For
their next collaboration, Cushing and Amicus would once again revisit the
anthology format. Asylum was a jigsaw puzzle of a confection written by Robert
Bloch. Like The House That Dripped Blood, it was structured as a mystery, with
the linking segment helping to build the film to a final, shocking reveal. The four segments were of higher-than-usual
caliber: “Frozen Fear” tells of a husband (Richard Todd) who chops his wife
(Sylvia Sims) into little pieces and is understandably perplexed when the
pieces (neatly wrapped in brown paper) come back to life.
“The Weird Tailor”
tells of a mysterious gentleman (Peter Cushing) who hires a tailor (Barry
Morse) to make him a most unusual suit; “When Lucy Comes to Stay” tells of a
young woman (Charlotte Rampling) whose friendship with Lucy (Britt Ekland)
leads to disastrous consequences; and “Mannikins of Horror” tells of an
inventor (Herbert Lom) who creates mechanical homunculi. The film is capped-off by the surprise reveal
of the deranged doctor whom the protagonist (Robert Powell) has been searching
for.
Bloch’s
inventive screenplay ensures that every piece of the puzzle fits together to
create a satisfying whole. Roy Ward
Baker, directing his first film for the company, handles the material with
style and flair. Baker, whose past
credits included A Night to Remember
and Quatermass and the Pit, never
seemed much at home in the horror genre, but Asylum proved to be a notable exception. Clearly inspired by the witty and suspenseful
material, he pulls out all the stops and delivers one of his best films. The cinematography by Denys Coop is
appropriately atmospheric, while Douglas Gamley’s score makes inspired use of
barnstorming classical music to set the right Gothic tone.
The
stories are very effective on the whole, with “The Weird Tailor” emerging as
the weakest of the bunch. Even so, it
benefits greatly from the fine performances from Cushing and (especially) Barry
Morse. Cushing’s portrayal of the guilt-ridden
“Mr. Smith” again allows him to channel his sense of real-life loss into the
role he was playing, but his screen time is limited. There are also fine performances from Herbert
Lom, Patrick Magee, Robert Powell, Richard Todd and Charlotte Rampling. The
film proved to be another hit for Amicus, and they were only too anxious to
continue their association with Cushing; happily, the feeling was mutual.
David
Case’s novel “Fengriffen” was a Gothic mystery in the mold of “The Hound of the
Baskervilles.”It caught the eye of
Milton Subotsky, a voracious reader, who optioned it for a film
adaptation. Surprisingly, he didn’t
elect to pen the screenplay himself. Instead, he entrusted the writing to TV veteran Roger Marshall. Once the script was in place, Subotsky and
Rosenberg assembled a top notch cast and a skilled crew, headed by director Roy
Ward Baker. The end result proved more
problematic than Baker’s previous sojourn into the world of Amicus horror.
The
story tells of a young couple (Ian Ogilvy and Stephanie Beacham) who return to
the groom’s ancestral home to start a new life together. On the night of their wedding, the bride is
attacked and raped by an unseen presence. She believes the supernatural is at work, but the husband is skeptical. Eventually, the sage Dr. Pope (Peter Cushing,
of course) is called in to investigate.
The
cast does the best it can under the circumstances, but veteran actors like
Cushing, Herbert Lom and Patrick Magee have too little to do. Cushing plays Dr. Pope like a variation on
Sherlock Holmes. He doesn’t enter into
the story until fairly late, however, and he is given little to do beyond
fiddling with his props. Lom makes a
strong impression as the debauched nobleman who brings a curse upon his family,
but his screen time is limited, while Magee is completely wasted as the family
doctor who lives in fear of the curse.
Ian Ogilvy, who had risen to genre stardom as the juvenile lead in
Michael Reeves’ three horror films (The She Beast, 1965; The Sorcerers, 1967;
Witchfinder General, 1968) is very good as the distraught husband, while
Stephanie Beacham (who had recently played Cushing’s granddaughter in Dracula
AD 1972) is inclined to overact as the hysterical wife.
And
Now The Screaming Starts! comes off like something of an Amicus copy of a
Hammer film: the period setting and emphasis on shock effects would not have
been out of place in one of their films, the use of Oakley Court for the exteriors
is very much a Hammer touch, and the single narrative sets the film apart from
Amicus’ usual fare. If nothing else, it
served to show up just how difficult it was for Hammer to do this kind of
material as successfully as they did.
Slow, plodding and predictable in the extreme, And Now The Screaming
Starts is one of the less successful collaborations between Cushing and
Amicus.
Written By Troy Howarth
Edired and Images By Marcus Brooks
