Die lebenden Leichen des Dr. Mabuse

Scream and Scream Again seems to want to be a very deep and complicated film. After all, it starts out by presenting three different, and apparently unrelated, plot lines, introduces new characters seemingly at the writers whim through the run time, and seems to pride itself on a grim and "realistic" portrayal of violence and death (while still allowing itself plenty of latitude for shock sequences and super-powered antagonists). Does it all work? Well, not entirely, but I have to give it some credit for trying.

Let's start with the biggest problem I have with this film, the bait-and-switch billing. Price, Lee, and Cushing sit majestically at the top of the credits, yet get precious little screen time, virtually none of it shared. Price is a doctor/mad scientist introduced early on, and then forgotten until the film starts winding down, Cushing has one scene and then dies, and Lee isn't even introduced until late in the film, where he serves as a plot device to tie everything together and wrap up.

Then there's the whole three-plot lines thing. The bulk of the film follows a police inspector on the trail of a psychotic, blood drinking, super-strong serial killer. (Gee, could he be a vampire? Ummmm... well, no.) Alongside that we have the story of a spy for some unnamed, oppressive regime. The over-the-top tone of these scenes clashes with the more mannered presentation of the inspector's story. The costumes and sets suggest a combination of Stalinist Russia, Nazi Germany, and rampant Satanism. (Sure, the symbol displayed on armbands, banners, windows, and any other available surface is probably supposed to evoke the bundled arrows of fascism, but it looks more like the head of a demonic pitchfork to me.) Then we have a series of scenes about a man who collapses while out jogging, and finds himself in a hospital room, where he is kept sedated most of the time while his limbs are gradually stolen in off-camera surgeries. None of this seems connected in any way until the end, when the true plot is revealed, and turns out to be something not particularly suggested by anything in the film up to that point.

Theoretically, this movie could still have worked, and if they had pulled it off, it might have been quite clever. But, even beyond the mismatched feel of the three plot lines, there are other problems which make SaSA feel like several different films forced to share one screen. The inspector becomes irrelevant to his own plot once things get rolling, his leading-man status usurped by the young assistant coroner, who was no more than a minor player for the whole first half of the film. The psycho leaves a nightclub with his latest victim, just in time to go out for "one last drink," and is followed and eventually chased by the police... in broad daylight. Apparently, the bars in England close much earlier than I thought. Add in an unnecessary shock scene or two (like the evil spy's interrogation of a pretty would-be defector, which doesn't seem to have any connection to the rest of the film), and you're starting to make a real mess of things.

Still, the resolution, while coming out of left field, does do a reasonable job of tying things together. But I still cannot recommend this film, mainly because I still feel cheated at the under-utilization of three of the greatest horror actors of all time.

'Scream and Scream Again' is one of my favorites, even though it is ratherly poorly put together. The director tried to make the movie mysterious -- and succeeded too well, making it nearly incomprehensible. However, if you have patience, the final explanation at the end will tie enough of the film together to make rewarding sense.

The main attraction for this movie is its subtle atmosphere of horror. The movie mainly consists of fragmented images that come to gether to paint a darker picture than just what the movie shows. A good example of the texture and flavor of the film is the scene which, to my disappointment, was removed from the version I rented (I originally saw the film in a college Halloween movie festival). A coroner while alone investigating the death of a lovely women begins to move forward as if to kiss the corpse but is interrupted by the inspector entering the room. The surprised coroner quickly straightens up and tries to look very official and busy, but obviously is upset at having almost been caught being amorous to the corpse. No further reference was made to the scene.

This is an example of the extremely dark and upsetting images that lie just beneath the surface of the film. It is unfortunate that the director's attempt to involve the audience by making them work hard to piece together fragments of action into something comprehensible was mostly unsuccessful. Still, I think the film is worth the patience. My rating: 8 of 10.

This has got to be the wildest Price film ever. I saw this film for the first time recently and I was just blown.

This film tells the intricate story of an organization that's trying to take over the world by way of a superhuman race of people that are literally created. Think "Frankenstein". If I could rename this film, I'd call it "Frankenstein Meets James Bond". As a matter fact, that's the best way to describe the plot.

When you see this film, don't turn away from it because you will find yourself missing a lot. There are several plots going on simultaneously (I kid you not!). You have the crazed serial killer will a thirst for blood, the runner who keeps losing limbs and the secret organization that's afoot.

For those of you that are looking for action & horror in a fast-pace setting, you got it!

Starring three of horror cinema's greatest icons - Vincent Price, Peter Cushing, and Christopher Lee - this rather atypical American International Pictures release consists of several seemingly disparate plot threads that director Gordon Hessler attempts to pull together in the final act, with little success, the ending almost as confusing as everything that precedes it.

The film opens with a jogger collapsing and waking up in a hospital bed where he finds that he is missing a leg! The action then cuts to an unspecified Eastern European country where Konratz (Marshall Jones) is killing his dictatorial superiors in a bid to seize power. Meanwhile, a murder investigation leads London police detective Supt. Bellaver (Alfred Marks) to the home of Dr. Browning (Vincent Price). Christopher Lee appears as Fremont, a government official who is trying to secure the release of a spy, and Cushing, in what amounts to little more than a brief cameo, plays one of those who stands in the way of Konratz's climb to the top.

While there are some decent scenes along the way, including a perilous car chase, and a killer ripping off his own hand to escape from the police, the choppy nature of the narrative and the disappointing ending make Scream and Scream Again a far from essential 70s horror, despite its trio of genre greats.

If you want to see Price, Cushing and Lee together in a good film, I recommend The House Of The Long Shadows: it's much more fun, and you get John Carradine thrown in for good measure.

I had missed a viewing of SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN (the title itself is fairly ludicrous, I must say) when I was a kid, shown on Italian TV as part of a one-night Vincent Price marathon. Having now watched the four AIP films made by director Gordon Hessler, I think that this is probably his best work.

It has a rather audacious non-linear narrative for a 'mainstream' horror film, though it all comes together neatly in the end. It is also the only one of the four films to take place in 'our' times - despite the old-fashioned trappings of the plot (taking in espionage in the form of dictatorial regimes with their Nazi-like villains, as well as the obligatory mad scientist and his vampiric 'creations'), the modern-day setting is indeed very appropriate and John Coquillon's typically elegant cinematography captures its essence quite well.

SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN is virtually a black comedy which, mercifully, does not descend into camp: it is quite convoluted, relatively protracted (maybe this was because I watched it back to back with THE OBLONG BOX {1969}!), but wholly likable for all that. David Whitaker's 'unusual' pop score is another major asset.

Like the earlier film, SCREAM does not take advantage of having three great horror stars together for the first time. Peter Cushing, graceful as always, does not share any scenes with Vincent Price or Christopher Lee, and indeed appears all too briefly. Price is effective as the mad scientist, even if the material itself didn't seem to inspire him all that much (he later admitted to not 'getting' it!). Lee, perhaps the most progressive-thinking horror star (let's not forget he appeared in Jess Franco's EUGENIETHE STORY OF HER JOURNEY INTO PERVERSION that same year!), is perfectly authoritative as the true villain of the piece.

We also get an exciting if over-extended chase sequence in which Michael Gothard finds new (and highly impractical!) means of eluding the Police - in the shape of sarcastic Superintendent Bellaver who, as played with a rather heavy British accent by Alfred Marks, manages any number of amusing scenes (designed, perhaps, to relieve the audience's frustration at the many - and apparently disjointed - strands of plot going on all at once)!

The end result is patchy overall - certainly not everything in this pot-pourri of ideas works to our general satisfaction (particularly Marshall Jones' overbearing characterization of Konratz) - but the film is often ingenious and weird enough to keep one's interest at all times. In retrospect, the great Fritz Lang's (reported) appreciation of SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN is actually not very hard to understand, as the material is indeed well up his street!

Reading about the film on the Net, I came across a rather disconcerting post over at Mobius where it was stated that the print utilized for the DVD was cut. Here is the relevant quote in full:

'On SCREAM I am convinced there was extra footage in the UK theatrical release (which I saw) that has now vanished and was not restored in the MGM DVD. This consists of (a) Alfred Marks bringing down Michael Gothard in the quarry by throwing a stone that hits him on the head, which is the reason he falls down (b) at the climax, there was originally more footage and some more dialogue between Lee and Price - there is a fairly obvious music track change on the DVD where this should be.'

Is anybody here able to confirm this, or at least shed some more light on the matter?