Scream and Scream Again

Plot synopsis:
A London jogger suddenly collapses on the sidewalk and awakens in a
hospital where he finds that his right leg has been amputated. Shortly
thereafter, his left leg is amputed, followed by the amputation of both
arms. He can get no information from his zombielike nurse. Meanwhile,
somewhere in a Gestapo-like country in Eastern Europe, military agent
Konratz [Marshall Jones] lets slip to his superior, Captain Salis [Peter Sallis], that he knows about the
top-secret K-718. Because K-718 is classified information supposed to be
known only to Salis and his superior, Major Benedek [Peter Cushing], Salis tries to
contact Benedek, but Konratz kills Salis before the call goes through.
With Salis dead, Konratz moves up into his position. When Benedek decides
to dismiss Konratz from duty because his methods of interrogation are too
extreme and will not reflect nicely upon their military regime, Konratz
kills Benedek and moves into Benedek's position.London Detective Superintendent Bellaver [Alfred Marks] also has his hands full with
a series of killings that have been dubbed the "vampire murders." Girls
are being found with their throats slashed, puncture wounds on their arms,
and drained of blood. The first was Eileen Stevens, an employee of
esteemed research scientist, Doctor Browning [Vincent Price], but Browning has no idea who
would want to murder her. When another girl turns up dead and Bellaver
realizes that they were both picked up at The Busted Pot (a disco club),
policewoman Sylvia [Judy Huxtable] goes undercover (with a homing device planted in her
shoe) to see if she can get picked up by the vampire. She is successful,
and she and the vampire Keith [Michael Gothard] drive to a secluded field where he attempts
to drink her blood. Keith is interrupted by the police but manages to best
them all and get away. Fortunately, Sylvia's shoe is still in Keith's car,
so the police tail him. Keith drives to a chalk quarry where the police
are astounded to see him running up the almost sheer cliff face...until he
slips and falls back down. Because he is only stunned, the police handcuff
Keith to a car, but he tears off his hand and runs away...straight to Dr
Browning's estate where he jumps into a vat of acid.When questioned about the acid, Browning explains that his research
involves investigating strains of bacteria on animal tissue, so he uses
the acid to destroy the tissue and prevent the spread of disease. Why
Keith would have made for this acid vat, Browning has no idea but assumes
that Keith must have known Eileen Stevens and that she told him about it.
Of course, this leaves no body to autopsy. Much to Browning's dismay,
however, Bellaver still has Keith's hand. Bellaver asks the coroner,
Doctor David Sorel, [Christopher Matthews] to perform an autopsy on it. It turns out to be made
of a synthetic material with human tissue growing around it, cyborg style.British Intelligence Minister Fremont [Christopher Lee] has problems of his own, too.
One of Britain's military aircraft has been shot down while on a spy
mission over the pseudoGestapo country. Konratz has taken the pilot
prisoner and travels to London to meet with Fremont and suggest a
trade...the pilot for all the investigation files compiled on the vampire
murders. Fremont agrees, orders Bellaver to close the case, and arranges
for Konratz, posing as a University professor doing research on the
psychological aspects of crimes of violence, to view the files. Konratz
has other ideas, however, and wants to take the files with him. When
Bellaver refuses to release the files, Konratz puts the squeeze on
Bellaver's shoulder, killing him.Dr Sorel decides to continue the investigation on his own.
Accompanied by policewoman Sylvia, Sorel drives to Browning's estate,
intending to get a sample of the acid from the vat into which Keith
jumped, but the vat has been emptied. Even worse, Sylvia (who was waiting
in the car) also disappears, so Sorel goes snooping in Browning's house
where he finds an operating room and some freezer boxes containing human
body parts.Suddenly, Sorel is interrupted by Browning who explains that his real
research involves the creation of ubermenches...perfect humans. To
accomplish this, Browning has developed a method whereby he forges
together synthetic materials with human flesh into a "composite". At
first, the composites were merely robots, like the nurse. Keith was the
first autonomously-operating composite, but something went wrong and Keith
ran amok as a vampire. As he is currently preparing to transplant the
brain of a human into the cranium of a new composite, Browning invites
Sorel to watch the operation. Sorel is intrigued, but when he finds out
that Sylvia is to be the donor, he tries to stop Browning, only to find
that Browning is a composite, too.Luckily for Sorel, Konratz (who is also a composite) has picked just
this moment to pay a visit to co-conspirator Browning in order to shut
down his research, since news of the vampire murders has made headlines
all over the world. As Konratz and Browning battle each other, Sorel
releases Sylvia from the operating table. The two of them escape
outside...where Fremont has just driven up. While Sylvia and Sorel wait in
the car, Fremont goes into the operating room where Konratz has managed to
shove the nurse into another vat of acid, and Browning has done the same
to Konratz. Browning informs Fremont that they must round up the other
composites before it's too late, but Fremont informs Browning that it's
already too late and forces him into the vat of acid.As Fremont, Sorel, and Sylvia drive away, Sorel asks Fremont if it's
all over, and Fremont replies, "It's only just beginning." [Original Synopsis by
bj_kuehl.]

Tags: murder, sadist, flashback

Review:
Believe it or not, all these seemingly unrelated plotlines eventually come together, and it's a wacky ride all the way.The biggest disappointment for me, is the scarce screen time of headliners Vincent Price, Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing.
But, by the end of the film, most everything fits together quite nicely as a story about creating a master race.Scream and Scream Again 'stars' Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, and Peter Cushing.
It is also the only one of the four films to take place in 'our' times – despite the old-fashioned trappings of the plot (taking in espionage in the form of dictatorial regimes with their Nazi-like villains, as well as the obligatory mad scientist and his vampiric 'creations'), the modern-day setting is indeed very appropriate and John Coquillon's typically elegant cinematography captures its essence quite well.SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN is virtually a black comedy which, mercifully, does not descend into camp: it is quite convoluted, relatively protracted (maybe this was because I watched it back to back with THE OBLONG BOX {1969}!), but wholly likable for all that.
David Whitaker's 'unusual' pop score is another major asset.Like the earlier film, SCREAM does not take advantage of having three great horror stars together for the first time.
Peter Cushing, graceful as always, does not share any scenes with Vincent Price or Christopher Lee, and indeed appears all too briefly.
Lee, perhaps the most progressive-thinking horror star (let's not forget he appeared in Jess Franco's EUGENIETHE STORY OF HER JOURNEY INTO PERVERSION that same year!), is perfectly authoritative as the true villain of the piece.We also get an exciting if over-extended chase sequence in which Michael Gothard finds new (and highly impractical!) means of eluding the Police - in the shape of sarcastic Superintendent Bellaver who, as played with a rather heavy British accent by Alfred Marks, manages any number of amusing scenes (designed, perhaps, to relieve the audience's frustration at the many - and apparently disjointed - strands of plot going on all at once)!The end result is patchy overall – certainly not everything in this pot-pourri of ideas works to our general satisfaction (particularly Marshall Jones' overbearing characterization of Konratz) - but the film is often ingenious and weird enough to keep one's interest at all times.
This film was released before I was born, so I don't know anything about its ad campaign, but I imagine it went something like, "Lee, Cushing, and Price: Together at Last!!" This is true: they all are in this movie, but what we have here is a movie about a bunch of pseudo-Nazis (complete with knockoff uniforms) trying to create the master race by assembling people from assorted "perfect" body parts.
With the serial killers actions of out-running and powering the police, reactions of "he's quite strong" and "Oh he's torn his hand off" seem like tongue-in-cheek, or if not a terrible script.All in all, this movie is a cross between Hawaii-Five-0, Frankenstein, and Hitchcock's Frenzy, and although it's well worth a watch, the styles don't combine well to give a scary thriller.
A mad scientist Dr. Browning, Vincent Price, working in league with the chief of intelligence of the UK Fremont, Christopher Lee, who's also in some kind of alliance with the head of the secret police Konratz, Marshall Jones, of some unknown Eastern-European communist country.Kieth is trapped in his murderous actions when the local police have a decoy police woman Sylvia, Judy Huxtable, pose as one of his potential victims.
Idiotic movie that is the only film where the top three British horror masters, Vincent Price Christopher Lee & Peter Cushing, were ever in together with Cushing only in the movie for one scene where he immediately killed off..
Price is a doctor/mad scientist introduced early on, and then forgotten until the film starts winding down, Cushing has one scene and then dies, and Lee isn't even introduced until late in the film, where he serves as a plot device to tie everything together and wrap up.Then there's the whole three-plot lines thing.
I first saw this film when it was released in 1970.At the time it was considered very shocking.Looking at it now,compared to todays horror films,I suppose it would be considered tame.I still think it is a great example of how a shocker should be made.You never know what is going to happen next!The film has everything,non-stop action, agreat cast(including the big three-Lee,Price and Cushing),and good special effects.So take my word for it-watch and enjoy!.
There is little to recommend this film.First, even though it is billed as a Vincent Price/Peter Cushing/Christopher Lee film, none of these horror icons appear in the film for more than a few scenes.
It elevates a bad film to a higher level than it deserves.Secondly, the plot is a jumbled mess, with the separate plot lines of British cops trying to catch a serial killer and a sadistic officer in a eastern block country torturing people for fun.
Meanwhile in an undefined country that lives a military dictatorship, the cruel Konratz (Marshall Jones) is climbing positions killing The Power that Be. When the Vampire Killer flees from the police, he seeks refugee at the real estate of scientist Dr. Browning (Vincent Price) and jumps into a tank of acid.
Many years ago, during the Cold War, the dictatorships in South America, James Bond, Flint and The Man from U.N.C.L.E., "Scream and Scream Again" was a cult movie supported by the names of Vincent Price, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. The story entwines mad scientist with vampire, dictatorship and spy ring with a terrible music score.
After a series of graphic murders, a London police sergeant investigating the crimes find them to be committed by assembled beings created by a mad doctor forging them for a Communist country's eventual takeover and tries to stop them from continuing.Aside from being a collection of horror legends in one movie, this is actually one of their lesser roles.
One of the main points here is that the film is mostly known for having three great horror stars of the time in it's cast, Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and Vincent Price.
It's the latter that holds the most screen time, and his role as a doctor that actually wants to do good with his creations instead of evil was creative and put a new spin on an idea that most were expecting where Price is the villainous creator of what goes around killing people.
Likewise, with all the scenes set in the swinging-mod London there's not a whole lot here that actually becomes a horror film until the mid-way which leaves this one somewhat boring in the first half with the lame pacing and confusion over everything.
I feel slightly cheated that Vincent Price, Chris Lee and Peter Cushing were given top billing, as their total screen time probably adds up to about fifteen minutes.
Add to this Vincent Price, Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing (in a very brief role), vats of acid, a long car chase, the police seemingly constantly getting their heads kicked in by the vampiric psycho, Yutte Stensgaard (hooray!), the title song being sung over and over by Amen Corner in the night-club scenes and the mad scientist denouement just before his icky demise because of the police pathologist who didn't back off from the investigation when ordered by the government and you have it.
Vincent Price plays Dr. Browning, a scientist who may or may not be what he seems (Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee also star, but in smaller roles).
Starring three of horror cinema's greatest icons - Vincent Price, Peter Cushing, and Christopher Lee - this rather atypical American International Pictures release consists of several seemingly disparate plot threads that director Gordon Hessler attempts to pull together in the final act, with little success, the ending almost as confusing as everything that precedes it.The film opens with a jogger collapsing and waking up in a hospital bed where he finds that he is missing a leg!
Christopher Lee appears as Fremont, a government official who is trying to secure the release of a spy, and Cushing, in what amounts to little more than a brief cameo, plays one of those who stands in the way of Konratz's climb to the top.While there are some decent scenes along the way, including a perilous car chase, and a killer ripping off his own hand to escape from the police, the choppy nature of the narrative and the disappointing ending make Scream and Scream Again a far from essential 70s horror, despite its trio of genre greats.If you want to see Price, Cushing and Lee together in a good film, I recommend The House Of The Long Shadows: it's much more fun, and you get John Carradine thrown in for good measure..
I prefer the ending in the film and this is one of the many ways the film improved things.It's great to have Vincent Price, Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing all in one film, even if only two of the three actually share a scene.
The perplexed but determined police inspector in charge of the serial killer case is a man named Bellaver (Alfred Marks); even after the killer, Keith (Michael Gothard), is apprehended, he escapes again and leads the cops to the operation of a doctor named Browning (Vincent Price).Fans of Mr. Price, Sir Christopher Lee, and Peter Cushing are likely to feel disappointed after watching this.
And it's hard to completely dislike any horror story that includes a couple of acid baths.Lee and Cushing are really rather wasted, but Price has as much fun as he can in his somewhat limited role.
In addition to Marks, other actors doing fine work are Peter Sallis as Schweitz, Christopher Matthews as the inquisitive young Dr. Sorel, Kenneth Benda as Professor Kingsmill, and Marshall Jones as Konratz.This isn't all that *good* a movie, in all honesty, but it certainly rates as a real curiosity.Six out of 10..
VERY confusing horror has three different story lines: one involves a man killing women in London and draining their blood; another has people being kidnapped and slowly have their body parts being removed one by one; the last deals with some strange Nazi-ish organization trying to take power (or something).
This could be easily dismissed if it weren't for three cast members--Price, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee.OK--you have three of the best horror movie stars ever to do a movie together.
This movie is so bad that anyone who enjoys it is beyond help.What a waste of talent...The movie doesn't make sense, is badly directed, has a jazz score (For a horror film?) It's like a group of High School students with a little money made this.Usually the Brits can do no wrong in making a movie..Wow,I'm surprised.Where was Hammer when you needed them?Made in 1970, there are some surprising scenes of sexuality.It's clear Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, and Peter Cushing needed to pay their car payments, or else how would they ever agree to even appear in this mess..
All that was left in the tank after The Oblong Box. After the excellent adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe's 'The Oblong Box' earlier in 1969, director Gordon Hessler would team up again, in the same year, with horror legend's Vincent Price and Christopher Lee for this second feature.
This time, fellow legend Peter Cushing joins the already impressive line up, which allows Scream and Scream Again to be one of the few films to profess starring roles from all three British legends.
There's absolutely no reason, when compared to films of the same era, can you rate this movie poorly, and I suspect that aside from their clear lack of any knowledge of film that all the people who thought this movie was "bad" were just disappointed at the fact that Price, Lee, and Cushing had comparatively minor roles.Indeed, I bought this as a Christopher Lee fan and was disappointed in that respect, but the movie was still good!
A good plot can redeem bad actors, but the reverse is never true.I don't feel I need to give a plot summary but I'll say this: don't buy this if the only reason you'd want to is to see Christopher Lee or Peter Cushing-their performances are good and their characters are interesting, but they don't have a lot of screen time.
Vincent Price does what he does best as a mad doctor, Christopher Lee is suitably British as a dodgy diplomat, but the star of the show (for me) is Alfred Marks doing a rather clichéd but nonetheless great routine as a laconic London Bobby.
Vincent Price, Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, three major genre icons, were what drew me into seeing Scream and Scream Again.
The ending is also intriguing and actually makes sense, which unfortunately is more than I can say for the rest of the movie.The three stars themselves don't disappoint, though they deserved much more screen-time than they did(as well as he played it you do question the point of Peter Cushing's character) and the fact that they are barely together- apart from Price and Lee briefly- is something that fans will consider a cheat.
The best of the three though is Vincent Price, while in more straightforward role he still manages to bring a great deal of dignity and class to the film.Alfred Marks though was just alright, for me this said alright is not enough to carry a movie, particularly how he and his character were so abruptly written out.
Overall, redeemed by Price and Lee(Cushing is good as well but his character is pretty useless) as well as the look of the film, score and ending, but because of the nonsensical script and unfocused story Scream and Scream Again never really came together for me.4/10 Bethany Cox. A Surprising Horror Film.
The poster shows Vincent Price's face and lists the actors, including Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Alfred Marks and Uta Levka.
Three of the greatest horror icons of ALL time receive top-billing (in a different and much larger font than the rest of the opening credits), yet after approximately 45 minutes into the film, Vincent Price and Christopher Lee only just walked nonchalantly & briefly through the screen and Peter Cushing has already died!
This is a movie starring horror icons Christopher Lee, Vincent Price and Peter Cushing but yet it is still a movie only a handful of people know off and have actually seen.
Not Bad, But Too Little Screen Time For Price, Cushing And Lee. Vincent Price is my favorite actor of all-time, and, as most fans of Classic- and Gothic Horror I am also a big fan of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, and therefore my expectations for Gordon Hessler's "Scream And Scream Again" of 1970 were high, especially after two other movies directed by Hessler, the excellent "The Oblong Box" of 1969 and the vastly underrated "Cry Of The Banshee" of 1970, both with Vincet Price in the lead.
"Scream And Scream Again" is certainly not a bad movie, but the roles of its three stars, Price, Cushing and Lee, were far too little.
This movie's highlight is, of course, once again Vincent Price's performance, although his role is small."The Oblong Box" was a lot better, and I also preferred "Cry Of The Banshee" to "Scream And Scream Again", but that doesn't mean it's a bad film.
This one has Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, and Peter Cushing getting the top billing in this one.
Predictably, the marketing guys associated with this 1969 film went to great pains to highlight the teaming of the three horror film stars Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and Vincent Price.Unfortunately, the three of them are given less than meaty roles and only Price and Lee actually appear on screen together at the end!
Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, and Peter Cushing.
Price has approximately three scenes in the movie (the bulk of which does not occur until the last 15 minutes), Lee has two full scenes and an appearance at the end of the movie, and Cushing has ONE measly scene in the beginning of the film and is then murdered!!
A movie combining the look, feel and plot lines from The Avengers, Mission Impossible(the TV show) and Hammers much maligned Dracula AD1972 deserves at least one viewing.A major selling point must have been the appearance in one showing of the mighty triumvirate of Price, Lee and Cushing.
You can understand that this was hyped at the time as " the movie starring Vincent Price , Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing - three legends of horror coming together in one movie " The reality is however that Cushing appears in one very short scene while Price and Lee are sidelined for most of the movie .
Most of the film centers on the police trying to track down a "vampire killer" and as such, it's not too bad, just don't expect Price, Lee and Cushing to be sharing much screen time.
If fans of this genre really want to enjoy good British horror films of this era watch Price in the 'Dr. Phibes' franchise, or catch him in 'Theatre of Blood', but by all means avoid this bomb, or YOU ARE WARNED you will ...
It has three of the most legendary horror actors to boot: Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, and Peter Cushing.
One horror book I own describes Gothard's character as a sort of "bionic Mick Jagger." which is so accurate a term I couldn't improve on it.And we also have Vincent Price, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee turning up at various points.
Cushing has one scene - not with the other masters of menace - and Price and Lee have only a couple more, sharing a brief bit at the end of the film.
The cast is great featuring horror icons Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee & Vincent Price who unfortunately never meet & Cushing has only a few minutes of screen time before he is killed by someone grabbing his shoulder.