Customer Reviews

Dr. Terror's House of Horrors [VHS]

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Amicus films pulled Hammer standards Cushing and Lee into doing this overall entertaining horror anthology. The story begins on a train where fortune teller Cushing uses his tarot cards to predict the unenviable futures of five men. The first two stories are probably the weakest, but hold tight because they get better. The third tale is a about voodoo and it is considerably better than the first two. The real gems are the last two entries of the five. The fourth story has Christopher Lee as a snooty art critic who gets pursued by a relentless severed hand and the fifth is an interesting vampire story starring a young Donald Sutherland. This film is definitely reccommended, just remember it gets better as it goes along.

I loved this movie when I was a kid. I just wish it could be published in DVD form. But its a great scare flick.

I first saw this film when I was five years old. It scared the begeezes out of me then and stuck with me my entire life. Seeing it again 35 years later was quite a treat. While it no longer frightened me - lovers of schlock and modern special effects should steer clear of this one - I did find it morbidly entertaining. The film has a strong cast, headed by the dynamic horror duo - Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. A young Donald Sutherland also has a role. While I think all of the stories are good, some stand well above the others. The Werewolf story was exquisitely done, as was the Creeping Hand story. And the Vampire story has a great twist at the end, while the Voodoo story seemed to me the weakest. I would definitely recomend this film to anyone who enjoys slightly campy, 60s era horror films a la Hammer and Arkoff.

This movie's premise is engaging. Five men find themselves together in a train car with the mysterious Dr. Terror telling their fortunes on Tarot cards. Unfortunately, death seems to be in it for all of them. One is plagued by a werewolf in a centuries old mansion, another by a creeping vine that won't die, a man haunted by a voodoo curse, an art critic chased by a severed hand, and a husband who encounters a little vampire trouble. The twist ending ends the film well. All of the anthologies are strongly told, and the script well acted out. Watch this in the dark with some popcorn and prepare for some good fun.

E-mail at: jackmonsoon@hotmail.com

Upon first reading the title, one might assume that this 1965 horror anthology was simply another cheap haunted house cookie cutter flick. However, when I actually viewed "Dr. Terror's House of Horrors," I realized that this movie (although not the BEST one conceived, in my opinion) was something that really DID hold my interest. Basically, the concept is this: the entire film takes place inside a train, where 5 gentleman (who have never seen each other before) sit together and wait to reach an unnamed destination. During the trip, these 5 passengers each have their futures foretold by a 6th individual; he turns out to be the mysterious, eccentric Doctor Sandor Shreck (Peter Cushing) who relies on a deck of Tarot cards to investigate the supernatural effects of fear and terror. The Doctor instructs each reluctant participant to tap the deck 3 times; afterwards the first 4 images confirm the listener's destiny, while an extra 5th card explains exactly how to avoid it. Then the fun really begins as each passenger's story is unveiled: Jim Dawson (Neil McCallum), a hard-working architect, is asked to renovate a widow's mansion, where later on he discovers an ancient Werewolf's coffin hidden in the basement. Bob Carroll (Donald Sutherland), a happily married man, is terrorized by a clinging vine creeping on the side of the house; an intelligent plant that becomes increasing maniacal against humankind. Biff Bailey (Roy Castle) is an ambitious jazz performer who steals the rhythms of an ancient voodoo ritual in an effort to compose a hit song; unwilling to take the West Indies culture seriously, Bailey learns the hard way why one must never pilfer music from an ancient, jealous god. Perhaps my favorite spooky tale is that of Franklyn Marsh (Christoper Lee), a snobbish art critic who coldly dismembers a painter's hand in a hit-and-run drive. When the desvastated victim commits suicide, his amputated hand returns to life for one purpose: vengeance! The film's final passenger, Doctor Blake (Max Adrian), is newly wedded to a gorgeous, seductive French woman who is later revealed to be a ravenous vampire.
I decided to rate this movie 4 stars because there are a few cinematic flaws. In some scenes (especially in the early half of the film), the acting did not seem convincing to me; such performances still leave something to be desired. In addition, a couple of the gentlemens' death scenes were fairly cheesy. But despite such mistakes, "Dr Terror" is worth watching all the way through, as it is glued together by a decent concept not always used in the horror genre. Also keep in mind that the twisting plotline flows from one scene to the next, without ANY excessive dialogue.

"Dr. Terror's House of Horrors" was the first of Amicus Films' omnibus (or, as they like to refer to them, "portmanteau") films for which the company became renowned, and in many ways it is one of the best. The cast is rather remarkable: horror film regulars Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and Michael Gough are there amidst Old Vic veteran Max Adrian, familiar British faces such as Bernard Lee (no relation to Christopher) and Peter Madden, pop culture figures such as Roy Castle and DJ Alan Freeman, and then-newcomer Donald Sutherland. The five stories, all of which are linked by their protagonists riding in a Brit Rail compartment with the mysterious Dr. Terror (Cushing), are rather simplistic, but well done. The sets are cheap, to be sure, and some of the special effects are not all that special (the crawling hand and the "living" plants in particular are a bit cheesy), but the atmosphere is wonderful and the direction by Freddie Francis--a brilliant, Oscar winning cinematographer who is usually less highly-regarded as a director--is sure-handed and effective. Acting honors go to Christopher Lee as an uptight, egomaniacal art critic who enacts revenge on an artist who managed to humiliate him and lives to regret it. It is, frankly, one of Lee's best performances out of the quadrillion or so movies he's made, one in which he reveals a complex and not totally unsympathetic character with startling economy. But all of the episodes are entertaining, if not always entirely rational. This is a relic from the era when horror movies were fun, instead of ordeals, and it is a crime that it is not available on DVD format.

This movie is an excellent example of it's genre, well-acted, creepy without being overdone camera work - really perfect and sticks with you.

This NON-USA format thing is a real mind bender though; why on earth wouldn't it be available to the thousands (at least) of horror movie fans in the US? Stupid move guys! Get a clue and release this treasure to buyers in the US - what is the logic?

"Dr. Terror's House of Horrors" was the first of the numerous anthology series of films produced by Amicus Productions through the 1960's and 70's that often contained four or five individual segments joined together by a linking story. While certainly not the best of the group this movie from 1965 contains a whole pot- purri of horror tales to delight the horror fan encompassing stories dealing with werewolves, monster plants with minds of their own, voodoo, severed hands seeking revenge, and vampires. While all the stories here have great potential and contain first class casts some of them are at times a bit underwritten which removes some of the impact that they could potentially have however all are interesting for different reasons. The linking story here is a train travelling between London and Bradley and the five travellers that find themselves seated in the same carriage. Joining the party is the mysterious Dr. Sandor Schreck (Peter Cushing), an expert in the use of the Tarot cards and one by one he uses the cards to tell each man of their ultimate fate. Each story unfolds in turn and we are treated to many macabre happenings before the ultimately shocking finale.

Story One is "Werewolf", where we see architect Jim Dawson (Neil McCallum), being called back by the new owner of his ancestral home to oversee some alterations to the building that are being planned. However once there he encounters many strange occurances such as frightening howling in the night, servants that obviously know more than they are letting on and a mysterious coffin which is unearthed in the basement that ties in with a legend surrounding a conflict that occured between his family and a rival family who claimed the property. Discovering that a werewolf has come out of the coffin each night to kill Jim creates some silver bullets to kill the creature but in a surprise twist discovers his own life in danger from a most unexpected source that proves fatal.

Story Two is "Creeping Vine", and finds Bill Rogers (Alan Freeman), returning from his holidays with his family to discover a strange vine growing on the side of his house. Despite repeated attempts to eradicate it the vine seems to fight back and eventually strangles the family dog which goes too close. Before long the vine begins to grow much bigger and when a team of scientists investigate this strange plant they discover to their horror that it actually possesses a brain. When the vine kills one of the scientists it then encloses the whole house and traps the family inside. Using fire as a means of clearing a path the one remaining scientist goes for help however the final moments find this vine using its unusual intelligence to actually snuff out the flame and enclosing the house once again from which there is now no escape.

Story Three is "Voodoo", and finds Biff Bailey (Roy Castle),and his London musical group getting a new job performing in the West Indies. Once there however Biff runs foul of the local voodoo customs when he spies on a tribal voodoo ceremony and records on paper some of the music. Caught in the act he is brought before the tribal elder who informs him that to take anything from their god is punishable with death and that he is to leave at once if he wants his life. However once back in London Biff, ignoring the earlier warning actually creates music from the stolen voodoo ritual and a very sharp and swift revenge is enacted on him from a very unexpected source.

Story Four is "Disembodied Hand", and is probably the most macabre and powerful of the stories where we see acclaimed art critic Franklyn Marsh (Christopher Lee), who is renowned for his harsh critiques of artists work locking horns with a favourite target of his in artist Eric Landor (Michael Cough). Sick to death of Marsh's overly harsh judgements on his work Eric sets out to first humiliate and then continually harrass the art critic. However this revenge has tragic consequences when Marsh decides to take matters into his own hands and runs Eric down in his car. Eric survives however he looses one hand which ruins his career as an artist. Seeing no hope for the future he commits suicide however he continues his revenge from beyond the grave when his severed hand cotinues to pursue Franklyn Marsh almost driving him mad in the process. When the hand attacks Franklyn while he is driving home Eric's revenge is complete with Franklyn now in an impossible position deprived of his ability to be the successful man he once was in his profession.

Story Five is "Vampire", and has a young doctor Bob Carroll (Donald Sutherland), coming home with his new french Bride to begin a new life together. Unbeknown to Bob however his wife is actually a Vampire who soon begins to change herself into a bat during the night to go and prey on the local people some of who are Bob's patients. People begin to suffer from anemia which arouses the suspicions of Bob's collegue Dr. Blake (Max Adrian), who discovers from a close encounter in a darkened office the true identity of Bob's wife. Urging Bob to destroy his wife by driving a stake through her heart the final irony occurs when after Bob has performed the task and is now on a murder charge it is discovered that Dr. Blake was not all he seemed to be and had his own motives for wanting Bob's wife out of the way.

The conclusion of this anthology has its own surprise twist and eerie imagery when we learn at the end of the train trip just who the mysterious Dr. Schreck actually is and where all the unfortunate men have actually ended up. Performances by all the lead cast are excellent with Peter Cushing excelling in his pivotal role of Dr. Schreck. The Christopher Lee segment is arguably the most effective with Lee delivering an excellent performance as the arrogant and totally unlikeable art critic who is reduced to a terrifed mess by the undying and relentless hand that pursues him. While of course the stories do vary in their effectiveness and the werewolf story in particular has a rushed feel to it, all make enjoyable, if not terribly horrific viewing. Certainly the classic "Day of the Triffids", was in part an inspiration for the creeping vine story while the voodoo story has the least horror elements of any of the segments and suffers as a result but I find the very different natures of each story work well together to make a good but not classic horror anthology. While personally I dont think "Dr. Terror's House of Horrors", is up to the standard of other Amicus anthologies such as "The House That Dripped Blood", or "Tales From the Crypt",it is recommended for those viewers like myself that enjoy multi story horror tales dealing with an assortment of spine tingling elements.

I remember being a child that did not like horror movies. My friend tried to make me watch Freddy and Jason when I was little and I had to hide in the bathroom and had nightmares for weeks. Well, I remember flipping channels and seeing a movie that was divided up into stories. It was a little too scary for me then, but I remembered it. Then a few more times over the years I came across this movie again and watched it. I now relate it to another Peter Cushing movie, The original Tales From the Crypt. They take a group of people and tell stories about all of them separately and shows how it affects the group pretty much. It is very campy, but if you enjoy older horror movies and want some fun on a Saturday this is a good movie for it. Definitely worth a chance. Keep the faith, dExtrosien

i grew up in the time before cable where we had five channels and very little chose as to what we watched. saturday nights after the parents went to bed you turned on the late night horror double feature, and if you were lucky you got a hammer movie(no matter what one as long as it was hammer), and then one of the amicus horror anthology's!
this is the first one and one that i love very much. 5 men on a train are told their future by dr.shrek(think about what the name means) and that spins our 5 tales of terror.
1.a man is called back to old home to over see work being done. but old family curse is waiting for him.
2.couple return from holiday to find a most unwelcome weed in their yard,and it doesn't want to leave.
3.band leader over hears music from voodoo rite and tries to use it in origanl score.
4.art critic,made a fool of by artist runs over his hand but finds, hand still has work to do.
5.young doctor newly married finds his small town under attack from what looks like a vampire.
6. the end of the wrap around story.
lots of fun to be had so enjoy.