Carry on Screaming! (1966)

(On TV, October 2020) While Carry on Screaming! is the twelfth of the very silly British comedy film series, you don’t really need to have seen any of the preceding ones to make sense of this—just a passing acquaintance with Hammer-style horror films should be enough to get the low-brow gags that populate the film. The plot is a shrug-inducing bunch of nonsense about mad scientists transforming people into mannequins, but the bulk of the film’s appeal is in the sight gags, double entendres, physical comedy and actors mugging for the camera—this is really not meant to be sophisticated or subtle, even if there’s some canniness in the way the film is overloaded with comic material. It’s funny because of its relentlessness—even if you go into the film unamused, sooner or later a stupid joke will get to you. The Hammer recreation is low-budget, obviously, but Carry on Screaming! occasionally scores a point or two of atmosphere. The lead actors were, by this point of the series, attuned to the effect they were looking for, but there are highlights—if you’re a fan of vampish Morticia Adams (who isn’t?), then Fenella Fielding is nothing short of amazing here. Despite its broad nature, Carry on Screaming! is close to a double must see—for seeing what the Carry on series was all about, for one thing, and then as an affectionate parody of Hammer Horror. Plus, the jokes and Fielding—I mean, why wait any longer?