Review: Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors

 

Passengers in a cabin on a train are joined by a peculiar man named Dr. Schreck, who volunteers to give tarot card readings to one and all, leading to several macabre tales of their fate. In the first, Neil McCallum is a real estate agent who uncovers a werewolf on the loose in an estate. Secondly we have Alan Freeman and family terrorised by a malevolent plant vine. Jeremy Kemp and Bernard Lee attempt to lend assistance. In ‘Voodoo’, struggling jazz musician Roy Castle finds rhythmic inspiration from a voodoo ceremony in the West Indies, despite being warned not to mess with such things. The fourth tale features pompous art critic Christopher Lee publicly shaming artist Michael Gough, and then injuring the poor chap to the point where he can’t use his hands anymore. Gough has revenge in mind for his harshest critic. Finally we have ‘Vampire’, featuring Donald Sutherland as a doctor whose wife (Jennifer Jayne) may…well, the title says it all really.

 

Amicus Studios were kind of a rival to Hammer in the horror movie market, and their specialty was making horror anthology films. This 1965 effort from occasional Hammer filmmaker Freddie Francis (“Paranoiac”, “Nightmare”, “Dracula Has Risen From the Grave”) was the first of such films from Amicus. It’s a more than decent first stab, even if one rather prefers the subsequent “Asylum”, “The House That Dripped Blood”, and “From Beyond the Grave”. Hell, I still think the first “Creepshow” remains the best horror anthology film ever made (though I probably need to give 1945’s “Dead of Night” another look, I barely remember it).

 

Like all of these anthology films, the story quality is uneven, and the best segments are the ones that have stories that are suited to a shorter running time. As for the connecting scenes set on a train, screenwriter/Amicus co-founder Milton Subotsky (“The Skull”, “Tales From the Crypt”, “The Vault of Horror”) barely bothers with it. However, you do get a nicely eccentric performance by Peter Cushing, as well as a cranky and sceptical Christopher Lee, who is hilarious even before we get to his story. Cushing, who appears to have stolen Hugh Griffith’s outrageously bushy eyebrows, creates a beguiling and mysterious character (named Dr. Schreck, not Dr. Terror, oddly enough) with the most minimal of screen time, it’s a shame we didn’t get a story with his character as the main one.

 

The first story features a fairly dull cast led by Neil McCallum, one of those actors with a face you feel you’ve seen before, but judging from IMDb, I don’t think I have. It’s your standard monster-in-the-cellar story, but this time the monster is actually a werewolf rising from a tomb like a vampire. It’s actually rather interesting, but the omnibus structure means that there’s just not enough time for it to play out, and it ends up rather rushed. It wasn’t a good choice for this format, and the werewolf looks like a fucking Corgi it has to be said.

 

Next up is Australian-born Alan Freeman (supposedly best known as a radio DJ), backed up by the more interesting Jeremy Kemp and Bernard Lee. Like the later ‘The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill’ from “Creepshow” (starring Stephen King), this one’s a plant-based tale of terror, in this case a killer vine that causes havoc for Freeman and his family. Seriously, it even strangles the dog. This one benefits from old pros Lee and Kemp making the stupid seem less stupid lending their brand of class and authority. In fact, Lee is so good of a character actor you almost lament the fact that he spent so many occasions sitting behind a desk scolding James Bond. It’s actually a much better segment than the first one, because it fits nicely inside the time constraints. You wouldn’t want a feature-length version of it.

 

I was a little concerned when I realised that story number three was going to be about voodoo, as that’s near the bottom of my interests in horror, not to mention prone to cultural insensitivity. However, with comical idiot Roy Castle at the helm, it somehow works. Part of that is due to the fact that the main character is an idiot on his way to getting his comeuppance. Take it as pure “Carry On” meets “Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em” comedy and this ‘Idiot abroad’ segment works OK. I particularly like the subtext: White man struggles as a musician until he steals the black man’s music. Think about it, it’s actually rather clever.

 

Fourth in line and we finally get to cranky Christopher Lee’s art critic character, who ruins poor artist Michael Gough’s career, and pays for it. It’s the best story of the lot, and is quite a lot like something you’d expect from Edgar Allen Poe. Lee is absolutely terrific as the arrogant art critic, but surprisingly it’s actually veteran character actor Michael Gough who runs off with the segment and the entire film as the humiliated, but utterly slimy artist. There’s an hilarious bit where Lee dresses down Gough before praising some abstract nonsense painting that Gough reveals to be the work of a chimpanzee. There’s a cute “The Hand”-esque twist as well, and it’s fun watching Lee play a scared victim for once.

 

The final story features an apparently unhappy Donald Sutherland (he hates the film, from what I’ve read) in what is the second-worst behind the first story. It’s a rather mediocre vampire story that, like the first story, suffers from being restricted due to the omnibus nature of the film. It’s also completely obvious that Sutherland (an actor capable of greatness) doesn’t want to be in it. Leading lady Jennifer Jayne sure is hot, though and the sting in the tail is brilliantly cruel. There’s also an enjoyable, if inevitable ending to the wraparound scenes where Dr. Schreck reveals his true identity to be exactly who you’re guessing. The film is really nicely shot across the board by Alan Hume (“From Beyond the Grave”, “Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold”, “Eye of the Needle”, “Octopussy”, “Return of the Jedi”), but it suffers from a cheapo clarinet-based score by Elisabeth Lutyens (“The Skull” and “Theatre of Death”, both with Christopher Lee). It makes sense for the segment with the jazz musician, but otherwise it’s the kind of hack-job comedy-horror score you’d normally associate with AIP. I’m sorry, but every time I hear a clarinet in a horror film I want to hurl myself out of a window.

 

An uneven, but enjoyable first try by Amicus, who would become quite adept at these horror omnibus films. See it for Peter Cushing, and especially for Christopher Lee and Michael Gough.

 

Rating: B-