When a virginal bride (Stephanie Beacham) heads to her new home, she has no idea of the horrors ahead of her. Husband to be Ian Ogilvy is a wealthy landowner who is tortured by his family's past. It seems that Grandpa Herbert Lom (now deceased) committed some evil on the woodsman (Geoffrey Whitehead) and his wife, and a curse has moved onto the future generations. Unfortunately, it will be the sweetly innocent Beacham who suffers at the hands of this revenge, but the evil of the past must be avenged....

This is a genuinely spooky horror film, a lot like some later mainstream horror films of the late 70's/early 80's ("The Sentinel", "The Changeling", "Ghost Story"),even if it looks like many of the horror films made by Hammer or American International from the late 50's on. Beacham, best known to American audiences for her multi-faceted role as Sable on "The Colbys" and later on "Dynasty", is ravishingly beautiful as well as a very good actress. Why she hasn't had a career in films beyond these string of horror films is as mysterious as the plot line here. (Fortunately, she's been better utilized on stage; She has a presence that takes her a step beyond the usual horror film heroine.) Lom, a veteran actor with a long career in a large variety of genres, is quite menacing as the film's villain, seen in a well-filmed flashback. Geoffrey Whitehead adds scariness and pathos to his pathetic character.

Unfortunately, Peter Cushing is wasted as the doctor who comes on half way through the film to help unravel the mystery as any Van Helsing would. But there are enough chills thanks to the crawling hand (that apparently has ears to hear) and mysteriously opening windows to keep you hooked.

First, I know I am probably going to irritate some readers when I mention this, but I really think the stars of the film were Stephanie Beacham's breasts. Ms. Beacham (known to most American's as 'Sable' from THE COLBY'S) has always been a very attractive and shapely lady, but in this film set at about the year 1790, the dresses she wore throughout the film were extremely low-cut and they tended to highly over-exaggerate her already ample assets. I love my wife dearly and try to never look at another woman, but it was absolutely impossible for any straight man to watch the film without staring! Oddly, while Ms. Beacham (and her breasts) are the clearly the stars of the film, she is listed fourth in the credits (and and no mention of her chest at all).

Now, apart from my rather off-color remarks, let's get on to the review. This is a British horror film that is pretty ordinary for the first half. A new bride comes to the mansion and sees a lot of frightening images, though no one else sees them. Slowly, her new hubby starts to think that maybe his wife is unhinged. However, when you learn about the curse and why this is all occurring, then the story gets pretty exciting. In fact, it was nice to see that the longer the film lasted, the better it got. This combined with the relatively low budget make this film a pleasant surprise, as they sure did a lot with what they had. For the casual movie watcher, the film might only merit a 5 or 6, but for horror fans, a score of 7 or 8 don't seem the least bit out of line.

This little-seen film blends together a myriad of classic horror themes, such as ghosts, crawling hands, wrong doings and curses. It's a classic example of British horror, set in a standard haunted house (there's even a graveyard nearby). Early '70s fashions are sadly non-existent here, as it's a period piece and all the costumes are of the historical variety, although there's nothing wrong with that. While the plot for the film is a typical (and dare I say clichéd) one, it has plenty of incident to keep it moving and loads of different ingredients to make it enjoyable. However, the winning formula for this film is the cast.

Ian Ogilvy (WITCHFINDER GENERAL),Stephanie Beacham (INSEMINOID),Patrick Magee (DEMENTIA 13),and Herbert Lom (ASYLUM) all act convincingly and enjoyably in their roles. Ogilvy doesn't get to do much but look haunted as the husband, but Beacham is on top form here, giving it her all as the screaming victim. Magee is fine as usual, while the fantastic Lom adds yet another cruel character to his resumé. As soon as Peter Cushing arrives, playing a doctor with a dodgy toupee, the fun really begins and things get even better. Cushing's performance is as usual, excellent, but all performances from a cast well familiar to the horror fan are varied and good.

The sheer diversity of different ingredients in this film make it work, and I advise you to sit it through in order to witness a most amusing moment at the end, when Ian Ogilvy dashes Herbert Lom's skeleton apart against his tomb - serve him right, the nasty old man. You also get the classic "crawling hand" prop, which was reused by various studios throughout the 60's and 70's - spotting it is half the fun! AND NOW THE SCREAMING STARTS may not break any new boundaries in the horror genre but it's a good, solid, old-fashioned ghost story and it's very entertaining, with exactly the same quaint and brooding atmosphere as a quality Hammer horror piece.