La maledizione

This eerie film is developed in an ancient and isolated castle and it takes place in 1795. . A just married couple goes home their grandparents during wedding night . As young Catherine just married Charles Fengriffen and moves into his castle . She becomes victim of an old curse that lays on the family . On her wedding night she's raped by a ghost and gets pregnant . The fiancé Charles Fengriffen (Ian Ogilvy) and his fiancée (Stephanie Beacham) aren't aware about the curse by terrible events occurred in past times and mysterious deeds are actually happening . In 1795 Silas , a young man who worked in stables attempts to avoid the violation of his young wife by the noble Fengriffen (Herbert Lom , he is second-billed as one of the main stars , though only appears in an extended flashback sequence). During the taking off between the noble landowner and the flunky is severed the hand of Silas . One time dead the noble , the vengeful spirit returns the castle , the revenge will be with the successors of tyrant Fengriffin . The severed hand goes back to torment the young couple , they are caught up by an ominous ghost and become inextricably involved in weird killings with several corpses . They will confront the mysterious evil force and legacy of horror of the Frengriffen family . Then the great Peter Cushing shows up to investigate at whatever risk .

This Amicus production (Max Rosenberg and Milton Subotsky) is a good terror film with malevolent spectres and family curses and with amazing final surprise . The movie is plenty of grisly murders , tension , terror , genuine screaming , horrible chills and a little bit of blood and gore . The picture packs a creepy atmosphere and strange color by the fine cinematographer Dennis Cop . The casting is frankly well , there appears various awesome British actors , the always excellent Peter Cushing , Patrick McGee , Guy Rolfe and the habitual villain Herbert Lom who does not appear at all until the last quarter of the film . The tale was rightly directed by Roy War Baker who realized magnificent terror films (Quatermass and the pit) . Motion picture will appeal to British horror enthusiasts .

Catherine (Stephanie Beacham) the new blushing bride of Charles Fengriffen (Ian Ogilvy) comes to live at his old family estate. On their first night together a family curse rears it's ugly head when a ghost rapes and impregnates her. Dr. Pope (Peter Cushing) is brought into the mix to figure the mess and solve the riddle of the curse.

'…And Now The Screaming Starts' is a solid tale from the Amicus Studios. The acting is on par with this type of film, slightly over the top and hammy but that's to be expected for this fare. While the production value is close to the grand productions of Hammer Studios (Amicus' chief competitor) the film lacks the lovely atmosphere of the Gothic Hammer films.

Even in 1973, there was not much new about a haunted mansion with a curse placed on the family who owns it, but this take on the genre still has a few things going for it. Beacham (stunningly appointed in a dazzling array of ornate hairpieces, hats and gowns with her bosom taking center stage) is a bride arriving at her groom's estate for the first time. On her wedding night (to Ogilvy), she is menaced by a ghastly figure with a stump for a hand and two blown out eyes. Or is she imagining the whole thing. She can't get anyone to tell her any details about the history of the house, chiefly during the time that Ogilvy's grandfather ran it, and any time someone relents and decides to fill her in, they are struck dead. Amazingly, Ogilvy is more concerned about his wife's mental state than the fact that people keep turning up dead at an alarming rate! Family physician Magee sends for noted psychologist Cushing, who tries his best to sort through the rubble of the mystery (while a hilarious severed hand watches ominously from under tables and behind boxes. Shouldn't this fella be at the Addams' house?) A lot of the film is a rehash of the, by now tiresome, "now it's there, now it's not" sort of thing and the standby, "But I can't tell you" line of dialogue. The pace is a little too leisurely to support such commonly seen material and storyline. However, the acting is excellent all around, so that, along with some creative direction and decent music, helps to keep the viewer interested for the most part. There are several striking bits of camera work in this movie. Cushing doesn't appear until halfway through the film at least. He gives his customarily strong performance, lending class and distinction to the film. Lom really should have had one of those cameo billings with his character name listed after as he only appears briefly (but effectively) near the very end of the film. Magee is appropriately musty as the old family doctor. Beacham is ravishing and gives a very solid performance. Though fourth-billed, it is really her story and she rises to the occasion beautifully with moments of radiance and terror. She has one memorably amusing faint and some riotously fun reactions to all the creepy goings-on. Ogilvy does well in a very underwritten and sketchy role. He and Beacham scarcely share any meaningful scenes together. The rest of the cast is made up of decent British character actors who give their roles a nice air of dread and flavor. The story isn't quite unique enough and the result isn't quite memorable enough for this to count as a horror classic, but it has plenty of merit nonetheless and isn't a bad way to while away a little time.

-- And Now the Screaming Starts! Was an attempt by Amicus Productions to move away from the Portmantaeu movies that was their stock in trade, to make a horror movie of only one story. The reason is not to compete with Hammer Films, since there really was no rivalry between the two companies, but just to show that they could if they so chose to go that route as well. What is evident is that their inexperience in this department shows greatly, making the film an enjoyable misfire, if ultimately a frustrating experience.

Story is set in the late 18th century and newlyweds Charles and Catherine Fengriffen move into Charles' family estate. Almost immediately Catherine starts to have terrifying visions, even experiencing what she feels is definite contact with something not of the natural world. Is she going mad? Or is there something seriously malevolent lurking around the dark corridors of Fengriffen Mansion?

What follows is a number of fun and creepy horror sequences very poorly glued together by a minimalist back story and thin characterisations, the Amicus production team just hurtling as quick as possible to the next scene involving Stephanie Beacham being freaked out and screaming. And of course for us to observe her quite magnificent heaving bosom. On reflection it's a collage of more famous and better movies, so a portmanteau movie that's not actually a portmanteau movie!

The cast list features Peter Cushing, Herbert Lom and Patrick Magee. Cushing doesn't show up until late in the day, and as classy as he was as an actor, he is phoning it in here. Lom only appears in an extended cameo flashback, which is annoying since the character is deliciously warped, sort of what Emeric Belasco was for Legend of Hell House. While I'm still not sure what Magee's purpose in the film was? Seriously!

Beacham and Ian Ogilvy's new marriage just sort of sits there without rhyme or reason, interesting threads such as Cushing taking an interest in sexual relations with demons never get expanded upon, and really there's no big finale to crown the story; though skeleton abuse does hold some macabre enjoyment value. Yet in spite of all its problems, it's still a fun night in with the lights off. Beacham's bosom, severed limbs and a vengeful curse from the past ensure it's worth watching for sure. 6/10

British film company Amicus were the masters of the horror anthology, but they also produced single plot movies, this being one. Here we have a delightfully Gothic tale about a curse, haunted paintings and a crawling, severed hand. The film is very well shot, has lovely sets and boasts a very fine cast. However it is not the "gory horror" that the newspaper TV guide described back in the 1980's when I first watched it, it is also slow at times. Perhaps this was a short story that has been stretched to 90 minutes, it sometimes feels like it. But is does have some effective horror moments, plus there is a rape scene which I found to be the most shocking part, so not suitable for kids. Many years ago when I was attending college one of the bus drivers was a spitting image of Silas the woodsman, we did chuckle about that! Certainly not one of the best Amicus movies but still an enjoyable late night horror.