Runtime: 98 minutes
Directed by: Kevin Connor
Starring: Peter Cushing, Donald Pleasence & his daughter Angela, David Warner, Lesley-Anne Down, Diana Dors
From: Amicus
TCM played this late (Friday) night and as I have seen the majority of the Amicus horror anthologies, might as well seek out the rest, right? This wasn't my favorite one of theirs and it would have been preferable if more than once I wasn't reminded of something in one segment seeming similar to something in another segment... all of the movies I have seen from Amicus have either been good or pretty good, and that label also applies to From Beyond the Grave.
A little bit different was that Peter Cushing wasn't the host who either told one person several tales of wicked people or talked to a group of individuals and told each one a scary story of their fate, whether or not they engaged in moral turpitude. Rather, he was the proprietor of a pawn shop and various men either rip him off or just engaged in rude behavior. Whatever objects they acquired led to their downfall. The stories range from a haunted mirror and a man lying to avoid his nagging wife to an elemental making its presence known.
It was nice seeing the likes of Lesley-Anne Down, David Warner, old British sexpot Diana Dors and Donald Pleasence (whose daughter in his segment was played by real life daughter Angela; from appearance there was no mistake they were related) in stories which at least were varied in the amount of laughs they had. The most memorable character was the subtly named Madame Orloff... wait until you experience her. There are at least some nasty deaths and more than one surprise along the way. This was the last anthology Amicus made-indeed, the company would be no more a few years later-but at least all the ones I have seen have been worthwhile viewings, whether or not they were during the spooky season.
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