Over the years the 1970 sci-fi horror conspiracy thriller Scream and Scream Again has aged surprisingly well. Its seemingly unnconnected plots actually look quite hip in today’s channel hopping, attention deficit, age. And the horror thriller was certainly hip in its day, earning big at the box office for its producers, Amicus and American International Pictures.
Vincent Price gets top billing as cancer scientist Dr Browning, conducting mysterious research in a rural Surrey mansion; while Alfred Marks’ London detective is tracking down a homicidal sex maniac dubbed, The Vampire Killer, who is targeting girls in local nightclubs. Meanwhile, in some unspecified Eastern European totalitarian state, Peter Cushing gets bumped off by Marshall Jones’ Konratz (though everyone calls him Konrad in the film) as part of his climb to the top job, while back in Blighty, Christopher Lee’s British Intelligence official is trying to secure the release of a lost British pilot.
Vincent only really gets to shine in the film’s final reels – for a quick tour of his modern Frankenstein-styled lab – before an undignified acid bath death at the hands of Lee’s man from the ministry.
Still, Scream and Scream Again is one of the most unusual and unique British sci-fi’s ever made, and now that its available in HD on Blu-ray and DVD, with the restored the original soundtrack, including Amen Corner’s eponymous theme tune – its one to watch again and again…
19 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN… READ THEM HERE
To celebrate the film’s original cinema release in the UK on 8 February 1970 (it went on general release in the US on 13 February), check out our gallery of original US Lobby Cards from my own collection. CLICK HERE
Lovely stuff Peter! Now, if only we could have a UK Blu-ray of this one (I think it’s a Region A locked disc from Twilight Time but correct me if I’m wrong). And you may think I’m mad for wanting this but I would love it to have the Kendall Schmidt score as an alternative track, as I actually like it more than the David Whitaker one, oh heathen that I am, but I can’t help it! Then all we need is a pdf of Peter Saxon’s The Disorientated Man novel and the package would be complete! (Although I bet you and I could have a lot of fun providing a commentary track 😉 )
Oh yes John, we would indeed have so much fun if that ever came to be. And as for poor Kendall… check out this interview with him. http://www.runmovies.eu/kendall-schmidt-the-subtle-art-of-rescoring/