Amicus Anthology Horror

TORTURE GARDEN
(1967)
Dir - Freddie Francis
Overall: GOOD

The first of three Amicus anthology films to be written by Psycho novelist Robert Bloch and the second of three to be directed by Freddie Francis, Torture Garden is a typically solid entry for both, even if it by default ends up being the least solid of the seven such productions from the studio.  Though Peter Cushing is only used in a bit part and Christopher Lee was swapped for Burgess Meredith and Jack Palance due to Columbia Pictures insisting upon more Americans in the cast, neither of these things is a hindrance.  Right in the middle of maintaining his now iconic roll as The Penguin on Batman and even busting out that trademark cigarette holder, Meredith is pitch perfect as the linking segment host Dr. Diabolo, (wonder who that could actually be), and Jack Palance is highly amusing as he slips in and out of a fake British accent and displays a consistent smirk while smoking his pipe and feverishly fanboying himself over Edgar Allan Poe.  The two female centered stories are less strong than the opening and closing ones involving a demon cat, then Poe and the occult, but the killer piano does warrant a decent chuckle.  The only thing one could say that Torture Garden is lacking is perhaps a little more suspense and flare to the individual stories, but they each deliver in their ghastliness all the same.

ASYLUM
(1972)
Dir - Roy Ward Baker
Overall: GOOD

Still on a roll with the fifth in their anthology series, Asylum was the first to be helmed by known Hammer director Roy Ward Baker, who would also go on to do Amicus' The Vault of Horror and And Now the Screaming Starts!.  Returning once again was Peter Cushing in a minor role and writer Robert Bloch who adapted several of his own short stories.  The results are typically satisfactory.  If one had to choose, the least great entry would be "Lucy Comes to Stay", which is too on the nose to provide any real shocks.  Elsewhere though, they are all excellent with a black magic-laced, glowing suite, a severed body that seeks revenge, and some killer toys.  The latter is certainly in the realm of silly with some adorable, mechanical wind up toys with human heads that are meant to appear menacing, but it is also rather fun and befitting to the campy nature of these films as a whole.  Though virtually all the would-be twists are elementary to spot pretty far away, the framing narrative that takes place in, (you guessed it), an insane asylum is also a hoot, further given a sufficiently inciting mystery of its own for us and the main protagonist Dr. Martin, (Robert Powell from The Asphyx), to uncover.

TALES FROM THE CRYPT

(1972)

Dir - Freddie Francis

Overall: GREAT

Probably the most popular of Amicus' seven horror anthologies was their first to be based off of EC comics in Tales from the Crypt.  The follow up The Vault of Horror came the next year and had a virtually identical framework, though the character of the Crypt Keeper, (played here by stage actor Sir Ralph Richardson), was omitted.  Only two of the stories actually come from the comic that the movie is named after, with two more from EC's sister titles The Haunt of Fear and one from The Vault of Horror.  All of them are solid though, with the opening "...And All Through the House" also serving as the second ever episode of the television series that would debut on HBO seventeen years later.  "Wish You Were Here" is a solid "Monkey's Paw" reworking and "Reflection of Death" has a Twilight Zone-esque twist and some brief though ghoulish makeup effects.  Same goes for the Peter Cushing-starred entry "Poetic Justice" and the closer "Blind Alley's offers up the most satisfying comeuppance set piece out of the bunch.  As was usual for these Amicus productions, the contemporary setting does nothing to deflate the eerie atmosphere and director Freddie Francis and the entire cast do top notch work all around.

 

FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE
(1974)
Dir - Kevin Connor
Overall: GREAT

Future Motel Hell director Kevin Connor's debut was the final installment in the Amicus anthology series From Beyond the Grave and it is a mighty strong one.  Just as he did for the very first outing Dr. Terror's House of Horrors, Peter Cushing hosts the framing segments here as well, this time as an antique shop owner who through some diabolical trickery manages to curse anyone who is dishonest and thrifty with him.  The best of the bunch involves the antiques themselves wrecking havoc for their new owners, first a mirror that hosts a vampire and the second a door made of blood that houses an evil blue room.  The segment involving Donald Pleasence and his real life daughter goes on perhaps a bit too long, but certainly comes through with a macabre enough ending.  Often but not always, there is one story in each of these films that acts as the overtly humorous one and "The Elemental" is a splendid joy to watch Margaret Leighton's Madam Orloff dramatically sing an invisible, shoulder mounted demon away.  The spooky atmosphere throughout all of From Beyond the Grave is maintained, even when it delves right into comical terrain as the cast that is not wonderfully hamming it up continues to play it straight.  There really is not a weak entry in the whole of Amicus' horror output, particularly where the anthology films were concerned and the last offering in it is as classy, controlled, and fun as any in the batch.