Hammer Studies is deservedly admired for the generally fine horror and suspense movies it began producing in the 1950s (including my recommendations The Devil Rides Out and Taste of Fear). But a lesser known British studio, Amicus Productions, was also productively tilling the same soil. Most notably, it revived the horror anthology form created by the 1945 classic Dead of Night. Amicus’ founders Max Rosenberg and Milton Subotsky produced all seven of these films, and Subotsky also often wrote the scripts (though some were penned by the Robert Bloch of Psycho fame). None of the Amicus “portmanteau” movies were bad, and some of them were very good, including 1965’s fun and scary Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors.
Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors set the pattern for these films, bringing together horror movie stalwarts (Actors Cushing, Christopher Lee, Michael Gough and Director Freddie Francis), young actors looking to move up (Donald Sutherland, Roy Castle) as well as old hands familiar to the audience whose current asking price was within the modest budget (Max Adrian, Bernard Lee). Like all these films, a contrivance — in this case a shared train journey with a mysterious fortune teller named (ahem) Dr. Schreck (Peter Cushing) — links together segments that run about 15 minutes, each with a different storyline and main character.
Subotsky’s script gives us five stories to enjoy, a couple of which illustrate how horror and comedy can make a fine cocktail. The first features an architect (Neil McCallum) returning to the spooky old house in which he grew up at the request of the wealthy widow who purchased it from his family (Ursula Howells). In the course of planning a remodel for the widow, he makes a shocking discovery in the (naturally) dark and cobweb-filled basement…
The second story, about a family returning from holiday to discover a sentient and dangerous vine growing on their property, is lighter in tone particularly because Bernard Lee of Bond movie fame straight-facedly plays the head of what is apparently a government agency focused on botanical threats to civilization (I bet you didn’t even know such a thing existed). The third tale is also on the lighter side and features Roy Castle as a musician who learns the dangers of cultural appropriation. It mixes some lively musical numbers in with the voodoo.
The last two stories are the best. Lee is perfect as a condescending art critic who inflicts a serious injury on a painter he despises (Gough). But you have to “hand” it his victim for his ability to seek vengeance from beyond the greave. The mechanical effects in this story are unnerving, especially because Lee credibly sells the terror in what otherwise could have been farcical proceedings.
The final tale features Sutherland as a junior doctor whose new bride (Jennifer Jayne) has rather unusual tastes. The closing line of this story, uttered by Adrian, is laugh out loud funny.
Just as each individual segment ends with a kicker, so does the movie itself, tying the five tales together with a spectral bow. Citizen Kane it is not, but entertaining Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors definitely is.
p.s. Another horror anthology film with this title was released during the war, apparently with sketchy provenance including potentially violating copyright by inserting bits of other, better movies. No print survives, and everything I have read about that film indicates that’s for the best.
All Good Movies 