The Amicus Portmanteau Weekend

What sort of gave me inspiration to have myself a fun weekend of Amicus in September—my plans for October are much lighter than 2018 which I’ll never top, considering I think it is one of the best months of horror viewing I’ll ever have in terms of volume of films watched—was two things basically. On Facebook one of my old IMDb Horror Board pals picked up a copy of the Blu for Dead of Night, which I also plan to order off Amazon soon, planting the seed in an interest to take up a few days worth of anthology films, and a review of another Horror Board buddy reviewing Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors (1965; Directed by Freddie Francis). The latter I watched late Saturday/early Sunday after two other Amicus offerings…From Beyond the Grave (1974; the final omnibus produced by Amicus) & Asylum (1972). Even if these films aren’t high art, I just have a blast watching them. I don’t figure Donald Sutherland, overviewing his impressive, vast career, looks upon his minor vampire tale in Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors with any real pride. I even wonder if he has thought much about it considering the depth and breadth of such a resume. He was quite young when featured as a cigarette-in-his-mouth-always small town doc with a French wife vampire. Out of the three I watched Saturday, two of them featured Cushing as the wraparound story’s boogeyman. I enjoyed him in both, most definitely considering he’s probably my all-time favorite actor, but slightly a hair more in From Beyond the Grave as the antiquities shop owner of Temptations Limited. Both films he’s made up to look sinister, but by 1974 Cushing’s face was a bit sunken and it looked as if he had lost considerable weight. Granted in Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors, his beloved Helen was still alive while after her death he was never quite the same. I can’t help but grin at the thought of Lee’s art critic in constant terror of artist adversary Michael Gough’s disembodied hand. While parcel-packaged body parts wrapped up by a husband who murdered his voodoo-practicing wife in Asylum move about towards those involved in her death. The Vault of Horror, from 1973, to me has the laziest wraparound, and some of the stories are just the pits, but none quite reek like the killer vine tale in Dr Terror's House of Horrors. Still a magic rope whipping Jurgens in The Vault of Horror is so laughable. It is clear that The House That Dripped Blood is the apple of my eye. Every tale in it hit the G-Spot (Gothic horror Spot) with me. I didn't watch Tales from the Crypt (1972) because it is one of my short list for October this year.

Saturday afternoon

From Beyond the Grave (1974) 4/5

The Gate Crasher – 4/5

An Act of Kindness – 3.5/5

The Elemental – 3.5/5

The Door – 4/5

Wraparound – 4/5

Saturday evening

Asylum (1972) 3/5

Frozen Fear – 3.5/5

The Weird Tailor – 2/5

Lucy Comes to Stay – 3.5/5

Mannikins of Horror – 2/5

Wraparound – 2.5/5

Early Sunday morning

Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965) 3.5/5

Werewolf – 2/5

Creeping Vine –1/5

Voodoo – 2.5/5

Disembodied Hand – 4/5

Vampire – 2/5

Wraparound – 3.5/5

Sunday Noon
The Vault of Horror (1973) 2.5/5

Midnight Mess – 1.5/5

The Neat Job – 3/5

This Trick’ll Kill You – 1.5/5

Bargain in Death – 2.5/5

Drawn and Quartered – 3.5/5

Wraparound – 1.5/5

Sunday Evening
The House That Dripped Blood (1970) 4.5/5

Method for Murder – 4.5/5

Waxworks – 4.5/5

Sweets to the Sweet – 5/5

The Cloak – 4.5/5

Wraparound – 4.5/5

Torture Garden (1967) 3/5

Enoch – 2.5/5

Terror Over Hollywood – 2.5/5

Mr. Steinway – 2/5

The Man Who Collected Poe – 4/5

Wraparound – 4/5

This, for me, hinges success on Meredith as Diabolo (Old Scratch again; I just watched him as the Devil in the TZ episode, “The Printer’s Devil”) and the Poe tale which I totally dug featuring Cushing as avid generations-long Poe collector and obsessive fan, Palance, meeting in a tragic basement-dwelling altercation due to works by the celebrated author of the macabre written curiously on 1966 paper, with a certain chamber and hidden room containing a fantastic secret. All weekend, I watched as Cushing was either Death itself or a dead man every single tale. I couldn’t help but grin at the myriad of ways Cushing kicked the bucket. A candle holder across the head by maniacal Palance, his head chopped off by an ax-wielding waxworks proprietor, and shot point blank by Barry Morse over the struggle of what I call the “alchemy suit”. Palance and Meredith sharing a smoke, admittedly, made me smile ear to ear. A hell of a fun weekend of Amicus. Some of the films altogether—as pointed out by many others for decades—are a mixed bag, with some tales that are outright laughable and lame, but more often than not, you get gems like Lee falling prey to witchcraft thanks to his evil daughter, or Glynis Johns flipping out with a hammer when Terry-Thomas’ OCD drives her over the edge, or Tom Baker seeking vengeance through his art to kill those who swindled him. My choice for favorite sequence is definitely Cushing in a dream moving through the waxworks, but the overall tale that is my choice for best is probably Sweets for the Sweet. The spookiest overall is no question, in my mind, The House That Dripped Blood. There is no blood dripping but plenty of creepy house vibes and atmospheric direction…and Pertwee self portrait. Oh, and I cannot forget Ingrid. Let me keep her on the mind aplenty.