Anthology films are usually a pretty safe bet in the world of horror. They usually consist of 3-5 different segments. If one segment doesn’t work, have no fear, another one is just minutes away! Over a ten year stretch from the mid-60’s to the mid-70’s British horror house Amicus Productions released a series of horror anthologies. The first of those said anthologies was Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors.
Six strangers – Jim Dawson (Neil McCallum), Bill Rogers (Alan Freeman), Biff Bailey (Roy Castle), Franklyn Marsh (Christopher Lee), Dr. Bob Carroll (Donald Sutherland) and Dr. Schreck (Peter Cushing), all board the same train carriage in London. As everyone is getting settled for the ride ahead of them, Dr. Schreck drops his tarot cards on the floor. As the others help him pick the cards up they notice the cards aren’t your typical poker deck. Dr. Schreck explains the cards are used to read your future. Marsh immediately scoffs at the cards, claiming it’s all a bunch of hogwash. The others, however, are interested and as such Dr. Schreck proceeds to tell the future for each man.
‘Werewolf’
The first story focuses on Jim Dawson, who we learn is an architect. Jim gets a call from Mrs. Biddulph (Ursula Howells), a woman looking to have alterations made to her house. The house is located on a Scottish island and happens to be the house Jim grew up in. When Jim arrives to work on the house he discovers a newly built wall in the cellar is hiding a mysterious coffin. The coffin turns out to be that of Count Cosmo Valdemar. Legend has it that Valdemar used to own the house and was killed in a feud with the Dawson family, but before dying Valdemar vowed to seek revenge on the Dawson family. Jim believes that Valdemar has returned as a werewolf and is planning to get his revenge!
‘Creeping Vine’
Our second story is that of Bill Rogers. Bill returns home from vacation with his wife and daughter. While doing some gardening he attempts to cut a growing vine but the vine somehow defends itself and knocks the gardening sheers from his hand. Bill visits a pair of scientists for help, explaining what has happened. One of the scientists (Jeremy Kemp) decides to stay with Bill for a few days to investigate further. The vine continues to grow, going on a murderous rampage.
‘Voodoo’
Biff Bailey is the center of our third story. Biff is a jazz musician who on a trip to the West Indies happens upon a voodoo ceremony. Fascinated by the music from the ritual, Biff steals it and works it into his jazz compositions back in London. Unfortunately for Biff stealing music comes with some consequences.
‘Disembodied Hand’
Tale number four is about Franklyn Marsh, an art critic. Franklyn is kind of the worst of critics; he seems more set on belittling an artist than actually critiquing the work. One evening at a showcase for artist Eric Landor (Michael Gough), Franklyn is particularly cruel, bashing Landor at every chance he can get. Landor gets even with Franklyn by embarrassing him in the packed room. Later that night an enraged Franklyn runs Landor down in his car, causing Landor to lose his hand. Landor’s hand decides to seek revenge.
‘Vampire’
Our final story is that of Dr. Bob Carroll, who has just returned home to his small town with his new French bride Nicolle (Jennifer Jayne). Carroll is one of two doctors in the small town, working closely with his colleague Dr. Blake (Max Adrian). While seeing a young patient with an odd blood issue, the pair of doctors thinks they may have a vampire on their hands. Unfortunately for Dr. Carroll the vampire may just be someone with whom he shares a close relationship.
For the most part I think each one of the stories in Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors works. They work to varying degrees, sure, but they all work. That is to say I wouldn’t say any one story is bad. If I had to choose a weak link, I’d go with ‘Creeping Vine.’ The story is entertaining, certainly, but it’s just a little sillier than the rest. ‘Voodoo,’ while it plays on the surface as the most comedic, carries a bit more depth than the other stories. This story deals with cultural appropriation, which actually may be even more relevant now than it was 50 years ago when the film was released. So yeah, maybe ‘Voodoo’ isn’t the most horror-centric story of the bunch, but personally I think it’s the best.
Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors looks fantastic and features some really cool shots. There are a handful of camera movements that are particularly cool, especially one that happens inside the carriage. This should come as no surprise as the film was directed by Freddie Francis, who directed a number of the Amicus Productions films and won two Oscars as a cinematographer. Francis didn’t serve as DP here, but the guy doing so was Alan Hume, who also served as DP on Return of the Jedi. It’s safe to say this movie was in very good hands.
I don’t think I’d go as far as to say the film is overlooked because it seems to have its fair share of supporters, but in terms of anthologies it may very well be. Rarely does the film come up when people are talking horror anthologies and that’s a bit of shame. It certainly deserves to be in the conversation. Fortunately a few companies have recently released the film on Blu-ray. I watched both the US release from Olive Films (region A) and the German release from Wicked-Vision (region free).
As far as video quality the two releases are pretty close. The Wicked-Vision version is definitely better, providing a sharper image and a bit more consistency. The average viewer probably won’t notice much of a difference however. What sets these two releases apart however, are the special features. As is typically the case with an Olive release, this film is bare bones. If Olive gets to the point of including some supplemental content, they can compete more with foreign releases. The Wicked-Vision release is jam-packed with extra content, many of which are available in English or with English subtitles. Two features I especially enjoy on the Wicked-Vision version is the commentary on the film with Francis and Jonathan Sothcott and then a documentary entitled ‘House of Cards’ that touches base on not only the film but Amicus Productions as a whole and the career of Francis.
Both versions of the film are good. If you’re just interested in the movie then I’d say grabbing the Olive Films release is probably the way to go. You likely won’t notice the difference in image quality and it’ll be a little cheaper and easier to pick up if you’re in the US. If you want the best possible Blu-ray of Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors then you have to go with the German release from Wicked-Vision, which you can easily order from Amazon.de. You’ll have to pay a little more and fumble your way through German menus (provided you don’t speak German), but Wicked-Vision offers up a ton of special features that you’re sure to enjoy.
Rating: 4/5
Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors is now available on Region A Blu-ray in the US from Olive Films and Region Free Blu-ray in Germany from Wicked-Vision.