Welcome nieces and nephews to the inaugural edition of Uncle Pump's Dusty Musties.

Now pull up a coconut or hang by your cute little tails while I break some news to you.  There were horror films before "The Ring".  There were horror films before Hannibal Lector ate his first liver and Jason swung his first machete.  There were even horror films before zombies decided to go shopping up in Pennsylvania malls.

I'm creating this blog to dust-off some old treasures and share their light with some of you young termite-munchers.  And to you older silverbacks, maybe I'll bring back some fond memories of drive-ins and late-night horror shows.  Some will be so old that silence was the rule and some will just be personal favorites. Maybe some films you've heard of and never seen and maybe a few for the kids.  Some you may have seen and dismissed or some you just forgot.  Some may veer slightly from horror into sci-fi and fantasy and few may be just to demonstrate that "bad" movies existed in the good old days too.  Dusty because they're old-none made after 1975 and Musties because I believe all of these gems are integral parts of the stone foundation upon which our modern, shiny steel horrors are built.

I couldn't think of a better one to kick off this exploration than " . . And Now The Screaming Starts"

From Amicus, who along with AIP, were Hammer's rivals for the horror buck of the time.  They were known for their horror anthologies, and when this single story motion picture came out in 1973 it was in direct competition with a Hammer that was already starting to stumble.  I saw this first at the drive-in, but a lot folks remember the edited TV version that received a bit of airplay over the years.  If you are buying or renting this, please try to get the uncut original version or you'll lose alot of blood in the American TV version.

Directed by Roy Ward Baker who had already done the original 1972 "Tales from the Crypt" and "Asylum" for Amicus.  Before that he directed the infamous "Vampire Lovers" and the underated "Quartermass and the Pit" for Hammer.  He is probably best known for directing "A Night to Remember" which was THE Titanic movie prior to Cameron's version.  That movie is definitely a non-horror Mustie if you have the time for it. 

The film is beautiful.  That great gothic countryside, sets, and costumes that the Brits did so well, opening up with a misty carriage ride.  For future reference--movies that have horse-drawn carriages in them will always score extra Dusty Mustie points.  Based on the novel "Fengriffen" by David Case, it features Peter Cushing, Herbert Lom, Patrick McGee, and Stephanie Beacham.

Stephanie portrays Catherine  who has arrived at the manor to marry the young Lord Charles Fengriffen.  Catherine's screaming starts before the first house tour is complete and rarely stops but verily I say unto you-Ms Beacham's bosom heaves and heaves some more.  Stephanie delivers all the screams and cleavage you should expect in an early 70s British horror film.  But poor Catherine's wedding night turns out to be alot more (and Charles' a lot less) than was expected.  Catherine falls victim to the curse placed on the family due to the horrible deeds of Gandpa Fengriffen 50 years earlier.  Herbert Lom, best known as Commissioner Dreyfus in the Pink Panther movies, plays Granpa Fengriffen.  Dr. Whittle, played by Patrick McGee, trys to help and ends up having to call upon the expertise of Dr. Pope, played by Peter Cushing in one of the worst hairpieces I have ever seen.  You would need to staple a dead possum to your head to be more strange-looking than this toupee.  Cushing, Lom, and McGee had also worked together in "Tales from the Crypt".

By now, you may be saying, not another girl comes to old estate and suffers madness movie.  Well it is that movie, but . . .

It is so much more. The beauty of the house (same one used in Rocky Horror Picture Show)and Stephanie's heaving bosom.  It is thick with atmosphere: creepy paintings, creepy woodsman, full moons, old graveyards, ferocious dogs, howling wolves, and a great maniacal grave desecration. And then there's the two main villians, a severed hand and a horny, one-handed, eyeless zombie ghost.  And not just any severed hand--this one knows Jedi mind tricks.

So thanks for reading this first blog entry and I hope you somehow manage to scare yourself.