''And Now the Screaming Starts!'' is a 1973 British

gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

directed by

Roy Ward Baker Roy Ward Baker (born Roy Horace Baker; 19 December 1916 – 5 October 2010) was an English film director. His best known film is ''A Night to Remember (1958 film), A Night to Remember'' (1958) which won a Golden Globe for Golden Globe Award for ...

and starring Peter Cushing, Herbert Lom, Patrick Magee, Stephanie Beacham and Ian Ogilvy. It is one of the few feature-length horror stories by Amicus, a company best known for

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

or "portmanteau" films. The screenplay, written by Roger Marshall, is based on the 1970 novella ''Fengriffen'' by David Case. The film is also known as ''Fengriffen'' or ''Bride of Fengriffen''.

Plot

The film begins in 1795. After moving to her fiancé Charles Fengriffen's (Ogilvy) family estate, Catherine (Beacham) experiences terrifying visions of an undead corpse with a heavily birthmarked face, empty eye sockets and a severed right hand. On her wedding night, she is attacked and raped by an evil spirit in the bedroom of Fengriffen House. Later, she is disturbed to encounter Silas, a

woodsman Woodsman (also, woodsmen, pl.) is a competitive, co-ed intercollegiate sport in the United States, Canada and elsewhere based on various skills traditionally part of forestry educational and technical training programs. In North America, the sp ...

who lives in a lodge on the estate and has a birthmark identical to that of the corpse. Charles and others are reluctant to tell her anything about Silas, and those who show a willingness to answer her questions are killed in bizarre circumstances: Maitland, Charles' solicitor, is hacked to death with an axe; Mrs Luke, the housemaid, is thrown down the stairs; and Aunt Edith, Catherine's chaperone, is strangled by the severed hand, which then vanishes. Announcing that Catherine is pregnant, physician Dr. Whittle urges Charles to tell her the story of the estate's dark past, but Charles refuses, believing it to be nothing more than a legend. Deciding that Catherine's visions are the result of

mental illness A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...

, he instead sends for Dr. Pope, a specialist in

psychiatric disorders A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...

. Pope approaches the mystery with an open mind and almost forces the truth out of Whittle, but before Whittle can speak, the hand rematerialises, strangles him, and vanishes again. Pope confronts Charles, who cautiously recounts the crimes of his debauched grandfather, Sir Henry Fengriffen: some 50 years earlier, Henry raped the bride of his servant, Silas – whose son, the woodsman, is the spitting image of his father – and then cut off the enraged Silas' right hand as punishment for trying to kill him. In revenge, Silas cursed the Fengriffens, vowing that the next

virgin Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

bride to enter Fengriffen House would be raped and her child tainted, while all those attempting to warn her would die. Henry later showed remorse and bequeathed Silas land, where the son has remained to watch his dead father's threat come to fruition. As Charles' mother was a widow before she married Charles' father, Catherine is the first virgin bride to arrive at the estate since the curse was placed. Pope agrees to stay with the Fengriffens until their baby is born. When Catherine goes into labour, he sedates her and delivers the child. Repulsed by the newborn's appearance, Charles rushes over to Silas' lodge and shoots the triumphant woodsman in the face with a pair of pistols. Pope follows and finds Silas dead on the floor with a shot through each eye, matching the corpse seen by Catherine. The furious Charles then sets about smashing open his grandfather's grave, beating Pope away when the doctor tries to stop him. As Charles destroys Henry's skeletal remains, Pope returns to Catherine and presents her child – which, like the older Silas, has a birthmarked face and no right hand. The camera zooms in on Catherine's tear-streaked face and the end credits roll.

Cast

* Peter Cushing as Dr Pope * Herbert Lom as Sir Henry Fengriffen * Patrick Magee as Dr Whittle * Stephanie Beacham as Catherine Fengriffen * Ian Ogilvy as Charles Fengriffen * Geoffrey Whitehead as Woodsman / Silas *

Guy Rolfe Guy Rolfe (born Edwin Arthur Rolfe, 27 December 1911 – 19 October 2003) was a British actor. Career Rolfe was born in Kilburn, London. Before turning to acting at the age of 24 he was a professional boxer and racing driver, making his stage ...

as Lawyer Maitland * Rosalie Crutchley as Mrs Luke *

Gillian Lind Gillian Lind (25 August 1904 - 25 October 1983) was a British stage, film and television actress. In 1930 she starred in Edgar Wallace's play '' On the Spot'' in the West End.Kabatchnik p.172 She went on to enjoy a long career in film and telev ...

as Aunt Edith *

Janet Key Janet Key (10 July 1945 – 26 July 1992) was an English actress with a varied career in theatre, film and television from the late 1960s until her death. Career Key was born in Bath, Somerset, and trained at the nearby Bristol Old Vic Theatr ...

as Bridget * Sally Harrison as Sarah

Production

Filming locations

The large gothic house used in the film is

Oakley Court Oakley Court is a Victorian Gothic country house set in overlooking the River Thames at Water Oakley in the civil parish of Bray in the English county of Berkshire. It was built in 1859 and is currently a hotel. It is a Grade II* listed bu ...

, near Bray village, which is now a four-star hotel.

Release

Reception

The film received a lukewarm reception in Britain and America on its release. In the UK, ''And Now the Screaming Starts!'' went out on a double bill with the American horror film, '' Doctor Death: Seeker of Souls''. Jonathan Rosenbaum of '' Monthly Film Bulletin'' praised Denys Coop's camerawork and the acting performances, yet felt the film never quite realised its potential. A. H. Weiler reviewing the work in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' commended Cushing's contribution, deeming it superior to the rest of the cast's, although considered its plot contrived. Mark Burger, reviewing a home video release for the '' Winston-Salem Journal'' in 2002, similarly noted the strong cast but found the muddled screenplay led to a merely "watchable" film. In a review published in 2006,

Stuart Galbraith IV Stuart Eugene Galbraith IV (born December 29, 1965) is an American film historian, film critic, essayist, and audio commentator. Early life and education Raised in Livonia, Michigan, Galbraith first worked professionally as a film reviewer and ...

called the film "only fitfully effective", criticising what he considered a lack of character development: "the film parades one series of strange-goings-on and other horror set pieces after another, but without compelling characters to hang them on they just don't make much of an impact."

Citations

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:And Now The Screaming Starts! 1970s ghost films 1970s supernatural horror films 1973 films 1973 horror films Amicus Productions films British films about revenge British ghost films British pregnancy films British supernatural horror films 1970s English-language films Films set in 1795 Films about curses Films based on horror novels Films directed by Roy Ward Baker Films scored by Douglas Gamley Films set in country houses Films shot in Berkshire British rape and revenge films British exploitation films 1970s British films