Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

Scream of Fear Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman January 30, 2021

This Blu-ray release of 'Scream of Fear' can be found in a two-film bundle with 'Never Take Candy from a Stranger.' The two films are also included in the Hammer Ultimate Collection. There, they feature a different audio encode (that yields the same results) and identical video. Both films include commentary tracks there that are not included here.

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 

This Blu-ray disc appears to contain the same transfer used for the Hammer Collection. For a full video review, please click here.

Scream of Fear Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Though this edition features an LPCM 2.0 uncompressed soundtrack and the presentation from the 20-film Hammer bundle includes a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless soundtrack, one would be hard-pressed to notice any significant differences. Several A-B comparisons revealed no tangible alterations to any element. The review of the presentation from the Hammer collection suffices here.

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

The Hammer Collection release includes an audio commentary track which is sadly missing here. No other extras are included, either.

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

With no significant video or audio alterations fans of this film, but not the others in the Hammer Collection, can purchase with confidence understanding that this release is missing a commentary track.