AND NOW THE SCREAMING STARTS! (1973)

In a REBECCA-like opening, Catherine casts her mind back to 1795 when she married Charles Fengriffen and moved into his large family estate. As she takes in the family gallery of portraits, she is spooked by a painting of Sir Henry, Charles' grandfather, with fierce glowing eyes. She thinks she sees a bloody hand burst through the painting, but Charles assures her she's just tired. After they leave, we see a disembodied hand fall to the floor from the painting and crawl toward their bedroom. As Charles prepares for their wedding night, Catherine is attacked in bed by a figure unseen in the dark except for its hand which presses against her mouth as it assaults her. As she tries to settle into life as mistress of the estate, things just get stranger: mysterious winds blow through the house, blood stains are found on the floor, and Catherine has visions of a man with empty eye sockets and no right hand. She is also unsettled by an encounter with Silas, an unfriendly woodsman with a disfiguring facial birthmark who lives in a small cabin on land bequeathed to him by Sir Henry. There are hints of family backstory but whenever someone seems about to explain things to Catherine, they wind up dead. Eventually, however, we do get the whole sordid story in which Sir Henry drunkenly raped the newlywed bride of Silas' father (also called Silas), then cuts off the man's hand as punishment for daring to try and stop him. Silas puts a curse on the family involving the next virgin bride brought into the house—and of course, that's Catherine, who by now is pregnant—but by whom (or what)?

This 70's British horror film is probably one of the few that might stand up to the expectations of current-day audiences, as it's full to the brim with death and blood and scares, though not quite as explicit as it might be today. The plot plays out nicely, but there is, to my mind, at least one fairly gaping plothole: Charles is not a bad guy, and he doesn’t really believe in the curse, so why didn't he try to set Catherine's mind at ease early on by telling her about the legend? Of course, it turns out the curse is real after all, but still, his refusal to share the story as his wife becomes more and more freaked out (and engages in a fair amount of the titular screaming) seems odd. Performances are a notch above B-horror standards. Stephanie Beacham, who later played Sable Colby on Dynasty and The Colbys, makes a top-notch scream queen; Ian Ogilvy is appealing as her husband; Geoffrey Whitehead is effective as both Silas and his father. Three name actors, though top-billed, have what amount to cameo roles: Herbert Lom makes the most of his few minutes as the sadistic Sir Henry in a flashback, the always welcome Patrick Magee plays a doctor, and Peter Cushing sleepwalks through a small part as a psychiatrist. Recommended for fans of the Gothic horror era of the 1970s. [Amazon Prime]