Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.0

Scream of Fear Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman December 22, 2020

Scream of Fear is currently only available in the twenty film Hammer Ultimate Collection. The film is also available as part of a double feature with Never Take Candy from a Stranger.

Paralyzed Penny Appleby (Susan Strasberg) returns home to her father's estate but learns from her step mother Jane (Ann Todd) that father is away. Her world is rocked when she believes she sees her father in the nearby summer house, dead. She's convinced of what she's seen, but underlying psychiatric issues, the witness of those around her, and a lack of evidence point to the image being a fiction of her imagination. Only time, and her own investigation, will reveal the truth.

The story is soundly constructed with enough wiggle room that the audience, like the rest of the characters, cannot be convinced that Penny’s claims are valid. She certainly believes they are, and Susan Strasberg is quite adept at building her character to convincingly share her suspicions and fears. The movie, then, pulls the audience into a tug-of-war between reason on both sides that slowly slips into doubt which morphs into insanity. There’s nothing much truly clever here, but the story is well conceived and the performances support it quite well. Unlike some of the other Hammer films -- The Snorkel -- the audience is not in possession of the truth from the first minutes. The film builds genuine suspense and there's never a sense of certainty as to what's true and what is not, and the story's evolution only reinforces the mystery rather than sacrifice it for convenience.

Scream of Fear Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The supplied 1080p Blu-ray presentation is imperfect but nevertheless a stout, capable image. It's of a quality filmic nature, holding to a grain structure that does fluctuate in density at times but never to such extremes as to look overly snowy or, on the other end, the image scrubbed clean of its natural state. Details are generally strong, offering quality facial complexities and higher end environmental details which are vital in exploring Penny's world, including, perhaps most notably, the densely (and weirdly) populated summer house room where she believes she's seen her father's dead body. There's some fun stuff in the location, and the Blu-ray will allow the audience to soak it in. It's also rather dark, but the presentation handles black level depth and balance quite well. Dark scenes and shadowy corners never crush out detail and neither do they ever appear abnormally bright or light. The grayscale is efficient and whites, while a bit more creamy than ideal, are fairly pleasant in sum. The picture is home to the occasional speckle but print wear is minimal. Compression related issues are likewise more nonstarters than image destroying plagues. This is not the finest catalogue release of all time, but Mill Creek has done well on what amounts to a budget Blu-ray within the larger Hammer Ultimate collection.

Scream of Fear Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Once again, a Mill Creek Hammer film from the Ultimate Collection box includes a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless soundtrack. It's a hair wider than some of its brethren, still favoring that imaged middle location but allowing music the privilege of spacing out a little for a more dynamic experience. Musical clarity is satisfactory, too, with minimal crunchiness and unkemptness though it's all obviously far removed from the high fidelity and transparently lifelike tracks found on even modestly budgeted modern movies. Environmental supports are fine, beginning with an airport scene in the opening minutes where PA announcements, chatter, and footfalls rarely escape the front center area but do find good delivery balance for a crude, but effective, spatial recreation. Ditto some insects around the estate's exteriors which are even mentioned in the film for the din they create as Penny is moving in. Some of the "horror" sound effects – piercing screams and some loud crashes – play with identifiable detail that carry the sound design needs with sufficiency. Dialogue is clear and center imaged for the duration.

Scream of Fear Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Scream of Fear contains an audio commentary track with Author/Film Historian Steve Haberman.

Scream of Fear Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The title Scream of Fear aptly describes a key moment in the film, but it conveys a kinetic energy whereas this is more a slow-burn investigation/character study film. It's effective as a Chiller and Mystery more so than a Horror film. Mill Creeks' Blu-ray is simple if not sound, featuring good video and audio presentations as well as a commentary track. Recommended.