Frying tonight!
"He's been dead fifteen years now... but if you come in, I'll ask him if he can see you".
— Sockett upon hearing a request to see the master of the Bide-a-Wee Rest Home.
Carry On Screaming! is a 1966 film from the Carry On series, making it the twelfth movie made. It starred Harry H. Corbett, Kenneth Williams, Jim Dale, Charles Hawtrey, Fenella Fielding, Joan Sims, and Angela Douglas in the series' take on Hammer Horror.
The movie is set in Edwardian times and begins in Hocombe Woods with Doris Mann (Douglas) being abducted by Odbodd (Tom Clegg), a horrible wolfman monster, from her lover Albert Potter (Dale). Two detectives, Detective Sergeant Sidney Bung (Corbett) and Detective Constable Slobotham (Peter Butterworth), have been tracking disappearances in the same area and find the creature's finger. The three of them search for more clues and find the Bide-a-Wee Rest Home, home to strange butler Sockett (Bernard Bresslaw), attractive mistress Valeria (Fielding), and her electrically reanimated brother Dr. Olando Watt (Williams), who scare them away.
The next day, the trio interview Dan Dann (Hawtrey), a lavatory attendant, but he is killed before he can reveal anything. In fear of being discovered, Valeria uses a potion to turn Sergeant Bung into a hunched-over sniveling alter-ego, ordering him to steal a mannequin that looks suspiciously like Doris, leading Sergeant Bung to link two-and-two together. His wife Emily (Sims) is convinced that he's having an affair, so she secretly follows along, getting dragged into the plot in the process as Hilarity Ensues.
Tropes Included:
- Actor Allusion: Sergeant Bung's car registration is "HS 25", a play on Harry H. Corbett's character Harold Steptoe. The show's theme also plays as he drives his car.
- Affectionate Nickname: Sergeant Bung calls Emily "Em" as he leaves their bedroom to visit the police station.
- Alliterative Name: Avery Avenue, where Sergeant Bung, Slobotham, and Albert search for Doris.
- All Men Are Perverts:
- Albert doesn't take into consideration how terrified Doris is in Hocombe Woods and is only interested in getting a chance to sleep with her.
- Sergeant Bung moans about not having nights of passion with Emily and doesn't hold back when Valeria gives him an opportunity.
- All There in the Script: Some things aren't revealed in the film itself:
- Sergeant Bung and Slobotham's full titles are "Detective Sergeant" and "Detective Constable" respectively.
- The forensic scientist who accidentally creates (and is killed by) Junior is called "Dr. Fettle".
- Alternate Identity Amnesia: Sergeant Bung has no memory of his mannequin-stealing rampage after Valeria slips him a potion.
- Ambiguously Gay: Albert believes Slobotham to be one and that he wears women's clothing for fun.
- Ambiguously Human: Dr. Watt, Valeria, and Sockett look outwardly human, if not possibly undead in the latter two's case.
- And I Must Scream: The ending reveals that all the women turned into mannequins still have some level of sentience as shown when the still-transformed Emily winks at the end of the film.
Meaning all the women transformed before Doris are still conscious, never to move again... - Animal Assassin: A snake is dropped into Sergeant Bung and Albert's bed to finish them off when they get too close to discovering Dr. Watt's misdeeds. Luckily for our heroes, Sergeant Bung shoots it dead.
- Anachronism Stew:
- Television aerials are visible in several exterior scenes.
- Dan Dann's glasses are from 1948.
- Awful Wedded Life: All the scenes of the Bungs feature them arguing and/or fighting. Emily frequently rants and screams, making one wonder how they got married in the first place. In the end, after Emily is turned into a mannequin, Sergeant Bung moves onto the more attractive, less shrewish Valeria.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Sergeant Bung gets two of these:
- Although he likes to make Slobotham do all of his dirty work when Slobotham ends up getting kidnapped, he becomes very worried and fears that he's for the worse.
- When he discovers Emily's mannequin in Dr. Watt's lab, he becomes very emotional. He even keeps her dummy standing in the living room at the end of the movie, despite dating Valeria.
- Beast in the Building: While Sergeant Bung and Albert Potter are staying the night in the Bide-a-Wee Rest Home, a large snake winds its way down a servant bell rope directly into the bed of the two men, sent there to kill them.
- Big Brother Instinct: Sergeant Bung will always tell the squeamish Slobotham to cover their eyes when something gory was about to happen.
- Big Electric Switch: The machines to recharge Odbodd, Junior, and Dr. Watt himself have big switches, complete with sparks flying.
- Body Horror: When Valeria kisses him, Sockett's toes curl upwards in an unnatural manner.
- The Can Kicked Him: Dan Dann is murdered by Odbodd by being drowned in a toilet.
- Chekhov's Gunman: King Rubbatiti is brought up by Dr. Watt early on in the film, who states he plans to resurrect him one day. During the climax, Rubbatiti is brought to life by a stray bolt of lightning which saves our heroes when the Pharaoh turns on Dr. Watt and kills them both.
- Chivalrous Pervert: Albert. He waits a year to have his way with Doris and refuses to strip her mannequin when he wants to prove that it has a birthmark on her bottom like she'd told him about.
- Contrived Coincidence: How is Dr. Watt defeated in the end after he corners our heroes? A stray bolt of lightning comes through the window Albert broke manages to resurrect Rubbatiti, who instantly turns on Dr. Watt, chasing him through the Bide-a-Wee Rest Home, and eventually into a vat of boiling wax, which kills them both.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: When Albert suggests going to get the rest of the police force to investigate the area, Valeria brushes it off quickly by walking up to him, stating that he should stay with the group because they need "some muscle", followed by her seductively squeezing his biceps. Sergeant Bung's annoyed look says it all.
- Creepy Changing Painting: Sergeant Bung tells Slobotham that they must leave the spooky house with dignity: then they hear laughter and notice that a statue has changed to a grinning expression, and they run away.
- Creepy Housekeeper: Sockett the butler. Everything he says is in an eerie monotone and he never shows any emotion as he lumbers around the Bide-a-Wee Rest Home.
- Creepy Monotone: Sockett speaks with no emotion in his voice at any point in the film which only makes him more unsettling to those who meet him.
- Disguised in Drag: Because he's the smallest, Sergeant Bung forces Slobotham to pretend to be a woman in order to be kidnapped. When Slobotham is kidnapped, there's this exchange between Sergeant Bung and Albert:Albert Potter: Well how could have been kidnapped? He's a man!
Sergeant Bung: He's not a man anymore! He's a woman!
Albert Potter: You know, I always thought there was something wrong with him.
Sergeant Bung: No, he's dressed as a woman!
Albert Potter: That's what I meant. - Distinguishing Mark: Doris has a birthmark on her butt which Albert tries to use to prove that Mr. Jones' mannequin is her. Unluckily for him, Valeria makes sure to remove all marks such as moles or birthmarks prior to sending her mannequins off to shops.
- Don't Go in the Woods: Hocombe Woods is where the Watts send Odbodd to capture their victims, including Doris, Emily, and Slobotham.
- Ear Ache: Odbodd's ear falls off after abducting Slobotham:Dr. Watt What's happened to your ear? Oh well, 'ere today, gone tomorrow.
- The Edwardian Era: The film is set in the early months of 1907. The characters' outfits and Sergeant Bung's car both reflect this period.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Valeria has dark hair that contrasts with her pale grey skin.
- Ethical Slut: Valeria frequently distracts Sergeant Bung away from his snooping with promises of passion to keep her and Dr. Watt out of trouble.
- Everyone Went to School Together: Dr. Watt often mentions his connections with others he knew back when he was alive. He says that he was bullied in his student years by Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll — the latter who, once he became a scientist, gave him a prescription for medicine that would turn a patient into a Wolf Man — and was also friends with Dracula.
- Faint in Shock: Slobotham is prone to this, which allows Odbodd to get away during their first encounter. Doris also does so alongside him when Odbodd and Junior start closing in on them, Sergeant Bung, and Albert in the climax.
- Fake Shemp: Billy Cornelius, who played Junior, doubled for Odbodd when Tom Clegg fell ill.
- Femme Fatale: Valeria pretends to act as the innocent party in Dr. Watts's scheme and successfully seduces Sergeant Bung enough to distract him from the case.
- Fingore: When Doris is kidnapped, Sergeant Bung and Slobotham find their first clue in the form of an inhuman finger, torn off and left behind at the scene, as Dr. Watt's reanimation leaves the bodies brittle and prone to breakages.
- Foil: The bumbling Slobotham is to the powerful and attractive Sergeant Bung.
- Foot Popping: Sockett's toes curl upwards when Valeria kisses him.
- Frazetta Man: Odbodd and Junior (played respectively by Tom Clegg and Billy Cornelius) are members of a lost, prehistoric relative of the human race, resurrected from extinction by Dr. Watt.
- Furniture Blockade: Sergeant Bung piles furniture against a door, to keep Odbodd and Junior out. However, Junior goes through the hole he made earlier, and casually hands him another chair.
- Hardboiled Detective: Sergeant Bung fits the trope perfectly as a tough, cynical man who is devoted to his job. The only difference to typical ones is that he's married, albeit a terrible one.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Dr. Watt spends the entire film trying to revive the mummy of King Rubbatiti. When Rubbatiti is reanimated by a bolt of lightning, the mummy turns on him and pulls him into the vat of molten wax he uses for his mannequins.
- Hysterical Woman: Doris, much to Albert's annoyance as she screams while he tries to kiss her in Hocombe Woods. However, this can be argued that due to Albert's Genre Blindness of woods at night, he believed that Doris was trying to put him off.
- Inconsistent Spelling: While Dr. Watt's first name and his monster's name are often spelt "Orlando" and "Oddbod", according to the film's script, they are actually spelt "Olando" and "Odbodd", respectively.
- Incredibly Conspicuous Drag: Slobotham is disguised as a woman to try and get kidnapped. Despite the fact he looks like a painted walnut, this somehow works!
- Jekyll & Hyde: Sergeant Bung (and later, Albert) drink a potion that briefly turns them into wolfmen.
- Karma Houdini: Despite Valeria being just as much of a mastermind behind the plan to kidnap young women and turn them into mannequins as Dr. Watt was (and even at times proving to be dastardlier than him), she gets off scot-free for her actions and even gets together with Sergeant Bung!
- Mad Scientist: Dr. Watt, who kidnaps young women to turn them into mannequins and plans to resurrect King Rubbatiti, the ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Mummy.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: When trying to solve Doris' disappearance, Slobotham and Sergeant Bung toy between this trope. Through Dramatic Irony, every supernatural connection turns out to be Real After All.
- Meaningful Name: Dr. Watt takes his name from a unit of electricity, and requires regular electrical charging to sustain himself, having technically died some 15 years ago. If his charge runs down, he starts fading away into nothing.
- Mistaken for Cheating: Sergeant Bung sneaks off to set up a plan to discover the truth about Doris' disappearance with a Disguised in Drag Slobotham, making Emily believe that he is seeing someone else.
- Nothing Is Scarier:
- Dan's body isn't shown to the audience, but it must have been left in quite a state as Sergeant Bung is left visibly shaken after seeing what Odbodd did to him.
- Likewise, most of Dr. Fettle's corpse is offscreen, but one glance causes Slobotham to Faint in Shock.
- Not Now, Kiddo: Slobotham can see immediately that the Watt siblings and their housekeeper are otherworldly, but Sergeant Bung just pushes his assumptions aside.
- Novelization: One was planned but aborted by Peter Rogers who didn't think it would sell well.
- Of Corsets Funny: A variation of this is that Detective Constable Slobotham is tasked with removing the corset from a mannequin to check for a birthmark, as Mr Potter believes the mannequin is actually his girlfriend Doris.Slobotham: Sergeant, I've covered every aspect of police work, but I've never been called on to tackle corsets before!Sergeant Bung: It's very simple, you undo the laces, just like football boots. Have you never taken football boots off before?Slobotham: Not off a lady.Sergeant Bung: Get on with it.
- Old, Dark House: Dr. Watt and Valeria live in the Bide-a-Wee Rest Home, a Gothic mansion with dim lights, cobwebs, and a hidden laboratory.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Dan Dann the Lavatory Man's first name is actually the far more formal "Daniel".
- Over-the-Shoulder Carry: The Odbodds carry their kidnapped women over the shoulder.
- Please Put Some Clothes On: When Junior is created from Odbodd's finger, he is naked, and very hairy all over. After arriving at the Bide-a-Wee Rest Home, Dr Watt believes him to be the original Odbodd, is appalled by his nakedness, and wraps him in a sheet. He is later given an overall similar to Odbodd's.
- Portrait Painting Peephole: Valeria uses one to spy on Sergeant Bung, Slobotham, and Albert when they arrive at the Bide-a-Wee Rest Home.
- Plot Hole:
- Sergeant Bung claims that Odbodd was dead for 500 years, despite the fact that an ancient ape-like creature such as himself would more likely be closer to 30,000 years old.
- Sergeant Bung and Albert are surprisingly good at using a socket and know how to plug even though the film is set at a time when gas was mostly used for lighting and cooking.
- When Sergeant Bung shows Valeria his whistle, he mentions that it doesn't work as he inhaled the pea, despite the fact that Hudson whistles don't have peas by design.
- The Pretty Guys Are Stronger: When Albert is under the influence with the wolf man drug, he can throw the 6+ foot tall Odbodd and Junior around the room; but when Sergeant Bung was in the same situation, he can only carry lifeless mannequins.
- Pun: During the search for Doris, Sergeant Bung declares that they need to thoroughly search the road they're on. He asks Slobotham for the road's name, and upon being told it is called Avery Avenue, he proclaims "We must search Avery Avenue!". An unamused Albert rolls his eyes.
- Repetitive Name: Dan Dann the Lavatory Man.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Dr. Watt starting to vanish is enough to send Slobotham and Albert running for the hills. Sergeant Bung tries to stay unafraid but joins the pair shortly after.
- Shapeshifting Excludes Clothing: When Dr. Watt loses charge and begins to disappear his clothes remain fully visible.
- Shout-Out:
- Odbodd and Junior look like a cross between Frankenstein's Monster and the Wolf Man.
- The name "Sergeant Bung" is a play on the series Sergeant Cork.
- The theme to Z Cars plays as Sergeant Bung drives his car.
- Sockett has often been compared to Lurch from The Addams Family (although Bernard Bresslaw was unfamiliar with the series when he played the role). Valeria has also been compared to Morticia.
- Dr Watt is electrical, much like Frankenstein's Monster. He also went to school with the monster's creator and Dr. Jekyll (who provided him with a potion to turn people into a shambling monster, much like Mr. Hyde]]) and knew Dracula.
- When the three protagonists ask for Watt's name, this happens:
- Dr. Fettle looks like Albert Einstein.
- Sneakers of Sneaking: Played With when Sockett the butler is heard approaching the front door with loud footsteps; but when he opens the door, he is wearing slippers, making his introduction even more creepy (no pun intended).
- Suddenly Shouting: Sergeant Bung has a short fuse, and the slightest of events can have him angrily yelling at someone.
- Take Our Word for It: Dan and Dr. Fettle's fates are quite horrific to Sergeant Bung and Slobotham, yet the audience never gets a good look at the bodies.
- Tempting Fate: Upon finding Dr. Fettle dead in his lab, Sergeant Bung tells Slobotham not to look at the body, but Slobotham does and faints:Sergeant Bung: You looked!
- There Was a Door: Junior hasn't got the hang of using doors yet, and prefers to crash through walls:Dr. Watt: I do wish Junior would learn to use the door!
- Undercover as Lovers: Sergeant Bung and a Disguised in Drag Slobotham dress up as a couple and enter Hocombe Woods to help figure out who's been kidnapping young women from the area. It works a little too well when Sergeant Bung's wife, Emily, who already believed was having an affair, spies on them, although she never gets to confront him as she (and Slobotham) is captured.
- The Unreveal: Whatever horrific things Odbodd and Junior did to Dan and Dr. Fettle aren't shown to the audience. All we learn is that Dan was drowned in a toilet and Dr. Fettle's legs are seen hanging over his desk.
- Wax Museum Morgue: Dr. Watt has young women turned into mannequins. As he's lowering one into the vat that will bring about the transformation, this exchange occurs between his sister Valeria and him:Valeria: Now, please...don't say that thing you always say at this juncture. It's in very bad taste.
Dr. Watt: What thing? What are you—(laughs)—oh, you mean "frying tonight"! - What Did I Do Last Night?: This phrase is spoken word for word by Sergeant Bung the morning after his nocturnal rampage as a Wolf Man.
- Whole-Plot Reference: The plot line of a mad doctor kidnapping women and turning them into dummies was lifted from Mystery of the Wax Museum and its remake House of Wax (1953).
- Who's on First?: There's a moment of this when Dr Watt introduces himself to Sergeant Bung, Slobotham, and Albert, and the audience learns that his uncle was a "Dr Who":Slobotham: No, no, about your name?
Dr.Watt: "WATT"!
Slobotham: What's your name?!
Sergeant Bung: "WATT"'S HIS NAME!
Slobotham: That's what I'm trying to find out, sir! - Wolf Man:
- Odbodd and Junior are prehistoric humans who resemble wolfmen as they are covered in hair and have large teeth.
- Sergeant Bung and Albert are both temporarily transformed into one by a potion gifted to the Watts by Dr. Jekyll.
- Workaholic: Sergeant Bung, much to Emily's annoyance as he spends more time at the police station than with her.
