I Wake Up Screaming | Rotten Tomatoes (2025)

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Critics Reviews Audience Reviews My Rating Cast & Crew More Like This Photos I Wake Up Screaming

86%

Tomatometer

7 Reviews

68%

Popcornmeter

500+ Ratings

Glamorous starlet Vicky Lynn (Carole Landis) is murdered, and the cops want to pin the killing on her manager, fast-talking Frankie Christopher (Victor Mature). But the more Vicky's sensible sister, Jill (Betty Grable), finds out about Frankie, the less she suspects him of the crime. As Jill and Frankie fall in love, the detective in charge of the case (Laird Cregar) develops a morbid obsession with punishing Frankie, leading to a shocking conclusion.

Critics Reviews

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I Wake Up Screaming | Rotten Tomatoes (1)

Jennie Kermode

Eye for Film

By restructuring the footage and playing around with it in this way, O'Neill presents a guide to the construction of terror...

Rated: 3.5/5

Jul 7, 2020

Full Review

I Wake Up Screaming | Rotten Tomatoes (2)

Sean Axmaker

Seanax.com

... not just one of the great movie titles of classic cinema, it is one of the films that established the distinctive style and attitude of film noir...

Jan 28, 2017

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I Wake Up Screaming | Rotten Tomatoes (3)

Pablo Villaça

Cinema em Cena

Representando um dos primeiros passos do cinema noir, um filme que, apesar da boa presena de Cregar, mostra-se irregular em seu tom e que tropea, tambm, na performance frgil de Mature.

Rated: 2/5

Sep 11, 2006

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I Wake Up Screaming | Rotten Tomatoes (4)

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Rated: 4/5

Jun 14, 2005

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I Wake Up Screaming | Rotten Tomatoes (5)

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

Marvelously sinister performance by Laird Cregar.

Rated: B

Dec 19, 2004

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I Wake Up Screaming | Rotten Tomatoes (6)

Ken Hanke

Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

Superior thriller from an underrated director.

Rated: 4/5

Sep 23, 2003

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Audience Reviews

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nick s A fairly solid noir, though nothing outstanding. It started quite well and promised a lot. But it didn't quite deliver. The middle floundered somewhat as the audience wasn't given much more info about the crime and things just seemed to meander along. Good performances from the cast. Rated 3/5 Stars • Rated 3 out of 5 stars 08/22/24 Full Review Grumpy Old G This film has a great opening act that pulls us in because we have no idea where the plot is headed. Later when we do know, we'll look back on this opening act with annoyance because the rest of the film has never lived up to its potential. Rated 3/5 Stars • Rated 3 out of 5 stars 07/04/23 Full Review Deke P VERY good 1941 movie. Great cast. BETTY GRABLE in a swimsuit at 'the plunge'. interesting that the background theme for this film was "SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW". Saw most of it on tv, 7.4.23SPOILER ALERT below;There's a twist. Rated 3.5/5 Stars • Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 06/05/23 Full Review Audience Member This film could have been SO much better if not for the lousy film score. Erase all of the music and you'd have a memorable little film noir. Cregar plays an especially creepy character. Rated 3/5 Stars • Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Luca D A fun little film noir. The lines are great but the delivery on them is a bit square. The plot is not too deep but sometimes that is all you need. Funny though I don't recall anyone waking up screaming in the movie? I would recommend this to people who are just warming up to film noirs. Not a must see by any means, but definitely a great load of suspense and excitement. Rated 3.5/5 Stars • Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 09/03/22 Full Review Audience Member A noir completely elevated by its antagonist and the psychology at play. Otherwise, a pretty predictable affair. Rated 3.5/5 Stars • Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/15/23 Full Review Read all reviews

I Wake Up Screaming

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Cast & Crew

H. Bruce Humberstone Director Betty Grable Jill Lynn Victor Mature Frankie Christopher Carole Landis Vicky Lynn Laird Cregar Ed Cornell William Gargan Jerry MacDonald

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I Wake Up Screaming

I Wake Up Screaming (1941)

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Synopsis Glamorous starlet Vicky Lynn (Carole Landis) is murdered, and the cops want to pin the killing on her manager, fast-talking Frankie Christopher (Victor Mature). But the more Vicky's sensible sister, Jill (Betty Grable), finds out about Frankie, the less she suspects him of the crime. As Jill and Frankie fall in love, the detective in charge of the case (Laird Cregar) develops a morbid obsession with punishing Frankie, leading to a shocking conclusion.

Director: H. Bruce Humberstone
Producer: Milton Sperling
Screenwriter: Dwight Taylor
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Production Co: Twentieth Century Fox
Genre: Crime, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 31, 1941, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 30, 2016
Runtime: 1h 22m