Review: And Now the Screaming Starts!

Newlyweds Stephanie Beacham and Ian Ogilvy move into the latter’s ancestral family home and almost instantaneously Beacham is freaked the hell out. She’s seeing things that no one else is, and they’re really scary things. With Ogilvy worried about his wife’s sanity, psychologist Peter Cushing is called upon to investigate the matter. Guy Rolfe turns up as the family solicitor, and Geoffrey Whitehead plays a woodsman named Silas whose ghost is seems to be haunting poor Beacham.

 

This 1973 Amicus film from director Roy Ward Baker (“A Night to Remember”, “Quatermass and the Pit”, “The Vampire Lovers”, “Asylum”) was one of the studio’s non-portmanteau films, and thus isn’t as well known as say “Asylum” or “Tales From the Crypt”. That’s a shame because I really like this one. It’s actually a really tragic, sad, and bleak story but it’s also my kind of horror movie: Atmospheric. It might even rank as the best horror film Amicus ever made (their best films overall however being the sci-fi/drama “The Mind of Mr. Soames” and the spy flick “Danger Route”).

 

It’s classic haunting/psychological horror material where you wonder if the protagonist is legit seeing ghosts or if she’s just unbalanced. Visually and plot-wise, it’s kind of thing I would normally associate with Roger Corman or 60s Hammer Studios than Amicus. The screaming actually starts four minutes in with what I consider one of the best jump scares of all-time. I hate jump scares – they startle, not genuinely scare, and I don’t enjoy being startled cheaply – but this one absolutely got me because it was so sudden and unexpected. It’s masterful in that having that happen so early on it puts you on edge for the rest of the film. If that can happen four minutes in? Anything can happen, and the rest of the film is terrifically atmospheric and creepy as the film keeps finding things to make poor Stephanie Beacham scream – and they’re always effective, not just for her but me too! I bet poor Ms. Beacham couldn’t talk for a week after all the screaming.

 

Director Baker and cinematographer Denys Coop (“Asylum”) effectively convey a house that is either alive and watching the inhabitants or there’s something/someone inside the house who is always watching and ready to strike. Although Ian Ogilvy is saddled with a rather boring role and Guy Rolfe might as well have not been here at all, the cast is rock-solid here. Peter Cushing only shows up after 45 minutes but he’s in his element as the out-of-town doctor trying to figure things out. He basically plays it like he’s playing his version of Sherlock Holmes. Meanwhile, Patrick Magee is fun as the worried local physician, and although he’s mostly seen as a portrait hanging on the wall, Herbert Lom turns up in flashbacks as the craven ancestor. It’s a characteristically sleazy performance from the long-serving character actor. David Warner-lookalike Geoffrey Whitehead gets a good, creepy showing too. Rosalie Crutchley plays the maid and her final scene is a genuinely scary, atmospheric one she plays perfectly. Janet Key is good as the other maid, and in the lead role Stephanie Beacham certainly gives it everything she’s got.

 

Creepy, atmospheric production from Amicus is one of their best and most underrated horror films. The cast is mostly tops, the story is gripping, and the terror almost instantaneous. Based on a novel by David Case, the screenplay is by Roger Marshall (“Theatre of Death”, “Twisted Nerve”). Well worth checking out.

 

Rating: B-