Director: Roy Ward Baker
Year: 1973
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Anthology
Plot:
Disembarking from an elevator, five men find themselves in a small room and proceed to tell their dreams to each other to pass the time until they are rescued.
Review:
Midnight Mess-Looking for his sister, a man arrives in a small town and finds her living alone. Warned away from going out at night, he decides to venture to the only open restaurant in town. Waiting to be served, he comes across a terrible secret that is particularly shocking. This one here is particularly uneven. Despite the strong central image of vampires planting spigots in a victim's jugular just like a wine cask, or the most effective one where the curtains are pulled back to reveal a dining hall filled with reflection-less vampires, this one isn't that spectacular. The twist comes rather quickly; the whole thing is rushed out, and this never once takes the time to build up to anything worthwhile. As well, the image of the incredibly fake vampire teeth protruding from the mouths is purely laughable. It's decent, but not that spectacular.
The Neat Job-Moving in together, newlyweds quickly realize that his tidiness is a major source of irritation. As they spend more time together in the situation, it soon becomes even more irritating and distressing, and eventually she tries to make things right, to no avail. When it finally becomes too much to bear, she resorts to special means to get it solved. Simply put, this one is dull. It's not that horrific; nothing terribly shocking happens or anything at all. The twist is seen coming from a mile away, and as a whole, the idea isn't that terrifying. This is the weakest of the stories and is easily forgettable.
This Trick'll Kill You-Traveling to India, a magician looks to find a new trick to bring into his act. His assistant wants to leave, but after agreeing to another night, he happens upon a local performing a special rope trick. Wanting to know how it works, he tries to get the secret of the act, but it soon turns into something that none of them saw coming. This is a really interesting one that is quite fun. The central premise is quite fun, and there's a central air of mystery to be had as it takes place in a foreign country with a seedy underside. There is one particularly gruesome effect when a fakir manages to push a knife right through his cheek, and the scene where his assistant climbs the rope, sees something at the top, screams, and disappears, leaving nothing but a swiftly spreading pool of blood on the ceiling is particularly gruesome. Even the rope attack at the end is done well, and the only real part that isn't all that terrific is the long sequence where they try to figure out the trick. It goes on a little too long, but is the only thing wrong with it.
Bargain for Death-After realizing he's broke, a horror writer decides to fake his own death to collect the insurance money. As it works to perfection, he awakes in his casket and is soon dug out by medical students who want to bring him back to practice on. When it turns out that the cadaver isn't what they wanted, they resort to other means to get away. This one pretty much plays out like the first one, it's too rushed and doesn't have the time to build up to anything. Nothing is really remarkable about it, and it ends up not really making an impact on anything. The comedy in here is really dreadful and not that funny. Its only real bright spots are the nasty car crash and a pretty gory spade-in-the-head death, but these here are the only things worthy about it.
Drawn and Quartered-Living in Haiti, an artist finds that his agent has been ripping him off by informing him his paintings are worthless while actually being sold for a lot of money in London. Meeting with a local witch-doctor, he finds that whatever he paints happens in real life. Traveling to London, he threatens revenge, but it gets laughed at. Remembering his deal, he sets out to paint their futures for him to decide upon. This one here isn't anywhere near that bad, and is quite fun. The central premise is incredibly original and intriguing, and the fates suffered by the victims are fun to watch unfold. These are great ones and do get a few chills watching them, especially the gunshot one, which is really suspenseful. Even the lead-up to the final twist has a few good parts going for it. The ending is a little predictable, but that's all that this one has against it.
Overview: ***/5
There's worse ones out there in this style, this one manages to be likable enough, with some great segments and some problematic ones that are enough to be somewhat mixed as a result. Those with an appreciation for this era of the genre, who are hardcore fans of anthology fare, or who are fans of the creative crew will have a lot to like here, while most others out there should heed caution.
Comments
Post a Comment