Amicus Productions often sat in the shadow of its better known countryman, Hammer Studios, but horror film aficionados will concede without hesitation that both firms provided the world with plenty of hours of chills, screams, and general creepiness, often even utilizing the same actors. (In particular, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee proved to be familiar faces in both camps.) If there’s one thing that Amicus tended to specialize in over Hammer, however, it was in the field of horror anthologies, offering up classics like “Doctor Terror’s House of Horrors,” “Asylum,” “Tales from the Crypt,” “The Vault of Horror” a.k.a. “Tales from the Crypt II,” and…wait for it…“From Beyond the Grave.”
Yes, I’m well aware that, given that the title of the film was listed right in the title of the posting, that wasn’t exactly the most shocking reveal. But it felt right, dammit.
British horror films from the late 1960s and early 1970s are almost always a joy to watch, if only because…and I’ve said this before, but I know others who agree with my theory as well…there’s something about a British accent that makes even the most preposterous dialogue sound like the God’s honest truth. Additionally, the Brits have always had a dark and nasty streak to their humor, which invariably shows up within the short and sweet tales of these anthologies.
There are four tales within “From Beyond the Grave”: “The Gate Crasher,” “An Act of Kindness,” “The Elemental,” and “The Door.” Each story has been taken from author Ronald Chetwynd-Hayes’ 1971 collection of short stories entitled “The Unbidden.” The foursome are all interlinked via an antique shop which is curated by none other than Grand Moff Tarkin himself, Peter Cushing; in most cases, the reason for the characters to enter the shop is at best only tangentially related to their tale, but it hardly matters, since it’s mostly just fun to see the pale-as-a-corpse Cushing shuffle around the shop, sneaking up on his customers and asking them if he can help them find anything.
“From Beyond the Grave” stars David Warner as Edward Charlton, a man who tricks Cushing into selling him an antique mirror at a highly discounted price by claiming it to be a fake; perhaps unsurprisingly, however, Edward gets his just desserts when the mirror turns out to be inhabited by an evil spirit who need fresh blood in order to get his strength up and escape his confinement. During a séance, the spirit possesses Edward and soon sends him out on a nightly basis to bring him another sacrifice, and as a bonus, he has Edward do the actual slaying for him as well; the conclusion is predictable, but Warner’s increased anxiety as the segment progresses makes it worth watching ‘til the bitter end. “The Gate Crasher,” which follows, is probably the most enjoyable of the four segments for several reasons. For one, there’s the cast, which features Donald Pleasance, Angela Pleasance (yes, she’s his daughter, both in real life and in the film), and Ian Bannen, a husband who’s forever henpecked by his wife, played by the voluptuous Diana Dors; for another, however, it offers a legitimately unexpected conclusion and a darkly funny closing line from Mr. Pleasance.
(Unrelated sidebar: many Americans aren’t aware of Diana Dors, but Anglophile music fans may recognize her from appearances on The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and The Smiths’ Singles, which is how I came to know her name. What I didn’t know until very recently, however, was the story of her secret fortune and how it reports remains hidden somewhere out there, just waiting to be found by the person who can crack the code she left behind before her death in 1984.)
“The Elemental,” which stars Ian Carmichael as a man with something decidedly larger than a chip on his shoulder, will make fans of the “Harry Potter” films laugh out loud, as Margaret Leighton plays a spiritualist who will instantly remind them of Emma Thompson’s take on Professor Trelawney; indeed, the similarity is so profound that you can’t help but draw the connection. Lastly, “The Door” features Ian Ogilvy and Lesley-Anne Down as a young couple who find that their new residence has an unfortunate connection with the late Sir Michael Sinclair, who’d prefer not to be quite so late any longer.
The film comes to a conclusion by returning to Cushing and giving him a few moments to shine, presumably in a scene unique to the movie (i.e. not something composed by Chetwynd-Hayes), but it probably isn’t much of a spoiler to suggest that when he’s accosted by a gentleman who intends to rob the shop, something rather untoward occurs to the would-be thief.
Immediately thereafter, he addresses the camera directly:
“Aye, customers, come in, come in; I’m sure I have the very thing to tempt you. Lots of bargains, all tastes catered for…oh, and a big novelty surprise comes with every purchase. Do come in, any time. I’m always open.”
It’s an offer you can’t resist, really.
