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{{Infobox film
| name           = And Now the Screaming Starts!
| image          = Screamstarts.jpg
| caption        = US theatrical release poster
| director       = [[Roy Ward Baker]]
| producer       = [[Max Rosenberg|Max J. Rosenberg]]<br />[[Milton Subotsky]]
| screenplay     = [[Roger Marshall (screenwriter)|Roger Marshall]]
| based_on       = {{Based on|''Fengriffen''|[[David F. Case|David Case]]}}
| starring       = [[Peter Cushing]]<br />[[Herbert Lom]]<br />[[Patrick Magee (actor)|Patrick Magee]]<br />[[Stephanie Beacham]]<br>[[Ian Ogilvy]]<br />[[Geoffrey Whitehead]]
| music          = [[Douglas Gamley]]
| cinematography = [[Denys Coop]]
| editing        = [[Peter Tanner]]
| studio         = [[Amicus Productions]]<br>Harbor Productions
| distributor    = [[Fox-Rank]]
| released       = {{Film date|1973|04|27|df=yes}}
| runtime        = 91 minutes
| country        = United Kingdom
| language       = English
| budget         = $500,000<ref name="amicus" />
| gross          =
}}

'''''And Now the Screaming Starts!''''' (also known as '''''Fengriffen''''' and '''''Bride of Fengriffen''''' <ref name="wsj" /><ref name="amicus" />) is a 1973 British [[gothic fiction|gothic]] [[horror film]] directed by [[Roy Ward Baker]]. It stars [[Peter Cushing]], [[Herbert Lom]], [[Patrick Magee (actor)|Patrick Magee]], [[Stephanie Beacham]] and [[Ian Ogilvy]].<ref name="BFIsearch" /> It is one of the few feature-length horror stories by [[Amicus Productions|Amicus]], a company best known for [[Anthology film|anthology]] or "portmanteau" films. Baker felt the title was "silly".<ref name="roy" />

The screenplay, written by [[Roger Marshall (screenwriter)|Roger Marshall]], is based on the 1970 novella ''Fengriffen'' by [[David F. Case|David Case]].

==Plot==
In 1795, after moving to her fiancé Charles Fengriffen's family estate, Catherine experiences visions of an undead corpse with a heavily [[birthmark]]ed face, empty eye sockets and a severed right hand. On her wedding night, she is attacked and raped by an evil spirit in her bedroom at Fengriffen House. Later, she is disturbed to encounter Silas, a woodsman who lives in a nearby lodge and has a birthmark identical to the corpse's. Charles and others are reluctant to tell her anything about Silas, and those who try to answer her questions are killed in bizarre circumstances: Maitland, Charles' solicitor, is hacked to death with an axe; Mrs Luke, the housemaid, is thrown down the stairs; and Aunt Edith, Catherine's chaperone, is strangled by the severed hand, which then vanishes.

Announcing that Catherine is pregnant, physician Dr Whittle urges Charles to tell her the story of the estate's dark past. Charles refuses, believing it to be nothing more than a legend. Deciding that Catherine's visions are the result of [[mental disorder]], he instead sends for [[psychiatrist]] Dr Pope. Pope approaches the mystery with an open mind and almost forces the truth out of Whittle, but before Whittle can speak, the hand re{{nbh}}materialises, strangles him, and vanishes again.

Pope confronts Charles, who recounts the crimes of his debauched grandfather, Sir Henry Fengriffen. Some 50 years earlier, Henry raped the bride of his servant, Silas – whose son, the woodsman, is the spitting image of his father. When Silas tried to kill Henry in revenge, Henry cut off Silas' right hand as punishment. Silas cursed the Fengriffens, vowing that the next virgin bride to enter Fengriffen House would be raped and her child tainted, and anyone trying to warn her would die. Henry later showed remorse and bequeathed Silas land, where the son has stayed to watch his dead father's threat come to fruition. As Charles' mother was a widow before she married Charles' father, Catherine is the first virgin bride to arrive at the estate since the curse was placed.

Pope agrees to stay with the Fengriffens until Catherine gives birth. When she goes into labour, he sedates her and delivers the baby, whose appearance leaves Charles aghast. Charles heads to Silas' lodge and shoots the woodsman in the face with a pair of pistols. Pope follows and finds Silas dead on the floor with a shot through each eye, matching the corpse that Catherine saw. Charles then sets about smashing open Henry's grave and destroying his remains, beating Pope away when the doctor tries to stop him. Pope returns to Catherine and presents the baby – which, like the older Silas, has a birthmarked face and [[Congenital amputation|no right hand]].

==Cast==
{{Cast listing|
* [[Peter Cushing]] as Dr. Pope
* [[Herbert Lom]] as Sir Henry Fengriffen
* [[Patrick Magee (actor)|Patrick Magee]] as Dr. Whittle
* [[Stephanie Beacham]] as Catherine Fengriffen
* [[Ian Ogilvy]] as Charles Fengriffen
* [[Geoffrey Whitehead]] as Woodsman / Silas
* [[Guy Rolfe]] as Lawyer Maitland
* [[Rosalie Crutchley]] as Mrs. Luke
* [[Gillian Lind]] as Aunt Edith
* [[Janet Key]] as Bridget
* Sally Harrison as Sarah
}}

==Production==
===Filming locations===
The large gothic house used in the film is [[Oakley Court]], near Bray village, which is now a four-star hotel.

==Release==
In the UK, ''And Now the Screaming Starts!'' went out on a double bill with the American horror film, ''[[Doctor Death: Seeker of Souls]]''.

== Critical reception ==
[[Jonathan Rosenbaum]] wrote for ''[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]]'' wrote: "A potentially effective Gothic piece that never quite convinces or meshes, . ''. . And Now the Screaming Starts!'' has to contend with at least three imposing handicaps. There's an awkward performance by Stephanie Beacham, who amply heaves her ample bosom whenever the horrors warrant it, but is less successful at gradating or controlling her frightened facial expressions and screams – admittedly no easy matter when the script&nbsp;... dictates these effusions at nearly every turn in the plot. Indeed, a heaping on of repetitive horror-visions simply leads to a diffusion of effect&nbsp;... Unhappiest of all, Denys Coop's graceful camerawork&nbsp;... is severely compromised by the unfortunate lab work it has suffered. Roughly the first forty minutes of the film and the final fifteen are rendered in a greenish tint which is striking, but hardly congruent with the more conventional palette of colours that prevails between these two sections."<ref name="monthly film" />

[[A. H. Weiler]] reviewing the work in ''[[The New York Times]]'' commended Cushing's contribution, deeming it superior to the rest of the cast's, although considered its plot contrived.<ref name="nyt" />

Mark Burger, reviewing a home video release for the ''[[Winston-Salem Journal]]'' in 2002, noted the strong cast but found the muddled screenplay led to a merely "watchable" film.<ref name="wsj" />

In a review published in 2006, [[Stuart Galbraith IV]] called the film "only fitfully effective", criticising what he considered a lack of character development: "the film parades one series of strange-goings-on and other horror [[set piece]]s after another, but without compelling characters to hang them on they just don't make much of an impact."<ref name="galbraith 2006" />

==Citations==
<references>

<ref name="wsj">Burger, Mark (17 May 2002). [https://www.newspapers.com/article/winston-salem-journal-screaming-starts/155812919/ "Video View"]. ''[[Winston-Salem Journal]]'': p. 3.</ref>
<ref name="nyt">Weiler, A H (28 April 1973). "[https://www.nytimes.com/1973/04/28/archives/screen-a-creepy-legend.html Screen: A Creepy Legend]". ''[[The New York Times]]'': p. 21.</ref>
<ref name="amicus">Ed. Allan Bryce, ''Amicus: The Studio That Dripped Blood'', Stray Cat Publishing, 2000 pp. 102–109</ref>
<ref name="BFIsearch">{{Cite web |title=And Now the Screaming Starts! |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150122251 |access-date=20 August 2024 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}</ref>
<ref name="roy">{{cite web|website=British Entertainment History Project|title=Roy Ward Baker Interview|url=https://historyproject.org.uk/sites/default/files/HP0103%20Roy%20Ward%20Baker-Transcript.pdf|date=Oct–Nov 1989|first=Roy|last=Fowler|page=172}}</ref>
<ref name="monthly film">{{Cite journal |date=1 January 1974 |title=And Now the Screaming Starts! |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1305832062 |journal=[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]] |volume=41 |issue=480 |pages=243 |id={{ProQuest|1305832062}} |url-access=subscription }}</ref>
<ref name="galbraith 2006">{{Cite web|url=https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/22390/-and-now-the-screaming-starts/|title=''And Now the Screaming Starts!''|website=[[DVD Talk]]|first1=Stuart|last1=Galbraith IV|author1-link=Stuart Galbraith IV|date=25 June 2006|accessdate=27 January 2021|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930065813/https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/22390/-and-now-the-screaming-starts/|archivedate=30 September 2020|url-status=live}}</ref>

</references>

==Further reading==
* Chibnall, Steve; Petley, Julian (ed.) (2005). ''British Horror Cinema''. Oxford: [[Taylor & Francis]], pp.&nbsp;132–134. {{ISBN|0-203-99676-3}}
* Mayer, Geoff (2004). ''Roy Ward Baker'' (''British Film Makers''). [[Manchester University Press|Manchester Univ. Press]]. {{ISBN|0-7190-6354-X}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0069715}}
* {{AFI film|54799}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes|m/and_now_the_screaming_starts}}
* {{TCMDb title|25487}}

{{Amicus Productions}}
{{Roy Ward Baker}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:And Now The Screaming Starts!}}
[[Category:1973 British films]]
[[Category:1973 English-language films]]
[[Category:1970s ghost films]]
[[Category:1970s supernatural horror films]]
[[Category:1973 films]]
[[Category:1973 horror films]]
[[Category:Amicus Productions films]]
[[Category:British ghost films]]
[[Category:British haunted house films]]
[[Category:British pregnancy films]]
[[Category:British rape and revenge films]]
[[Category:British supernatural horror films]]
[[Category:Films about curses]]
[[Category:Films based on American horror novels]]
[[Category:Films directed by Roy Ward Baker]]
[[Category:Films scored by Douglas Gamley]]
[[Category:Films set in 1795]]
[[Category:Films set in country houses]]
[[Category:Films shot in Berkshire]]
[[Category:British gothic horror films]]
[[Category:Romantic period films]]
[[Category:English-language horror films]]

{{Wikipedia attribution|original_title=And Now the Screaming Starts!|access_date=2026-02-25}}