7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best science fiction movie ever, July 14, 2000
This review is from: Scream and Scream Again [VHS] (VHS Tape)
This is very nearly my favorite movie ever, certainly the best SF film I've ever seen. The first movie to team Vincent Price, Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, three of the greatest actors of the century, this is a brilliant and bizarre crime drama/espionage/political thriller/horror film. Indeed, one might say that what the X Files tries to do this film does perfectly. Several seemingly unrelated story threads gradually merge in a great climax. Lee and Cushing have limited screen time but play well written and very unusual roles. It would reveal too many surprises to review this film at length, so I'll only say that a series of strange crimes lead the police (and certain other characters) to a scientist engaged in secret research played by Price. This movie is a must if you are a fan of one or all of the three great stars, and features a tremendous performance by a nearly unknown actor named Marshall Jones. See it!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not strange enough to satisfy, June 11, 2004
This review is from: Scream and Scream Again [VHS] (VHS Tape)
There is a difference between strangeness and incomprehensibility. Lindsay Anderson's 'O Lucky Man!' is strange, but it makes sense throughout. This film is just bollocks most of the way through. I liked enough though, especially the bits with Michael Gothard. He's gorgeous, cold and irresistable to dumb birds in clubs. He's also got superpowers, fancies a bit of blood now and again, and knows when the game is up and they've got him nicked.
Vincent Price is brilliant towards the end. He's controlled, capable and queerly visionary. Indeed, his monologue explaining his work is deeply moving. Cushing is hardly it the thing long enough to make an assessment. Christopher Lee vibrates with clear, orderly purpose. Unlike the rest of the coppers in the film, he maintains his dignity and his class. Not to mention, style.
There are some really ugly scenes in this film that sully things overall. The crypto-fascist state could have been handled better. It could have been sexier. What is the point in having a dead-cool sex killer who comes on like the bionic man--if you are going to put lousy, flabby cops and "fascists" in the same film? Then there is the music: cheesy jazz that oddly works in the scenes with Keith and his pursuers. I don't know why it works, actually. It just seems to. Just like the car chase seems absolutely perfect somehow. Too bad the rest of the film lacks the energy of the scenes with Gothard, Lee, and Price.
Overall, a few dynamic performances are wasted in a story that should have been fuller and more meaningful. As it is, the end isn't nearly as potent as it should be. Really, the last 10 minutes are fantastic. They just aren't set up properly. The results are rather empty, emotionally.
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3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
The biggest waste of talent ever on screen., August 2, 2000
This review is from: Scream and Scream Again [VHS] (VHS Tape)
How can you unite the three greatest horror stars of our time in one film and then hardly use them? That is the big question in this muddle ludricrous tale from Hammer's rivals of the time Amicus films. Vincent Price appears in a couple of short scenes and then dissapears until the end. Christopher Lee pops up in four short scenes and Peter Cushing dies in his one and only scene. I expected this to be one of the best horror films ever but i was dissapointed beyond belief. The story concerns a scientist (Price) who has created a master race. One of that race being a superb Michael Gothard who keeps us mildly entertained between the brief scenes of the main stars but after he is dissolved in acid it falls flat completely. To sum it up is a simple waste. Check out the later "House Of The Long Shadows" for a better uniting of Price, Cushing, and Lee.
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