Scream and Scream Again (1970)

...Uhhhh...Ummm...I'm gonna give this my best shot. A jogger suddenly collapses and wakes up in a strange hospital, missing an arm! He screams and passes out, then later wakes up to find another limb missing. Elsewhere, a vampiric serial killer is on the loose, and the police try to catch him. Meanwhile, skulduggery is afoot in a totalitarian Eastern European nation, and a mad scientist in the countryside is conducting his own experiments. What strange horrors are these, and how does it connect all these events?...

Scream and Scream Again is a pretty notorious picture. It's not that it's a bad film exactly, but it stands as one of the most confounding ever put to screen! There are at least 3 plots going on, possibly 5 depending on how you count them. Each could probably get their own movie. It's mystifying trying to watch and figure out if they'll come together, let alone how. The plots don't connect until an hour in, and even then it's pretty light on details. We only have all the facts in the case by the very end, and how good of a job it does explaining depends.

This is a shame, because the story and themes here are actually pretty interesting! It's a Frankenstein type story set amidst the backdrop of the Cold War, with a 1984 style country. A unique mix of old and new, and they could produce many interesting ideas. Unfortunately Scream and Scream Again is so crowded it never really gets the chance to go anywhere, and the audience is too confused to really enjoy themselves. It's rare that a film works when you only know what's going on in the last 5 minutes. Although this does reward rewatches.

With all this promise, I do wonder if the plots to Scream and Scream Again could've ever made a cohesive movie, if only it was written better. I'd say No, since the best fix would be to trim at least one story, but maybe if you were talented it could work. But the solution I hit upon was this. The film is a co-production with Amicus, who were most known for their catalogue of anthologies! Imagine Scream Again and its myriad plots not as one single story, but several different ones. Set in the same world, building on each-other perhaps, but each with their own beginning middle and end.

Scream Again is slightly genre-bending. More thriller, with a hint of sci-fi, but with definite horror elements. Particularly the jogger's fate, which must be the stuff of nightmares. The whole serial killer chase feels more like a police show, but with a spooky twist. It's this sequence that really tests your patience, as it manages to last a full 17 minutes! First they chase him by car, then on foot, before finally cuffing him...until he finds a novel way of escape, and the chase restarts! It drags on even longer, before finally coming to an end when the killer runs into a seemingly random barn, where there just happens to be an acid pit in. He decides he would rather die than be killed, and presto!

The main hero is ostensibly Superintendent Bellaver, and he's an alright bloke. Although I question his wisdom in placing a piece of vital police evidence in a glass case in an unlocked conservatory! He's randomly killed with half an hour still to go, which feels like a pointless and unsatisfying fate. This leaves us with only one lasting hero-Young doctor David. He's tolerable, but not great, and he's completely unqualified to fight these villains.

Who the villains are here is unclear for the most part. We know they exist? The one with the most scrreentime is mad scientist Dr. Browning, as played by Vincent Price. When David shows up at his base at the end, Browning is affable, and genuinely excited to show him what's going on, scrubbing up =. Browning's plan is a bit out there, and doesn't make a lot of sense, in a few ways, but it's still neat to hear. And he has some pretty insightful dialogue in places.

I was a little confused though by the end, was Browning evil or wasn't he? On one hand he is a mad scientist, but then he seems genuinely concerned at Konratz's behaviour, and what it means for others of his kind. Although I'm not sure how the vampire killer fits into all that. And if he doesn't consider himself evil, why is he dismembering joggers? It's not even clear who exactly is doing that, as if those scenes were filmed separately.

Christopher Lee's character is one of the least interesting, precisely because we see so little and know less about him. He's just some government guy. Whether he's good or not is up for debate. I guess he is? His line at the end is ambiguous, but erring on the side of nice.

The vampiric serial killer has little character. He's a creepy 'charmer with the ladies, and he slurps blood out of his victims like out of a milkshake straw. The second he's rumbled by the police, he basically becomes a vehicle for action, till his eventual death. I'm surprised a man so intent on self preservation would be so quick to suicide!

Then there's the film's other villain, state assassin Konrad. He kills his victims with neck pinches, and is somehow able to just wander into these high security places and kill major figures with no trouble. He also gets the film's defining line-"You won't understand and I won't explain.". His role in events is confusing, and I didn't understand why he wanted all the evidence of the vampire murders. Nor why he's asking Christopher Lee's character, considering certain revelations.

The climax is ok, with its fair share of ghoulish moments, and a return of acid pit shenanigans. The young 'hero' though proves to be utterly useless, getting knocked out twice in the same scene, and the day is only saved by internal squabbling.

The cast here is a great one! Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, and Peter Cushing? All in one film? Yes! Together? Sadly no. They rarely if ever share the screen, and their collective screentime is barely over 15 minutes. Cushing only has the one 3 minute scene early on, while Lee gets a little more, and Price has the more substantial role. He's still sporadic and underused, but he's enough of a presence to justify putting his name prominently on the poster. Despite all three getting top billing, the real stars are Alfred Marks and Christopher Matthews, who do well (with the latter getting an odd moment where he's dubbed to say Garbage when he clearly said Crap). The rest of the cast includes Marshall Jones as the assassin, Michael Gothard as the serial killer, and a cameoing Peter Sallis!

The music here is pretty standard stuff, feeling at times like a 70s police show. There are also some songs courtesy of band Amen Corner, such as the title track. The chorus is pretty boppy, and it is fun when movies include songs that sing the title! But every other part of this one made me want to block out my ears.

The effects are pretty neat, with some severed limbs, and a satisfactory amount of blood. As nightmarish as the idea of helplessly losing limbs is, the effect is a little funny to look at, but props to them for trying. The direction is fairly decent Special 'praise' must go to how Price and Lee manage to share almost an entire scene without being on camera together, and one stares the other back into an acid bath.

And the location work is pretty good. The car chase is shot well, and moves on foot to a neat area, that's framed really well! We don't see a lot of the totalitarian state, and what we do is regular streets and sunny green fields. It's not terribly unconvincing, though their insignia looking like a road sign isn't good for much but a laugh.

Scream and Scream Again is a bizarre film, and if you go in expecting these great horror stars, you'll be disappointed. But it's still worth checking out just to see how crazy it gets. Or if you want the really compressed version with some funny jokes, you could watch the great Dark Corners review!...