by Anthony Taylor, Contributing Writer
Welcome to Apes on Film! This column exists to scratch your retro-film-in-high-definition itch. We’ll be reviewing new releases of vintage cinema and television on disc of all genres, finding gems, and letting you know the skinny on what to avoid. Here at Apes on Film, our aim is to uncover the best in retro film. As we dig for artifacts, we’ll do our best not to bury our reputation. What will we find out here? Our destiny.
SCREAM, PRETTY PEGGY – 1973
3.5 out of 5 Bananas
Starring: Ted Bessell, Bette Davis, Sian Barbara Allen
Director: Gordon Hessler
Rated: NR
Studio: Kino Lorber
Region: A
BRD Release Date: October 5, 2021
Audio Formats: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 16-bit)
Video Codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Resolution: 1080p HD
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Run Time: 71 minutes
One thing that early 1970’s network television seemed to get right more often than not was made for TV movies, especially in the horror genre. Kino Lorber has recently released a slate of classics from that era including The Victim, The Screaming Woman (reviews coming soon), and Scream, Pretty Peggy. An overwrought (but imminently watchable) combination of Hitchcock, Hagsploitation, and histrionics, Peggy stands out among a cadre of memorable programming.
Allen is a college student in search of an easy gig cleaning the house of her favorite sculptor, Bessell, who lives with his drunk mother, Davis. There’s also Bessell’s missing sister that may or may not be a murderer loitering around the property and skulking about after dark.
Written by Hammer Films stalwart Jimmy Sangster and one-hit-wonder Arthur Hoffe, the film borrows heavily from classics of the big screen like Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte and Psycho. And “borrows” is putting it politely. Though the plot is quite derivative, the film itself doesn’t suffer too badly in comparison to its source materials; the cast and director Hessler (who would go straight from this film to The Golden Voyage of Sinbad) make the whole thing a bit of an inside joke. If you’re familiar with the films it’s aping, there are a lot of visual and tonal easter eggs that call back to them. If you’re not familiar, it’s a good amount of Davis chewing scenery, Bessell looking distraught, and Allen trying to figure out what’s going on. Yes, everyone is here for a paycheck, but it’s still a bucket of ugly fun.
The music by Robert Prince contributes nightly to the mood and atmosphere, and art direction by Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind production designer Joe Alves is outstanding. Bessell’s sculptures are fantastic and terrifying, and the most memorable things in the film from my first viewing on television when I was nine years old.
Kino’s disc presents the film in its original aspect ratio and looking fabulous from a new 2K restoration. Audio is also very good, and extras include a new commentary by Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson as well as TV spots for the film and other Hessler helmed episodes from the era, including one from Kolchak: The Night Stalker.
Surely my enjoyment of this film is partly due to nostalgia from having watched it on its first airing, but I still deem it worth a look for genre fans of all ages. Not a bad way to spend seventy-one minutes on a Saturday afternoon.
Written by Apes on Film, Anthony Taylor in Collaboration with ATLRetro
Ape caricature art by Richard Smith.
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