Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.0

Scream and Scream Again Blu-ray Movie Review

Where's the rest of him?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 29, 2015

An actor by the name of Ronald Wilson Reagan, a guy who I believe may have gone on to some kind of political career, wrote an autobiography whose title quoted a famous line he uttered as a character in the 1942 film Kings Row, namely, “Where’s the rest of me?” While Reagan’s 1965 tome was a neat play on the concept behind that phrase, in the film it’s a patently disturbing moment when a young man awakens to discover a villainous doctor has amputated the young man’s legs for no medical reason. Reagan’s character of Drake McHugh has nothing on a poor man seen at several interstitial moments in the often patently odd Scream and Scream Again, and in fact that repetitive title is obviously referring at least in part to the wails of woe the character emits in scenes that find this guy, who apparently has a heart attack while jogging, initially awakening in a hospital to find his right leg has been removed. That’s just the beginning of this patient’s horror story, one that slowly begins to assume certain elements of Johnny Got His Gun (in a manner of speaking). Scream and Scream Again probably got a lot of people into the theater by dint of the fact that it quite wisely advertised an iconic trifecta of horror stars, Vincent Price, Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, though once those ticket buyers were well ensconced in their seats, many of them may have been asking, “Hey—where’s the rest of them?”, for the film really doesn’t depend on any meaningful interaction between the three actors, and in fact in some ways, all three are consigned to glorified (and maybe not so glorified) cameos. In other ways, however, Scream and Scream Again may actually offer too much, for it’s a kind of odd hodgepodge of disparate elements which are never really woven together completely artfully. The fact that the names Milton Subotsky and Max Rosenberg appear as producers might lead some to assume that this is simply “another” Amicus portmanteau (like the recently released Dr. Terror's House of Horrors) but here instead of some kind of linking mechanism uniting varied tales of woe, there’s a kind of willy nilly aspect where the individual stories just kind of collide into each other, leading to a somewhat confusing ambience that even David Del Valle and Tim Sullivan, the two commentators offering their assessment of the film on this Blu-ray, have a hard time explicating at times.

Within fairly short order, three apparently unrelated stories are introduced. First there’s the terrifying mystery of the jogger who is being “reduced” piece by piece. Then, a somewhat mystifying segue presents a quasi-fascistic government operative named Konratz (Marshall Jones, probably one of the true “stars” of the film, despite the billing). There’s some top secret military planning going on in this unidentified state, and Konratz is supposedly not privy to it, something that turns out to complicate matters when Konratz lets some of the plan slip in a meeting with a superior. When the superior threatens to turn Konratz into another superior named Benedek (Peter Cushing), Konratz deals with matters in a manner that may remind more than a few of a certain Vulcan nerve pinch that was a regular feature in Star Trek: The Original Series . The third plot element is focused on a serial killer who is evidently targeting pretty young single girls, and who is not just sexually assaulting and murdering them, but desanguinating them as well. A no nonsense cop named Bellaver (Alfred Marks, the other ostensible “star”) is on the case, but somewhat mystified by some of the aspects involved.

The fact that first billed Vincent Price hasn’t yet been mentioned in that above summary may already indicate that Scream and Scream Again may strike some as a bit of a “cheat”, at least from a marketing standpoint. But the police procedural angle surrounding the serial killer soon brings the cops to the door of Dr. Browning (Vincent Price), who was in fact one of the victims' employer. Browning insists he has little information to offer, but there’s obviously some kind of nefarious activity going on at the good (?) doctor’s facility.

All of this seemingly unrelated craziness just keeps unspooling fairly haphazardly, and the film doesn’t even go to many lengths to disguise the identity of the lady killer, who turns out to be a discotheque habitue named Keith (Michael Gothard). In fact, Keith is ostensibly brought to justice fairly early in the film, though in another rather weird “plot” development (if it can even be called that) which seems to have been inspired by Bullitt, a rather lengthy car chase suddenly erupts with the cops trying to chase down the villain.

As the commentators repeatedly reference throughout the film, director Gordon Hessler wasn’t just brought on to the project relatively late, he was saddled with a cast he didn’t choose, some of whom (notably Price) weren’t happy at all to be participating. But the main culprit in Scream and Scream Again’s sometimes baffling presentation style is simply a poorly structured screenplay. While a portmanteau form wasn’t necessary here, a more artful explanation of how all three of the aforementioned plot elements are interwoven most definitely could have helped things. There’s a bit of a “Moishe the Explainer” moment late in the film (in the only scene that Lee and Price share), but it’s brief and even it is pretty discursive, to the point that some viewers are going to be as perplexed as they ever were, even after having things supposedly detailed for them.

As the commentary also mentions, rather interestingly Fritz Lang evidently loved this film, and apparently German screenings of the film explicitly referenced Lang’s Dr. Mabuse films (e.g., Dr. Mabuse The Gambler). That referent may seem at least a little far fetched, but it lends credence to the fact that for some film aficionados, there seems to be more going on in Scream and Scream Again than meets the eye. The film’s avant-garde ambience may have been completely unintentional, but it gives this admittedly stitched together monster a very distinctive if fractured identity.

Scream and Scream Again Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Scream and Scream Again is presented on Blu-ray with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Elements have relatively minor but still ubiquitous damage in the form of scratches, nicks and speckling (some of which can be seen fairly readily in the some of the screenshots accompanying this review). The palette is variably saturated throughout the presentation, with some sequences looking nicely robust (see screenshot 1), while others are at least relatively anemic looking (see screenshot 18). Clarity is likewise somewhat variable, with studio set sequences perhaps understandably looking more solid, while the long chase sequence (which obviously takes place outside) looks slightly softer. There's acceptable if less than overwhelming shadow detail in many darker sequences (the film was lensed by Dutch cinematographer John Coquillon, who went on to collaborate several times with Sam Peckinpah, and who became well regarded for his ability to capture imagery in natural lighting conditions). The grain field is fairly heavy at times, but resolves naturally and presents no compression anomalies.

Scream and Scream Again Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Scream and Scream Again features a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track that provides very good support for the film's dialogue, but perhaps a bit less force than some might hope for in sequences like the Amen Corner theme song scene in the discotheque. Fidelity is excellent overall, despite some slight prioritization issues in some of the noisier moments.

Scream and Scream Again Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary features David Del Valle and Tim Sullivan.


• Gentleman Gothic: Gordon Hessler at AIP (1080p; 23:21) is a well done overview of the director's tumultuous time at the studio.


• An Interview with Uta Levka (480p; 4:83) is an interesting conversation with the film's scary nurse.


• Still Gallery (1080p)


• Radio Spot (1:01)


• Original Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:18)


• MGM 90th Anniversary Trailer (1080p; 2:06)


• Isolated Score Track is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0.

Scream and Scream Again Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Scream and Scream Again is a bit of an odd duck, especially when compared to other Price, Lee and/or Cushing films. In fact, it's probably best to not think of this film as a typical Price, Lee and/or Cushing entry, especially given the fact that the true stars of the story are lesser known character actors. The screenplay is a mess, unable to organically knit together the triptych of plots the film offers. Still, Scream and Scream Again is a one of a kind experience (for better or worse), and this release offers some really excellent supplements. Recommended.