In my life, I’ve seen plenty of movies that imitate Psycho such as Homicidal, Dressed to Kill, among others. Scream, Pretty Peggy is the latest one I’ve seen with blatant nods to Psycho, in fact this movie wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for Psycho!
Sculptor Jeffrey Elliott (Ted Bessell, That Girl) hires a young college student, Peggy John (Sian Barbara Allen, You’ll Like My Mother) to take care of his elderly mother (Bette Davis, All About Eve, The Nanny) and his insane sister, Jennifer that live inside a mansion. Peggy and Jeffrey converse often, and one night they talk about Jennifer and how insane she is. Before you know it, Jennifer, who had been hiding in the house starts murdering people. And what’s exactly inside those large pieces of art that Jeffrey is making.
Call it Psycho meets A Bucket of Blood, this is an all-too predictable thriller, and even though it became easy to figure out what was going on, the film is still creepy and enjoyable. Suspense was minimal for me as it was obvious what was going to happen. Bette Davis is still as captivating as ever in her role as Mrs. Elliott. The real downside was Sian Barbara Allen as Peggy who became rather annoying with her pushy ways. The movie is above average due to the direction of Gordon Hessler who is no stranger to horror movies. Jimmy Sangster, who wrote many a Hammer horror back in the day, did the writing chores for this movie.
Kino Lorber gives Scream, Pretty Peggy new life with a Blu-ray that they advertised as being given a brand new 2K master. The image for the film is excellent with bold, rich colors in both the scenery and the clothing that the actors wear. Reds look especially strong here. No enhancements such as DNR appear to have been applied.
Kino uses a DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel track and the audio sounds perfectly fine with any distortions to the dialogue, or the music by Robert Prince. It’s all rather calm and passive. No hissing, pops or cracks were detected. English subtitles are offered for this release!
Scream, Pretty Peggy’s Blu-ray has a new audio commentary by film historians Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson who discuss the background of the film and its cast.
TV Spots for Scream Pretty Peggy, Fear No Evil, Ritual of Evil, and Kolchak the Night Stalker round out the extras. The release also comes with a slipcover with artwork by Vince Evans
Scream, Pretty Peggy is certainly worth a spin, especially now as it has never looked or sounded any better than this Kino offering. Recommended!
Scream, Pretty Peggy
Director- Gordon Hessler
Cast- Sian Barbara Allen, Bette Davis, Ted Bessell
Country of Origin- US
Distributor – Kino Lorber
Number of Discs – 1
Reviewed by – David Steigman
Date –11/13/2021