish. There are weird, distracting incidental details in the sets, like a barometer in Cushing's office, or the unimpressive portable telly in Price's study. There's a really strange bit of prudery, where one character says 'crap' (you can read his lips), but the soundtrack has him saying 'garbage' (which is inappropriately American anyway). But this is a difficult film to dislike. It has ambitions to be rather more epic than the vast majority of films made by Amicus, or indeed any other British horror studio. If it doesn't pull it off, it shouldn't be blamed for trying. Even if it's profoundly confusing, you should find at least one or two things to enjoy.

The film is still an 18 in the UK, I think, but I suspect that it would be downgraded to 15 if it was re-submitted. None of the rape murders are seen in any kind of detail; there's quite a lot of blood and some occasional boobage, but not enough to raise too many eyebrows today, I wouldn't think. The title 'Scream and Scream Again' bears almost no relevance to anything that happens on-screen, but that's pretty typical of a film that tries to throw in everything but the kitchen sink.

This is crying out for a proper region 2 DVD release; until it gets one, look out for it on TV.

Summary: A British horror film that also wants to be a spy thriller and a cop show