Horror Anthologies! The More Horror There is....
Now that I got my first 100 horror movies out of the way, I intend to watch a lot more! And by " a lot more" I mean checking out horror anthologies for my next bunch of reviews. Call me a glutton for punishment. There's a lot of them out there. These are multiple tales of terror calculated to drive audiences mad packed into one movie.
I love these kinds of movies generally speaking. Movies and TV shows with multiple tales to tell always keep me coming back for more- The Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, Tales from the Darkside, Monsters, Tales from the Crypt, Amazing Stories, etc.
While I've seen a lot of these shows, I haven't seen nearly as many horror anthology movies. I've only reviewed a small few on here - Trilogy of Terror and Quicksilver Highway. The latter is part of my look into not-so-popular movies or series based on Stephen King stories which I wrote up back in 2019.
So, now that I've reach 100 horror movies, I'm continuing on with movies that offer double or triple the horror stories.
I've wanted to dedicate a portion of reviews to horror anthologies. I do have my favorites. I made a list of 22 titles to pick from. I don't know if I'll do all 22. I'll certainly try.
I'll call these reviews "The More Horror There is..." And we'll start with a horror anthology I've wanted to check out for a long time, but never have...until now. đź’€
Director
Freddie Francis
Cast
And All Through the House
Joan Collins - Joanna Clayton
Martin Boddey - Richard Clayton
Chloe Franks - Carol Clayton
Oliver MacGreevy - The maniac
Reflection of Death
Ian Hendry - Carl Maitland
Susan Denny - Mrs. Maitland
Angela Grant - Susan Blake
Poetic Justice
Robin Phillips - James Elliot
David Markham - Edward Elliot
Peter Cushing - Arthur Edward Grimsdyke
Wish You Were Here
Richard Greene - Ralph Jason
Barbara Murray - Enid Jason
Roy Dotrice - Charles Gregory
Blind Alleys
Nigel Patrick - Maj. William Rogers
Patrick Magee - George Carter
George Herbert - Greenwood
Harry Locke - The cook
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| ...And All Through the House from The Vault of Horror no. 35. |
The history behind Mad, which got its start as a satirical horror comic called Tales Calculated to Drive You Mad, is another story for another day. And one I could go on and on about.
Anyhow, I love those chilling stories, and maddening tales, and vaults and crypts full of horrific, over-the-top gritty and grimy fiction. My stash of such comics consist of reprints published in the 1990s save for my boxes of Mad. Those are originals.
Each issue of Tales from the Crypt, Vault of Horror, Shock SuspenStories [sic], and the rest of the horror titles, created by Al Feldstein, features a "Crypt Keeper" or "Old Witch" or a "Vault Keeper" - some unsettling sinister story teller to move the issue along - and consists of multiple tales of horror which are often far fetched. Other times, they are insane yet somehow plausible. Either way, it's horror at its best, straight from the jugular vein.
I found the entire HBO series of the same name, based on the EC comic books, on DVD for a reasonable $28. Of course I bought it. While watching season after season, I was reminded that there are a few movies that stem from the series - Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight (1995), Bordello of Blood (1996), and Ritual (2002). I haven't watched any of these. At least, not yet.
What I didn't know was that before the HBO series and its subsequent film spin-offs, two movies based on the comics had already been released from the country that gave the world Hammer horror films - Britain.
Tales from the Crypt came out in 1972, and was followed by a sequel, The Vault of Horror the following year. I'll get to that one later.
Actually, both films are part of a string of anthology horror movies from the 1960s to the 1970s from British Film Company, Amicus Productions.
The series starts with Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965), and continues through Torture Garden (1967), The House That Dripped Blood (1970), Asylum (1972) and the last film, From Beyond the Grave (1974).
Tales from the Crypt features five tales of terror all told as a group of five strangers tour some old catacombs.
As they get lost, they find a hidden chamber. Inside, torches are lit, and there's five seats set up for each one of them.
The Crypt Keeper (Ralph Richardson) emerges, and details one by one how each of them is going to die.
Each of their deaths is a story for the audience to watch. The stories are all pulled straight from the pages of the comics.
The first segment tells the story of a deranged maniac dressed as Santa Claus who's on the loose.
Joanne Clayton (Joan Collins) has just murdered her husband when she hears of this escaped killer.
As she tries to hide her husband's body, clean up the evidence, and keep her young daughter asleep in bed as she eagerly awaits Santa's visit, the maniac ends up outside her home and tries to break in.
She uses this dire situation as a way out of getting caught by the police. She can just blame the maniac.
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| Joan Collins and Oliver MacGreevy in the story And All Through the House. |
It's the same story told in the HBO series, season one - episode two, also under the title And All Through the House. The original story is from Vault of Horror issue no. 35. I think the HBO series did the story much better as the maniac actually looks like a deranged, insane, and threatening maniac. In this movie, the maniac just strikes me as a dopey old man who's certainly not threatening in the least. That's not to say this earlier version is terrible. It makes the scenario much more realistic.
One small detail I found unsettlingly eerie is the Christmas song God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen playing as she attempts to clean up her husbands blood and dispose of his remains.
Blind Alleys is the fifth story of the film, pulled from the pages of Tales from the Crypt issue no. 46.
A home for the blind receives a new director, Maj. William Rogers (Nigel Patrick). Rather than do what he can for the sake of the residents, he uses his position as a means to live luxuriously at their expense.
One of the residents, George Carter (Patrick Magee - A Clockwork Orange) pleads with Rogers to improve the living conditions for the residents, but Rogers ignores him and uses the home's funds for his own sake.
So, Carter and the other blind tenants decide they've had enough of this new director, and revolt. They put him in an isolation cell for a few days without food nor water. In the meantime, they create a maze outside his cell which only leads to torture and pain. Though he can see, this forces him into their world of uncertainty.
The same story is told in season six of the HBO series under the title Revenge is the Nuts. It's also my favorite segment in the film.
The most notable part of the entire movie is Peter Cushing's role as Grimsdyke in the segment, Poetic Justice.
In this story about a smear campaign towards an innocent and misunderstood neighbor, Cushing's character is a man who lives by himself and is otherwise a happy individual. He owns several dogs, and entertains the neighborhood children.
When I think of Cushing, three particular movie roles come to mind - his role as Dr. Van Helsing in The Horror of Dracula (1958), his role as Victor Frankenstein in The Curse of Frankenstein (his first lead role) and his role as Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars: A New Hope (1977). He plays them as serious and focused characters.
In this movie, he plays a character that's innocent, nearly juvenile, likeable and fun-loving.
Wish You Were Here is a variation of W.W. Jacobs's famous story, The Monkey's Paw. It stars notable British stage, screen, and television actor, Roy Dotrice, who among many notable roles plays Leopold Mozart in the movie Amadeus.
The story Reflections of Death, from Tales from the Crypt issue no. 23, is a twisted one regarding a dream coming true. Personally, I found this to be the least memorable story.
The style and feel of the EC Comics peeks through every one of the segment's manner of storytelling. It lingers from story to story.
The horror is spread on in the right quantity. It's in the scenarios that make us uncomfortable. It lurks in the story details like an evil creature sneaking behind secrets. It can't hide itself. The stories leave room for the audience to imagine themselves in these frightening situations. All the audience can do is watch and consider what they would do in these predicaments. It makes them squirm and pray they never have to experience what they're watching.
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| Peter Cushing as Grimsdyke. |
This movie doesn't cut corners.
Even though its source material are these old comics that have a price of 10 cents printed on the cover, the stories are treated respectfully with effort and high-end talent.
I'm sure as a fan of these tales and such, I found it more enjoyable than I suspect others not acquainted with the comics might. Perhaps many will find the movie more on the dry side.
But audiences don't need to be fans of the EC comics to enjoy this horror anthology. Watching it reminded me of the days of watching movies down in my parent's TV room near our basement, on a 1978 12 or 19 inch Sears Solid State color TV. I think that's what we had? It was something similar to that, anyways. It was the kind of television that gave a mid-range hum when you turned it on, and had those rabbit ears, and a brightness, contrast, and volume dial. And it crackled when you turned it off. Outside of a cinema, this setting is the perfect one for Tales from the Crypt.
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