Director: Freddie Francis
Year: 1967
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Anthology
Plot:
Entering a carnival attraction, five customers enter and have a carnival barker reveal their futures, hoping it will help them mend their ways.
Review:
Enoch-Summoned out to meet him, a man finds his nearly-dead father hoarding cash, but before he reveals the location, he passes on. Spending the night before the funeral, he searches the house systematically for the treasure, eventually finding it in the basement guarded by a devilish cat intent on seeing how far he will go to earn it. This was a highly enjoyable tale that really works. The Gothic atmosphere in the basement, with its dirt-covered surroundings, coffin, and the design of the rooms, is all fantastic, and the interplay with the cat is fun. It's the greatest part, as the torture is fun and unnerving, with the final resolution to it all quite chilling. The murders are relatively bloodless, except for the last aftermath shot, but are rather brutal in execution, and overall it's quite enjoyable.
Terror Over Hollywood-Struggling to break into the movies, an actress and her roommate try to further her acting career with an important dinner. Accidentally ruining her chances, she goes out to dinner instead and is offered the role, only for the original leading man to wind up murdered. When he returns to the film without a scratch on him, she discovers the real reason why stars never seem to age. There are really only a few moments of horror, all of which are contained at the end with the revelation about what's going on. Once they return to the set, it's all quite good, but unfortunately, what happens before is utter boredom brought about by the dullness of the rest of the segment showcases to set up its twist. This has been done better in other segments, and is easily skippable.
Mr. Steinway-Arriving at his house, a woman finds that a reclusive piano prodigy is just as smitten with him as he is with her, despite his reluctance to spend time together. Rubbing off the feelings, they continue to see each other only to keep getting the feeling that something is wrong. Blaming it on the piano, she refuses to believe it until it starts to prove his stories true. There's again very little to like here, most of which is based around the final piano attack, which here is really incredible and well-done. The rest of the segment, though, is merely too short to mean anything or done haphazardly. The central idea is laughable and consists merely of finding ways of getting the piano lid to slam loudly, which is all the segment has. Easily skippable.
The Man Who Collected Poe-Meeting at an auction, two friends find a shared bond over a love of Edgar Allen Poe's work. Taking up an invitation to visit his house, he shows him his collection of Poe memorabilia, including many rare and hard-to-find pieces. When he's shown completely new and unknown works, he questions where they came from and finds an answer he wasn't expecting at all. This was a great way to end it all, with a strong showing that works well in here. The love affair is really shown through, with the basement scenes being absolutely prime material. Despite feeling entirely creepy on its own, there's a big feeling to it that comes from how the artifacts are displayed, and it's just a strong segment. The ending is Gothic horror at its best, with the dusty bookshelves, littered surroundings, candle-lit passageways, and the creepy realization of what's going on, ending in a climactic blaze with an absolute blast of a twist. This is a rather fantastic segment.
Overview: ****/5
A really decent Anthology in the series, there's a lot to like here, which manages to have plenty of enjoyable stories that overcome the few detrimental elements holding it back. Those who appreciate this kind of genre fare, who are hardcore anthology fans in general, or of the creative crew, will have the most to like here, while most others out there should heed caution.
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