Dr. Terror's House of Horrors

A little eerie. A little creepy. Not very scary and many miles away from Hammer Films-like horror. You think of a riveting Hammer Films production when you see names like Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Michael Gough...not this time. Not exactly a disappointment, but just not real memorable. Cushing is Dr. Schreck aka Dr. Terror, who predicts the future of five train travelers with Tarot cards. Also in the cast are Ann Bell, Roy Castle, Max Adrian, Jennifer Jayne and Donald Sutherland. Sometimes more silly than scary; haunting sets and atmosphere complete with a Voodoo song featuring Tubby Hayes. Don't be shy; pick a card.

and I remember it scared the devil (ha-ha) out of me. It spooked me for a good few weeks thereafter. I saw it again a few years back, and a lot of years older, and found it enjoyable, although much less spookier. With the likes of the original Omen, Exorcist, Shining, and Halloweens out there, this fell way short by (somewhat) current standards. It was good though! I still found the first episode the best, and the killer plants the lamest. I think it could have been the Halloween of its day had it been promoted more back in the mid sixties. I guess there was enough real horror going on back then to shunt promoting this movie. Donald Sutherland- what a great actor from such an early age. No teenage prodigy there.

This is where it all started, an Amicus anthology series that ran for nine movies and fifteen years. While none of them had the artistic value of their vague inspiration, Dead of Night, lots were fun and engaging. The same can't really be said of this first entry, sadly. While still worthwhile and less overtly campy than most of the others, it's a fairly dull entry. The different elements making up the plot involve Alan Freeman being terrorised by killer plants and Roy Castle and Kenny Lynch in a West Indian voodoo cult. Both Castle and Lynch master the art of performing music without microphones, but their story doesn't really go anywhere, as does the opening werewolf segment. Easily the best are the final two entries with Christopher Lee and Donald Sutherland, though even here we have to contend with a plastic hand (complete with close ups of the seal down the side) and a rubber vampire bat. Though, as stated, these vignettes are played as "straight", there are two instances of the fourth wall breaking. One is where Roy Castle's character runs past a poster for the movie, the other is with Max Adrian as a Doctor talking to the audience. Ultimately the film doesn't make any sense - if all the passengers are dead from the start, then their "future" stories mean nothing, as they all have no future. Also, look out for the awful trailer, which goes one better than a similarly poor one for later entry Asylum, in that it features the final shot as part of its footage. The Amicus anthology series, then. Nine films, three or four of which were, frankly, below par, and another two or three which were just... okay. Less than a handful were genuinely good, and none of them particularly changed the world or had great artistic merit. But most of them, even the bad ones, had a fun entertainment value and are ideal viewing for an evening if you're in the right mood. Dr. Terror's House of Horrors is one of the least engaging, but must at least be credited as being the one that started it all.

The first of the many anthology horror films made by Amicus Studios in the UK (the main rival to their more successful counterparts Hammer), DR TERROR'S HOUSE OF HORRORS is a great, fast paced movie that holds up to this day. It's a pretty gentle film that favours atmosphere over shocks and terror, but that doesn't stop it from packing a punch in the tale of five train passengers having their fortunes read by the mysterious Dr Schreck. This is one of those films where the wraparound story is even better than the individual tales, mainly thanks to Peter Cushing who excels as the shabby, sinister fortune teller. The twist ending is no surprise but it was enough to send chills up my spine by the time the credits rolled. The stories are a mixed bunch but none are too poor. Ironically, the two average stories are those which plough the most familiar fields, the vampire and werewolf yarns which bookend the film. The werewolf section benefits from some good HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES-style atmosphere (think swirling mists, crumbling mansions, hidden vaults, lonely moors), an interesting werewolf and a good twist right at the end. The closing vampire story also has a twist, but by this time it's very predictable. Donald Sutherland doesn't register more than bug eyes and blond hair and the rubber bat stuff is quite tiring. The second story is of the so-bad-it's-good variety. It involves a household being taken over by a killer plant, and is just as silly as it sounds. Still, the straight-laced approach makes it work and nowhere else will you see Bernard Lee battling an evil vine! The bit where the guy is strangled by a branch is also pretty funny. The third story goes for out-and-out comedy as an unlucky Roy Castle falls foul of a voodoo cult – all because he's trying to steal their music! Castle mugs for all his worth in this outing and the voodoo elements are hilarious dated and non-PC, but for the most part the comedy works. The fourth story is the best and it's no coincidence that it stars Christopher Lee. He's not playing a villain here, but his art critic character is completely foul and watching him get his comeuppance is a joy. Michael Gough is also very good in a small part. This makes use of the classic crawling hand tale complete with a nice little special effect and it's quite brilliant, coming the closest out of all the stories to true horror. All in all a fine little film from Britain's golden age of horror.

Okay, five strangers assemble together and tell bizarre tales of their own haunted futures. It's something we've seen before, there was a movie made in 1945 called "Dead of Night" with basically the same premise, but that was a horror masterpiece, far ahead of it's time. This is nowhere near in the same league. There's a werewolf story, a 'deadly plant' story, a voodoo story, a 'creeping hand' story and a vampire story. The stand-out segment is Christopher Lee's story as the art critic who is stalked by the severed hand of a man he ran over. It was later made as a feature-length Oliver Stone film called "The Hand", starring Michael Caine, but the idea was actually taken from an earlier movie in 1946 called "The Beast With Five Fingers". Oh, well. It was made by what at the time was an all-star British cast containing Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and others of the Hammer Studios team, but this doesn't save it from being average at best. If you want a really great compilation horror film I recommend watching Dead of Night instead.

Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965) *** (out of 4) Five men including Donald Sutherland and Christopher Lee board a train where they are greeted by a sixth person, Dr. Sandor Schreck (Peter Cushing) who then tells them their future. Five different stories are told and each varies in degrees of goodness but overall this is a very well directed film. The first segment deals with a werewolf and is pretty disappointing considering how much better it could have been. The second story is a lot better and deals with a family being stalked by a growing vine. The third story is a bit weaker and deals with voodoo. The fourth story has Lee doing his take on "The Hand of Orlac" story and this one here steals the film. The final story deals with a vampire and has a brilliant twist ending that brings the film together. The performances are very good here and that includes Cushing who is just downright devilish in his role. Fans of the horror genre will certainly eat this up but even non fans should enjoy it.

This was the first Amicus film and it's anthological style was to become their trademark. It's a wonderfully atmospheric film, with the linking story and the subsequent tales mostly taking place in the dark. Peter Cushing is brilliant; his portrayal of Dr. Shreck is perfectly judged in that he gives his character a mysterious aura without going "over-the-top". The 1st story involving a werewolf is efficiently eerie. However, story 2 (killer vine) and story 3 (voodoo) are disappointingly silly, whilst story 5 about a vampire (with a baby-faced Donald Sutherland)is good and has a nice twist at the end. The best story of the lot (by far) is Story 4 with Christopher Lee as a savage art critic and Michael Gough as a sensitive artist - watch out for the disembodied hand! This story is worth watching the film alone! Freddie Francis battles against some cheap looking sets to maintain the film's eerieness throughout and essentially, it's a film I would recommend to anybody. As would happen later, Amicus found it very difficult to put a decent linking story and four or five consistently effective tales together in one film. Never mind....

Dr. Terror's etc is an early horror anthology by specialist company Amicus, since they had their biggest successes in the 70's, with films like `The Vault of Horror' and `Asylum'. Yet, horror fans can't afford to miss little first experiment of theirs. Peter Cushing is ghoulish (and very well disguised) as the bizarre Dr. Schrek who predicts the unpleasant futures of 5 fellow train travellers. This film has the best possible diversity and introduces a different, 100% horror-like theme in every separate story. We've got a vampire, a man-eating vegetable, a disembodied hand out for revenge, a voodoo curse and….a Werewolf! The lycanthrope chapter was my personal favorite since I'm a sucker for these predators. Although all stories are cheaply edited and kitschy, they're brought with lots of enthusiasm and goodwill. Five stories and a short running time of 95 min. is a bit abrupt, so a few chapters definitely lack the required depth and range. However, at least two stories are downright great and they even have a bit of tension. Not coincidentally, the eminent Christopher Lee plays the lead in one of them! Trivia freaks will also enjoy the looks of an extremely young Donald Sutherland in one of his very first roles. One certain levels, Amicus studies certainly still had to improve themselves (which they did in the 70's) but the talent and ingeniousness is clearly present already. Recommended to all British horror fans and Peter Cushing admirers in the first place!

An early anthology movie from Amicus, Dr. Terror's House of Horror's is certainly not their best effort at this kind of thing. But with a great cast including Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Donald Sutherland and Roy Castle, there is still plenty to enjoy about this silly-but-fun offering. Five men on a train are joined by a mysterious fortune teller by the name of Dr. Schreck (which, literally translated, is Dr. Terror). One by one Dr. Schreck reads his Tarot cards for the men, and reveals what the future holds for them. Each story has a fantastical or supernatural twist and the whole thing is wrapped up with a ridiculous ending in which it is revealed that all five men are already dead, having been killed in a train crash (which of course, makes a mockery of Dr. Terrors 'predictions' which we have just witnessed). And Dr. Terror turns out to be none other than Death himself! Freddie Francis takes the five rather pedestrian tales and injects them with enough energy and stylish visuals to make them rather enjoyable. Despite (or maybe because of) some rather camp moments and a really bad German accent by the great Peter Cushing, Dr.Terror's House of Horrors is certainly never boring. In the first story, an architect battles with a werewolf on a remote Scottish island. The second, features a killer plant that traps a family inside their house. The third (which is my personal favourite due to the amazingly cool musical numbers), is about a trumpet player (Roy Castle) who regrets his actions when he 'borrows' some sacred tunes he hears during a voodoo ritual. Story four features Christopher Lee as a critic who is pursued by the severed hand of an artist. In the final story, Donald Sutherland discovers his wife is a vampire (this tale has a nice twist ending). Amicus later went on to fine tune the anthology movie with Tales from the Crypt, From Beyond the Grave and Vault of Horror; whilst these are all better than Dr.Terror's House of Horrors, the movie is still worth giving a go. After all, you wouldn't want to miss the rubber crawling hand attacking Christopher Lee, would you?

"Dr. Terror's House Of Horrors" of 1965 is a cheesy but highly entertaining horror anthology. This film is particularly interesting as it is the the first in a row of Horror anthologies from the Amicus company, which continued to produce Anthologies such as "The House That Dripped Blood" of 1971. What also makes this highly recommendable is the cast, as it features Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, and young Donald Sutherland in an early role. Peter Cushing stars as the mysterious Dr. Schreck, a fortune teller, who offers the five other men in his train cabin to tell their future from his tarot cards. Each man's future is one part of the anthology, which, among other things, features voodoo, a vampire and a werewolf. The stories are, of course, quite brief, with five stories in only 95 minutes there is simply no place for a lot of depth. Even the stories are brief, and partly very cheesy, however, every single story entertains highly. Peter Cushing is excellent and eerie as usual as Dr. Schreck, and fellow horror icon Christopher Lee is equally great as one of the passengers in the train, an arrogant art-critic. It is also a lot of fun to watch Donald Sutherland in this early role. Sutherland sure is a great actor, and he already was back then. Although "Dr. Terror's House Of Horrors" is cheesy, and certainly no masterpiece, this is highly recommended to all the fans of traditional and British Horror out there! Definitely no shocker, but spooky fun that Classic Horror lovers should enjoy immensely. 7/10