Dr. Terror's House of Horror

Released in 1964, Dr. Terror's House of Horrors is an Amicus production directed by Freddie Francis.

Original Poster.

Dr. Terror's House of Horrors was the first portmanteau film by Amicus, it would lead the way for films such as From Beyond the Grave and Tales from the Crypt. A portmanteau film is a film that is comprised of several short stories, in this case five, that are in some way connected to an overall narrative/situation. In this film the passengers on a train are each told their future by the mysterious Dr. Terror, their train journey finally arrives at the station but something is wrong... If you want to know the twist then you're just going to have to watch it yourself I'm afraid. Although now very dated in terms of style and special effects the tales each possess a lot of character and although I wouldn't describe them as scary perhaps 'spooky' would be a better term.

Six men on a train.

As each passenger takes his turn in letting their fortune be told we leave the train and enter into a strange and sometimes rather ridiculous short story. The first of these stories is that of an old house haunted by the unforgiving spirit of a previous owner whose coffin is concealed in the cellar, this is the most Gothic of the five stories and is reminiscent of an Edgar Allen Poe tale. It's a great story to start off the film and I'd put it at joint second place if I was to order the films in accordance to their mysterious and captivating quality. 

This is followed by the worst tale of the five, a rather cheesy attempt at scifi horror in which pants have grown intelligent and hostile. It's entertaining but not for the right reason, I'd be very surprised if anyone was on the edge of their seat when the 'killer vines' attack the house. One huge advantage to portmanteau films is that if their is a story that isn't to your taste then there'll be another story along in a few minutes time.

Get the weed killer!

  

The third story is probably the most interesting and original, it's set in the West Indies and involves a jazz musician stealing the music of a voodoo god. This is the most humorous tale and isn't quite as spooky until nearer the end when the voodoo curse begins to become more imminent, although no harm actually comes to the protagonist. Some of the acting seems a little wooden although on the whole it's not too bad, unsurprisingly the best performances are from Peter Cushing (Playing Dr. Schreck AKA Dr. Terror) and Christopher Lee (Playing Franklyn Marsh) who do well in bringing their characters to life.

Lee and Cushing.

The penultimate tale is by far the best, in my opinion, and stars Christopher Lee as a bad tempered art critic called Franklyn Marsh who is very rude about an artist's work. In the story the artist takes issue with Marsh and starts to wind him up, Marsh then retaliates by running the artist down in his car severing his hand in the process. The artist is now left unable to paint and weeps at the though of never being able to create his art again, he shoots himself. Franklyn Marsh is then perused by the artist's dismembered hand which comes after him in revenge. This is by far the darkest of the five stories, as well as the most exciting and scary. 

Need a hand?

   

The last story is a rather cliched vampire tale that is typical of many vampiric movies of the time. The man is led to believe that his recently betrothed wife is in fact a vampire and is told by the doctor that the only chance they have is if he drives a stake through her heart. The police then arrest him for murdering his wife and it is left open to interpretation as to whether she was really a vampire or whether it was in his head the whole time. 

The dialogue is incredibly cheesy and the acting is a little wooden, it seems a bit of a shame to end the film with this story, although at least there weren't any killer pants. Considering this was the first portmanteau film of it's kind it pulls it off incredibly well but as is so often the case I would question whether it's really as terrifying than it's name would suggest.

Her life's at stake!