TALES FROM THE CRYPT (1972) is the most popular of the anthology films produced by Amicus. It deals with a group of people who have their fortunes told to them by a mysterious monk (Ralph Richardson): Joanna (Joan Collins) is going to murder her husband for his insurance money, only to then fall victim to a maniac in a Santa Claus costume herself; Maitland (Ian Hendry) is going to abandon his wife and children for another woman, before getting into a deadly car crash; Elliot (Robin Phillips) will drive his kindly neighbor (Peter Cushing) to suicide, but the old man will return for vengeance; Ralph (Richard Greene) will be killed in an accident, and his grief-stricken wife (Barbara Murray) will soon regret wishing him back to life again; and Major Rogers (Nigel Patrick) will reap some much-deserved revenge from the residents of a home for the blind... When it comes to Amicus anthologies, I will always prefer THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD (1970), ASYLUM (1972) and FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE (1973), but this is a solid and well-crafted entry into their body of work. Director Freddie Francis made some stylish horror films in the 1960s, but his boredom with making such films resulted in some downright sloppy and uninspired work in the 1970s; happily, he seems to have been inspired by Milton Subotskys adaptations of the tales published by EC Comics. There are a couple of dud stories - Hendry fares the worst with the utterly predictable second segment, though he does what he can with a nothing role, while the monkeys paw variant with Richard Greene doesnt generate much interest until its pleasingly macabre finale - but the other segments are terrific. The first story is a wonderful piece of pure cinema as Francis and cinematographer Norman Warwick build suspense with very little dialogue, as Collins is goes from victimizer to victim; the use of Christmas carols on the soundtrack offers a welcome contrast to the action and on the whole it is preferable to the version done on the TV series. The segment with Cushing features one of the actors most heart-rending performances: its the type of mawkish sentimentality that usually grates on my nerves, but it works remarkably well in context, largely because Cushings performance is so sincere and on target. The final story is the best, however, and benefits from brilliant performances from Nigel Patrick as the military martinet who takes over the home for the blind and from Patrick Magee as the resident who leads the revolt. Its an attractively photographed and nicely mounted production, and despite a few false steps it emerges as one of Amicus most enjoyable movies. The transfer on the Blu-ray from Shout! is very nice. Colors are robust and theres an appreciable upgrade in detail and clarity compared to the DVD edition. It also presents the film fully uncut, retaining the bits of gore missing from the old Prism VHS release and TV copies. Suffice it to say, if you like this film, you should be satisfied with this release.
Posted on: Fri, 05 Dec 2014 23:39:48 +0000
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