Dr. Terror's House Of Horrors

Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965)

Runtime: 97 minutes

Directed by: Freddie Francis

Starring: Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Neil McCallum, Roy Castle, Donald Sutherland

From: Amicus

Here is an interesting horror anthology I saw on Saturday: 

As sometimes happens, a recent review that a mutual has done inspired me to see a film. I am familiar with this, as several others I follow have talked about this before and I know of British horror studio Amicus, although I definitely have not seen as much of their product as I have competitor Hammer. I know both studios are worthwhile so why not see the first of the many anthologies Amicus became most famed for? It won't be too much longer before I see some of their more famous anthologies.

The framing story here is that five men enter a train carriage in London, off to a town in the countryside; a sixth men suddenly appears and it's the titular Dr. Terror (appropriately enough, played by Peter Cushing). His “house of horrors” is the Tarot cards that he uses to tell the fortunes of those five men, which of course are all ghoulish. Technically, his name is Dr. Schreck-German for “terror” but between his beard and manner of dress you know what kind of character he is. The five men are all different, and Christopher Lee plays the skeptic of the group; he's an A-hole art critic, so I presume art critics have always been stereotyped that way.

The five stories in this collection are all different from one other; they range from werewolves to voodoo, and plots that were used for later genre efforts, although I am sure they were not original even by the time this came out. One reminded me of an early 80's picture and the most amusing one I've heard described as “like The Happening” (thankfully this story is far more coherent and not baffling like that M. Night film is), although “like The Ruins” also works. All are ghoulish in their own ways, none are stinkers-although none are spectacular either-and it has an entirely appropriate ending.

It does have a nice cast... besides the chaps I already mentioned, there's the likes of Bernard Lee, Michael Gough, and even Donald Sutherland. The director was Freddie Francis, who directed many horror flicks and was also a cinematographer; no surprise that there's no issue with either. I was glad this was a good film and is more than just something with an admittedly great and enticing title.