A
murderess named Katherine White (Martin
Beswicke) is sentenced to death and a
reporter named Beth Chandler (Susan
Tyrell) travels to the twon of Oldfield
to pay a visit to the killers uncle named
Juliane White (Vincent Price) to question
him about his niece's history as he
unravels four related tales.
The
first one he tells is about a dweeby
elderly man named Stanley Burnside (Clu
Gulager) wants a romance with a younger
woman but is too lonely as he has to take
care of his sick sister Eileen (Miriam
Byrd-Nethery) all the time but however,
he convinces one of his co-workers named
Grace Scott (Megan McFarland) to have
dinner with him and she accepts but
realises he's too much but he must have
her even if it means to the grave.
The
second story Juliane talks about a
wounded man named Jesse Hardwick (Terry
Kiser) whom was betrayed by his wife
telling some creditors where he is hiding
out and then rescued by a backwoods
hermit named Felder Evans (Harry Caeser)
with a secret to eternal life as Hardwick
must find the secrets and gets greedy
about it.
Third
chapter is about a man named Steven Arden
(Ron Brooks) who works as an act at a
carnival who can eat glass and other
dangerous stuff as he is madly in love
with a woman named Tinker (Angelo
Rossitto) but the evil owner named
Snakewoman (Rosalind Cash) threatens that
he will pay an ultimate price if he does
so.
And
finally, Juliane goes into the deep past
about the Civil War soldiers led by the
nasty Sargeant Gallon (Cameron Mitchell)
who has killed all their enemies thinking
that they are home free until they are
held captive by a group of orphans led by
a boy named Andrew (Tommy Nowell) as he
has gruesome and strange intentions for
all of them as they are tortured to death
and Gallon is the last one for their
deadly plans.
Well the anthology
was off to a good start in the beginning
but it slid down big time with the
wraparound which wasn't very convincing
at all.
The first chapter about the
dweeby elderly man who is disturbed about
not having a love life of his own and
taking care of his sick sister has some
good moments but the ending was a little
ridiculous as it is hard to understand
too.
The second chapter was
quite bland with a man hiding out in a
cabin almost killed and associating with
a hermit that knows how to create eternal
life which hardly goes anywhere other
than this close to death victim getting
greedy to have this eternal life potion
and facing consequences in the end.
The carnival one was the
worst one of all but showing the
snakewoman putting a spell on her
employee at the carnival was the only
thing worth watching.
The last chapter was
probably the best one imaginging a bunch
of orphans taking over after a war has
ended and doing evil deeds which was like
a horror version of Lord of the
Flies.
Well folks, the anthology
may disappoint you but if you're in the
mood for a bad party flick then check it
out by all means.
The acting is in
average taste but sometimes it's actually
not too bad. Vincent Price, now
there's a horror icon from way back but
he however isn't as good like he was in
his other films but still has the charm
to his part.
Susan Tyrell brings her part across
sharply well as the one questioning him
as both of these actors are involved for
the wraparound story.
Clu Gulagher looked extremely
different by playing a dweeby elderly man
as he can present himself differently in
alot of his projects and does this well
with his freaked out expressions and his
disturbed behaviour.
Miriam
Byrd-Nethery who played his sick
sister was a little too corny on the
other hand but not terrible. She seemed
like a bit of a fruit.
Terry Kiser shows nice aggressions to his
part as a mobster of some kind with good
nasty expressions too.
Harry Caeser was
another fine actor who presented himself
well as some sort of a voodoo type of
hermit.
Rosalind Cash was wonderful with her
wicked attitude of the carnival owner and
often played these kinds of roles in
other shows cause she is superb by
portaying it and has the perfect evil
looks too.
Ron
Brooks however, was a bit wooden
with his work in his chapter who needed
some improvement but does show some fair
intense energy in certain spots.
Cameron Mitchell perfectly portrays
his role as a soldier from war with his
menacing actions and wicked charms as
this points out to be one of his better
works in horror films.
Tommy Nowell stood out well as the
leader of the evil cult orphans but
however some of his voice was overdubbed
by his brother Justin who had a
smaller role in the film.
Miriam Byrd-Nethery exposes
her breasts while in a bathtub during the
first chapter of this story.
In the third chapter we
have a battered up patient in a hospital
bed
During the fourth chapter there's holes
coming out of a man's body
The last chapter we spot a man with his
eye ball plucked out
A corpse chopped up as a game piece and a
chopped off arm with a hook on the end of
it.
There are also some decapitated heads
Jeff Burr starts
off the direction very nicely and dark
with a supporting actress played by Martin
Beswicke slowly walking out of the
bathroom with a towel around her and then
good shots on her getting dressed.
Next, we spot Beswicke strapped in a
chair as she shows nice creepy
expressions as well as reacting well when
she is dying due to a needle in her arm.
But then the direction weakens when
there's a dialogue between Susan
Tyrell questioning Vincent Price
in his library about why his niece
was killed as he goes into a historical
detail introducing the chapters which
could've been a bit more convincing yet Price
still has that charm for a horror like
attitude.
In the first
chapter, we have a good dark shot with Megan
McFarland standing like a statue
almost looking dead and then Clu
Gulagher seducing her and next
there's a good moment with him in bed
screaming with his eyes bulging in terror
with McFarland as a corpse
grabbing him which looked truly creepy.
There's a strange dialogue between Gulagher
bathing Miriam Byrd-Nethery as
siblings and discussing their parents on
Christmas.
McFarland does well feeling
uncomfortable during a dialogue with Gulagher
ina restaurant.
A fair moment with Gulagher
coming on strong with McFarland in
his car as well as strangling her as
there's good camera shots on the cars
tail light and other shots too while this
is happening.
There's also another nice struggling
moment between Gulagher and Netherley
when he tries to kill her in her bath
which looks a bit intense.
A great dark shot on a tombstone with a
hand coming out as well as a camera
zooming around and entering a house.
A great shot on Gulagher staring
wild eyed at the bottom of the stairs as
well as a nice shot on a creature at the
top of the stairs pointing.
During the second chapter
there's a good aggressive reaction on
Terry Kiser in his trailer hideout
towards bit part actress Katherine
Kaden as his wife when he finds out
she called the mob after him which
there's nice shots on Kiser
breaking out of the back door of his
trailer and running away.
A nice shot on Kiser being shot
in the back as well as a real spooky shot
on him lying in a boat and corpses hands
are lunging out at him and bringing him
down.
A good shot on Kiser lying in
bed looking around a beat up old cabin
with a clock ticking.
Nice shots on Harry Caeser mixing
up some potion like he's doing some sort
of voodoo type of spell.
Kiser does well demanding towards Caeser
at how he got eternal life showing stern
expressions as well as acting violent
about it.
A descent shot on Kiser rocking
a boat in the swamp with Caeser
lying on the boat.
Kiser does great going ballistic
looking for a book on how to create the
eternal life potion in th cabin with a
good approach by Caeser with
wicked expressions about to strike him.
There's another good shot on Caeser
bringing down an axe with menacing
expressions.
In the third chapter the
directing is a bit bland but we do have
some good shots on Ron Brooks
eating glass and other stuff on stage at
a carnival performance as you cringe a
bit wondering how he does that.
There's also great evil reactions by Rosalind
Cash getting demanding and nasty to
everyone in a tent playing poker.
There's many dialogue sequences between Brooks
and Angelo Rossitto as an
engaged couple which looks extremely raw.
The two of them knew how to scream with
intensity in a hotel room when something
deadly happens.
The fourth one was quite a
gruesome one as Cameron Mitchell does
a nice job firing his gun with the other
actors against their enemies as well as
walking in a field and mine bombs
exploding next to them falling down.
A nice presence by Tommy Nowell
introducing himself to Mitchell
and the rest with a powerful attitude.
There are many good scene's with the kids
torturing the adults and acting nasty.
A nice pleasant approach by Ashli
Bare acting nice towards Mitchell
trying to feed him while he's tied
up which makes you want to be nice back
to this polite child.
There's another good moment with
Mitchell when he tries to sweet talk
her into letting him go and he can take
her with him as there's good shots on the
two of them and you get the feeling he
won't keep his word and will do something
horrible to this innocent child.
Good shots on the bit part kid actors
like David Styncromb, Justin
Nowell, Christopher Cobb and
David Ford playing a sick game
with a chopped up corpse.
We also have a good explanation by
Nowell as to what happened to the
adults in the war showing some gruesome
stuff that was left behind. Nowell also
does a great dark speech during a
sacrifice which looked very gothic like.
Jim Manzie composes
some terrific ghostly and dark
synthesizer music for the film as well as
some twangy guitar music for the second
film.
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