Since all of the stories have their ups and downs I will review them each on their own. Five men are trapped in a basement with a table and chairs. They proceed to tell them stories from their nightmares that seem to real to be just a nightmare. Include Major Spoilers!
{Story 1} It involves a man (Daniel Massey) trying to hunt down his sister (Played by Anna Massey) as she is the beneficiary of her fathers will. After tracking her down, Daniel Massey kills her and enters a restaurant. He was told they were closing but they are indeed open, for a gang of vampires. If you are clever enough to find the uncut version, it includes Daniel Massey getting a drinks pump stuffed into his neck and the vampires proceed to pour blood from his neck squirting it out as he spasms. Very good direction with a spooky atmosphere and an engrossing story.
{Story 2} It sees Arthur Gritchit (Played very splendidly by Terry-Thomas) and his new wife Eleanor settling down into their home. All is good until Arthur starts getting angry at the fact that Eleanor keeps changing the house around and not putting things back in the right places. 'Everything in its place and a place for everything. That Eleanor, is the value of neatness.' Arthur says. Eleanor then tries to tidy the house up really fast before Arthur gets home. Only a few things to put away until everything gets out of hand. Arthur gets home while Eleanor has just knocked over a box of nails to put a painting on the wall with. Arthur then starts ranting 'Can't you do ANYTHING neatly!' Eleanor in a rage bashes his head with a hammer. We then see a tidy house and Arthurs body parts that have been assorted in different jars. Eleanor cackles crazily. A great performance by both characters with Terry-Thomas adding humor every chance he gets. A fitting ending and a story that never gets boring. I could write the story's script from memory I've seen it that many times!
{Story 3} Curt Jergens plays a magician who spots a woman in India chanting a rope. The trick is spectacular as Jergens can't spot how shes doing it. He offers to buy the rope but the woman refuses as it is a very special rope. Jergens pays her to do the trick at his hotel room with his wife. When the woman goes to the hotel, Jergens and his wife stab her to death. When Jergens chants the rope his wife climbs it to show off. She then looks up at the ceiling and lets out a piercing scream. She disappears and blood appears on the ceiling. The rope then comes down and starts lashing Jergens as we see it has a mind of its own. It hangs Jergens and everyone can see him hanging from his hotel window. A good if predictable story that has a great performance by Jergens and good classic revenge by a stolen item. The only flaw is we don't know what the rope did to his wife.
{Story 4} Michael Craig is a man who fakes his own death by being buried alive, expecting to be dug up later in an insurance scam. The man who should dig him up doesn't come to dig him up as he keeps the money for himself. Two college students want to dig up a corpse to use in a science project and they dig up Craigs grave. He gets up and screams in a mad rage. The two students run for it and end up causing Michael Craigs friends death as his car crashes. The grave digger who went with the two boys however has smashed Craigs head in with the spade. Another predictable story with a good ending. Craig looks rather bored in his performance yet manages to pull it off. The head bashing sequence is good and the comedy routine from the college boys is a nice touch.
{Story 5} Tom Baker is an artist. He has been forced to live in the carribean because his paintings were'nt selling. They were actually getting lots of money at galleries and it turns out Bakers auctioneers were lying. Baker sees a voodoo priest for a revenge spell. Baker then has the ability to paint a picture of a living thing and destroy the painting. Thus, this will happen to the real life person. He paints all three auctioneers and rips the first mans hands from the painting. After an accident, the mans hands are cut off. After he paints the second auctioneer he pokes out the eyes. In real life, the mans wife throws acid at his face so he'll never see again. The third auctioneer gets to see his painting as Baker shows it to him. He paints a red hole in his head and the man shoots himself in the head. Baker though, has painted himself and as he runs from the scene of the crime some workmen from the top room spill some water. Baker is hit by a truck and the truck runs over his face. We then cut back to Bakers painting and see that the water has ruined the painting. It has worn away Bakers face. A very clever twist with some great acting from Tom Baker and a cameo from Denholm Elliott. It is probably the best story apart from the second story.
The whole movie is put together with class acting and great atmosphere. You will be engrossed and thoroughly spooked by the stories. One of the best anthology movies of all time. 8.5 out of 10.
{Story 1} It involves a man (Daniel Massey) trying to hunt down his sister (Played by Anna Massey) as she is the beneficiary of her fathers will. After tracking her down, Daniel Massey kills her and enters a restaurant. He was told they were closing but they are indeed open, for a gang of vampires. If you are clever enough to find the uncut version, it includes Daniel Massey getting a drinks pump stuffed into his neck and the vampires proceed to pour blood from his neck squirting it out as he spasms. Very good direction with a spooky atmosphere and an engrossing story.
{Story 2} It sees Arthur Gritchit (Played very splendidly by Terry-Thomas) and his new wife Eleanor settling down into their home. All is good until Arthur starts getting angry at the fact that Eleanor keeps changing the house around and not putting things back in the right places. 'Everything in its place and a place for everything. That Eleanor, is the value of neatness.' Arthur says. Eleanor then tries to tidy the house up really fast before Arthur gets home. Only a few things to put away until everything gets out of hand. Arthur gets home while Eleanor has just knocked over a box of nails to put a painting on the wall with. Arthur then starts ranting 'Can't you do ANYTHING neatly!' Eleanor in a rage bashes his head with a hammer. We then see a tidy house and Arthurs body parts that have been assorted in different jars. Eleanor cackles crazily. A great performance by both characters with Terry-Thomas adding humor every chance he gets. A fitting ending and a story that never gets boring. I could write the story's script from memory I've seen it that many times!
{Story 3} Curt Jergens plays a magician who spots a woman in India chanting a rope. The trick is spectacular as Jergens can't spot how shes doing it. He offers to buy the rope but the woman refuses as it is a very special rope. Jergens pays her to do the trick at his hotel room with his wife. When the woman goes to the hotel, Jergens and his wife stab her to death. When Jergens chants the rope his wife climbs it to show off. She then looks up at the ceiling and lets out a piercing scream. She disappears and blood appears on the ceiling. The rope then comes down and starts lashing Jergens as we see it has a mind of its own. It hangs Jergens and everyone can see him hanging from his hotel window. A good if predictable story that has a great performance by Jergens and good classic revenge by a stolen item. The only flaw is we don't know what the rope did to his wife.
{Story 4} Michael Craig is a man who fakes his own death by being buried alive, expecting to be dug up later in an insurance scam. The man who should dig him up doesn't come to dig him up as he keeps the money for himself. Two college students want to dig up a corpse to use in a science project and they dig up Craigs grave. He gets up and screams in a mad rage. The two students run for it and end up causing Michael Craigs friends death as his car crashes. The grave digger who went with the two boys however has smashed Craigs head in with the spade. Another predictable story with a good ending. Craig looks rather bored in his performance yet manages to pull it off. The head bashing sequence is good and the comedy routine from the college boys is a nice touch.
{Story 5} Tom Baker is an artist. He has been forced to live in the carribean because his paintings were'nt selling. They were actually getting lots of money at galleries and it turns out Bakers auctioneers were lying. Baker sees a voodoo priest for a revenge spell. Baker then has the ability to paint a picture of a living thing and destroy the painting. Thus, this will happen to the real life person. He paints all three auctioneers and rips the first mans hands from the painting. After an accident, the mans hands are cut off. After he paints the second auctioneer he pokes out the eyes. In real life, the mans wife throws acid at his face so he'll never see again. The third auctioneer gets to see his painting as Baker shows it to him. He paints a red hole in his head and the man shoots himself in the head. Baker though, has painted himself and as he runs from the scene of the crime some workmen from the top room spill some water. Baker is hit by a truck and the truck runs over his face. We then cut back to Bakers painting and see that the water has ruined the painting. It has worn away Bakers face. A very clever twist with some great acting from Tom Baker and a cameo from Denholm Elliott. It is probably the best story apart from the second story.
The whole movie is put together with class acting and great atmosphere. You will be engrossed and thoroughly spooked by the stories. One of the best anthology movies of all time. 8.5 out of 10.