MovieChat Forums > And Now the Screaming Starts! (1974) Discussion > Is this the worst Hammer/Amicus film eve...

Is this the worst Hammer/Amicus film ever made?

posted 18 years ago by japs
12 replies | jump to latest

And now the screaming starts...at least it did when the movie ended and I realised I'd invested 90 minutes of my life in this rubbish.

I have enjoyed (to varying degrees) many of the films of Amicus/Hammer and Roy Ward Baker. I have always found them entertaining with something of interest. This wasn't the case with this movie. In fact I couldn't believe how bad it was. Bear in mind that this was made in the same year as The Exorcist! So allow me to let loose with a barrage of questions that if anyone has answers to I'd be interested in hearing them.

1. Why did Stephanie Beacham see the ghost of a man who hadn't died yet?
2. What did the severed hand do for the previous fifty years (before the film's narrative began)?
3. Was it hiding behind the picture?
4. It appeared to rip through the portrait. If that was the case why wasn't the picture ripped when they went back to it?
5. How does a severed hand (never the most frightening of foes) manage to jump four feet of the ground? Can it float in mid-air?
6. When the maid was strangled by this recalcitrant hand, it appeared to be unreal. Was this the ghost of the severed hand? If so could it switch between a ghost-like state and an ordinary physical state?
7. Why did the curse work? After all the servant wasn't a mystic, or had any links with the, ahem, black arts. Perhaps in those times you just had to state a curse for it to actually work. If that was the case couldn't Herbert Lom have uttered another curse that negated the first?
8. Why did the birthmark look like a piece of cardboard stuck to the side of the servant's face?
9. Why were people constantly in rooms on their own, and/or wandering around the house aimlessly?
10. Why were the 'day for night' shots so awfully edited that the laws of time and space seemed to disappear?
11. Why did the director overuse the quick zoom on Herbert Lom's portrait to suggest a sense of foreboding?
12. Why didn't I use the fast forward button on my DVD player?
Why...why....why....the screaming's about to start again:
Aaarrrrgggghhhhhh!!!!!

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] 18 years ago

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[–] DC-Tiki 17 years ago

It's a ghost!! Classic!
I'm gonna using this excuse to explain away stuff in future as well! Hehe.

[–] The_Dying_Flutchman 17 years ago

Only true lovers of rubbish would go on and on about something so tawdry and foolish. You peeps have cornered the market on such behavior. Long live meaningless trivia!

What is the meaning of meaning?

[–] abuali 17 years ago

yea i just seen this on AMC yesterday, Jun 1 2007, and the first thing that popped into my mind was {Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter} (i recommend this film if you enjoyed And Now The Screaming Starts!) i dont know why but for some reason i like these old school British horror films. i dont find them scary at all, but instead they are very interesting. I like the atmopshere of these films and now that i know that Hammer/Amicus are companies that made/produced these types of films, i have more of a lead when searching for movies of this nature instead of looking for "old horror movies on AMC".

[–] IFeedPigeons 17 years ago

FBS - pompous ass

[–] Miss_October 16 years ago

Absolutely brilliant post, FBS; I laughed so hard I almost hurt myself!

Woman is the Earth and Man is the Sky.

[–] Pandjy 17 years ago

Its a ghost! Truer words where never spoken.
I watched the movie this morning and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Enjoy today - its gone tomorrow

[–] Porrohman 16 years ago

FBS83 hasn`t been back since march last year!

Do you think he was a ghost?

[–] ClassicMovieholic 16 years ago

I think you need to work on your suspension of disbelief. You musn't expect too much (or any) logic from a tale of the supernatural, especially one which, though a fun romp, certainly was not written by Mary Shelley or Sheridan Le Fanu.

[–] changedname 12 years ago

Yeah, you can forget about the plot for this one. However the ideas are very, very good and so is the imagery. In fact, throw in a few sexy nudey scenes and this would be a complete old Italian style horror.

I had some books in front of me and started reading them a little, however I ended up rewinding part of the film because I wanted to hear everything. The dialogue and especially the ideas are rather good, it's the whole muddled thing that I couldn't stand.

Not once in the entire film did I feel the tiniest bit of suspense.

[–] Wuchak (8117) 4 years ago

Why did Stephanie Beacham see the ghost of a man who hadn't died yet?

You weren't paying attention: The Woodsman was the son of the original woodsman, both named Silas and both bearing a facial birthmark. The current story takes place in 1795 whereas the flashback in 1745. The son version of Silas wasn't born until 1765, which would make him 30 years-old in the present-day story line.

What did the severed hand do for the previous fifty years (before the film's narrative began)?

The curse was on the first virgin bride of the Fengriffen estate, which turned out to be Katherine (Stephanie Beacham) since Charles' mother was a widow when she married his father.

It appeared to rip through the portrait. If that was the case why wasn't the picture ripped when they went back to it? When the maid was strangled by this recalcitrant hand, it appeared to be unreal. Was this the ghost of the severed hand? If so could it switch between a ghost-like state and an ordinary physical state?

The hand was obviously ghostly and could manifest in the physical realm corresponding to the curse. Death was to come to anyone who would interfere with the fulfillment of the curse.

Why did the curse work? After all the servant wasn't a mystic, or had any links with the, ahem, black arts. Perhaps in those times you just had to state a curse for it to actually work. If that was the case couldn't Herbert Lom have uttered another curse that negated the first?

Obviously the law of karma was at play: Arrogant Henry committed a great evil against Silas & his bride and therefore universal justice was on Silas' side when he solemnly spoke the curse. And, as biblical book of Proverbs says, "The tongue has the power of life and death."

Why were people constantly in rooms on their own, and/or wandering around the house aimlessly?

That's what people do when they live in a huge manor rather than outside in the woods.

Why did the director overuse the quick zoom on Herbert Lom's portrait to suggest a sense of foreboding?

This is a legitimate beef. I can't believe no one in the editing process voiced how overdone and annoying this was.