"Ghosts galore. Headless horsemen, horseless headsmen, everything."

I hope I didn't overstate the importance of Texas Chain Saw Massacre last week. It's a great movie, a true classic, a groundbreaking effort, but no single movie can define the direction of a whole genre. By 1974, movies like Night of the Living Dead, Rosemary's Baby, Last House on the Left and The Exorcist had already started the dynamic shift in the content and subject matter of horror.

A shift from what, though? Well, for instance, there were a lot of Gothic period pieces coming out of Europe at the time. It had been hanging around since the late 1950s when England's Hammer Studios landed a hit with The Curse of Frankenstein. By 1973, Hammer's formula had started to stale, but imitators had sprung up and mutated. Mario Bava was doing similar work in Italy, but with an even sexier edge. In France and Spain, the whole form evolved into a weird sub-genre of vampire porn, (more on that next week).

And right there in England, Amicus International had established itself. I could do hours of research to explain the whole relationship but between these two companies, but I'd rather get this written quickly so I can get back to watching vampire porn so I'll leave it at this: I like to think of Amicus as the Cracked to Hammer's Mad.

Now you know me, I'm a big fan of everything I've mentioned in the preceding three paragraphs, and that includes the fine films of Amicus International. That said, this week's Thursday Thriller is Amicus's And Now The Screaming Starts!

This 1973 Roy Ward Baker film is the kind of movie that takes place in a haunted castle with a bunch of creepy, old portraits on the walls.

Catherine (Stephanie Beacham) has moved into the House of Fengriffin to marry her betrothed Charles, a rich douchebag from a long line of rich douchebags. In giving Catherine the tour, Charles leaves her for a moment to marvel at the portraits of his forebears and she's transfixed by the portrait of grandfather Henry. While she stares at the painting, a bloody hand bursts through it and tries to grab her.

And then the screaming starts!

And then it dies down for a couple minutes.

And then it starts again.

And then it gets real loud.

And then it looks like Catherine might pop out of her corset.

And then the screaming tapers off for a good long while.

And then Peter Cushing shows up.

And then the screaming gradually picks back up as the movie nears its conclusion.

Seriously though, Catherine is haunted by a bloody apparition of a man missing both eyes and one hand. Sometimes the hand follows her around. On the young couple's wedding night, Charles escorts Catherine to the bed chamber and instead of immediately taking her to pound town, he steps into another room to change into his fancy jammies, during which time the apparition assaults her. When later she tries to unravel the secrets of this ghostly mystery, she learns she is pregnant.

So gentlemen, please, when you get your virgin bride home, get down to business and don't dither about tying your sleeping cravat.

And Now The Screaming Starts! streams on Shudder.