terrible... so disappointed.

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

2011:Talking to a fellow IMDb'er,after watching Dario Argento's amazing 1970 film The Bird with the Crystal Plumage,I was shocked to learn,that Argento had actually done a partial "unofficial" adaptation of a novel called The Screaming Mimi,which had received an official screen adaptation,with a US film in 1958. After reading the fascinating comments from a fellow IMDb'er,and also hear film reviewers Kim Newman and Alan Jones give thrilling comments about the movie in their audio commentary for Crystal Plumage,I decided to search on Amazon Uk for a DVD or VHS of the title. Sadly,despite being extremely keen on seeing the film,I discovered that the title appeared to be unavailable on DVD or Video…from anywhere!Late 2013:Being cheerful about finally getting hold of the title which would see Dario Argento,Tony Musante and Ennio Morricone team up for the first time (1969's The Love Circle),I decided to search for the original adaptation of their fantastic Giallo,and was happily caught by surprise,when I stumbled upon a DVD of the film,which would at last allow me to hear the Mimi scream.The plot: Going for an outdoor shower with her pet dog Rusty after enjoying a wonderful swim,Virginia Wilson is confronted by an escaped convict,who attempts to stab her with a knife.Hearing his daughter scream for her life,Virginia's step-brother Charlie Weston, (an artist who makes miniature stature's) quickly grabs a gun and shoots the attempted murderer dead.Faced with the knowledge of having been a potential murder victim,and also witnessing a killing,Wilson experience's a nervous breakdown,and finds herself unable to wipe the moments of that day from her memory.Feeling that his step-sister is in desperate need of help,Weston arranges for Virginia to be placed in a mental hospital,where she is closely looked after by Dr.Greenwood. Despite being a doctor who does things "by the book,Greenwood finds himself falling deeply in love with Virginia.Knowing that they both might have to wait years before she's officially "cured",Greenwood decides to fake Wilson's death,so that she can get out of the hospital,and run away with him.Years later:Keeping their relationship under-wraps,Virginia changes her name to Yolanda Lange and becomes the star attraction as a dancer in a popular night club.Catching the eye one night of a local journalist called Bill Sweeney,Wilson/Lange begins to fear that she has also caught the eye of her past,when a stranger begins stabbing women in a similar manner that was used in the attempted murder of Virginia…View on the film:Entering the movie,in what appears to be a rather tight swimsuit,Anita Ekberg gives a shimmering performance as Virginia Wilson and Yolanda Lange.For the two sides of her character,Ekberg gives each of them subtle alterations,with the psychological issues in Virginia's mind,being kept under cover by Youlanda's swagger and powerful eroticism,which along with giving Youlanda complete control of the night club's inhabitants,also leads to her appearing to be on the target list of a revived psychotic killer.Taking a different angle to his excellent adaptation of Fredric Brown's novel The Screaming Mimi than the one that Dario Argento would take a decade later,Robert Blees combines a thrilling,proto-Giallo edge with a gritty Film Noir atmosphere,with Blees gradually showing the impact that the new killing spree is having on Virginia/Yolanda,as Youlanda's extravagant shell is melted away,and Virginia's psychological issues are shown in their rawest form.Made just as the "Hays Code" was at last starting to lose its grip on the industry,Blees shows a sharp eye for placing subtle undertones under the films skin,with hints of S&M,lesbianism and drug use bubbling away as a Giallo killer stalks a Film Noir world.Placing Blees undertones at the centre of the movie,director Gerd Oswald shows an unexpected glee in the highly stylised,eye-catching vicious murder scenes which is matched by Oswald giving each of the gorgeous Anita Ekberg's dances a strong whiff of S&M.Along with the daring Giallo elements,Oswald also soaks the title in a striking Film Noir atmosphere,with Yolanda's night club being filled with darken corners where the killer may be hiding,with Oswald also covering the long,empty streets in a doom-laden mist,as Bill Sweeney begins to realise that he must stop the Mimi from screaming,before the killer strikes again.

Some good performances and an intriguing storyline make this low budget Fifties thriller worth catching. My only complaint is that it feels sort of truncated, like too much had to be condensed, or perhaps censored from the original pulp novel by Fredric Brown.Anita Ekberg is perfect as the sad Virginia/Yolanda, who inspires practically every man she meets to fall in love with her. She has a vulnerable, almost naive quality, that arouses a male protective attitude very understandable in her two admirers, Doctor Green and reporter Sweeney.Philip Carey is adequate as Sweeney, but Harry Townes walks off with the movie in the complex role of the hopelessly obsessed psychiatrist.It's a performance to be studied and appreciated over and over again.Maybe not a genuine classic, but pretty good. It would have probably seemed pretty daring for the time it was made. Definitely worth seeing.

One of the 1950s strangest noir films, Gerd Oswald's sensational and twisted 1958 psycho- shocker SCREAMING MIMI was based on a pulp novel by the great Fredric Brown. This is one film that devotees of the truly bizarre cannot afford to miss.Alcoholic newspaper columnist Bill Sweeney (Philip Carey) becomes entwined in a string of grisly murders that seem to revolve around exotic stripper Yolanda Lange (Anita Ekberg!!). Seems that Yolanda killed a man a couple of years earlier who tried to attack her while she showered. Traumatized by this event, she spends some time in a sanitarium and, upon her release, seeks out the help of psychiatrist Dr. Greenwood (the ever creepy Harry Townes) for some quick and dirty therapy. This "poor man's Svengali" falls in love with her (natch!) and soon insinuates himself into her life, even going so far as managing her career by getting her a job at the El Madhouse, a seedy nightclub run by "Gypsy" Mapes ("Gypsy" Rose Lee!). But before long a series of brutal murders begin to occur and poor Yolanda appears to be the prime suspect. (I won't bother to go into the reasons why; it would probably take longer than the running time of the film.) Anyone looking for or concerned with conventional logic might likely be put off by this wildly lurid and threadbare melodrama as nothing quite makes sense in this demented Fulleresque nether world. But those hungry for the wonderful cheap thrills only to be found in nightmare B movies of the fringe variety will probably come away from the table more than satisfied. Artfully photographed by Burnett Guffey, SCREAMING MIMI probably looks a lot better than it deserves to, and Gerd Oswald's eccentric direction doesn't hurt either. Oswald, as many might recall, later went on to produce and direct many of the more stellar episodes of TV's "Outer Limits" in the early 60s. SCREAMING MIMI provided him with the most stunningly perfect testing ground imaginable.Of note to jazz fans: the incredible Red Norvo Trio is featured as the house band at the El Madhouse.

I remember this movie only because my sister and I were the original latch key kids. My older sister and I used to watch TV from the old channel 5 ( pre- Fox network ) TV out of Washington DC. They ran great late afternoon movies and reruns I watched for years before cable. Anyone who grew up in the channel 5 area during the late 60's knows hows what I mean. The Untouchables, Highway Patrol, The Big Valley, Dear Lord where are these great reruns today?? But I digress.. This movie scared the living crap out of me, and I remember my sister teasing me for months. I remember so little about this movie, but it scared me bad enough I've never forgotten the title. Netflix doesn't have this..anyone know where to get a copy of it? I want to face my fear!!