Five strangers, lost in a tomb, sit before The Crypt Keeper (Ralph Richardson) as their stories are told. The stories:
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All Through The House — A woman (Joan Collins) murders her husband on Christmas Eve, with a Santa killer outside the house.
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Reflection of Death — A man (Ian Hendry), runs off with his mistress without a word to his wife and kids, and then gets into a horrible crash, which may be a dream.
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Poetic Justice — The cruel neighbor of a kindly, poor, old man (Peter Cushing) attempts to drive him out.
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Wish You Were Here — A retelling of The Monkey’s Paw, with Ralph Jason (Richard Greene) dying, and then being brought back to life by ill-conceived wishes.
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Blind Alleys — The uncaring director of a home for the blind (Nigel Patrick) ignores the suffering of his charges.
Who doesn’t remember fondly the days of E.C. Comics and their horror lines: Tales from the Crypt and The Vault of Horror? OK, I don’t, as I wasn’t alive at the time, but I hear people who were around in 1951—and weren’t busy keeping women and blacks in subordinate positions—were very fond of them. By 1955, the magazines were gone, as the government decided that horror comics turn children into psychopaths. God I love the ’50s.
Fast forward twenty years, when the good folks at Amicus Productions (the other British horror film studio) decide to resurrect the feel of those comics with an anthology movie—several anthology movies by the time they were done. Like the stories in the comics, the episodes are short, to the point, and very moralistic. These are retribution tales where bad guys do bad things, and then are punished, and that’s always fun.
The first segment is generally taken to be one of the weakest, but I’m a sucker for blood and cruelty backed by Christmas carols. The dichotomy amuses me. So does the ambiguously cruel Joan Collins, who reminds us what a hottie show was. There’s no supernatural element, but a murderous Santa fulfills any horror requirements.
The second and third add zombies to the mix, but only very briefly at the end of each. Unfortunately, Reflection of Death offers nothing beyond a walking corpse and is overlong even with its short running time. Poetic Justice, on the other hand, is an emotional tale, with Peter Cushing creating a kindly but so sad character. Rumor has it that Cushing wasn’t so much acting as channeling his own grief from the recent death of his wife. Without the well-deserved zombie-justice, this one would have many crying in the aisles.
Wish You Were Here is the strongest section. It is a variant of The Monkey’s Paw, changing the details to make it even grizzlier. This should make you uneasy for a year or two. While my favorite part of the film, I always found it unfair. All of the others involve someone doing something horribly wrong, and then justice takes over. But Ralph Jason doesn’t do anything all that bad. He is a businessman who made some a bad decision and isn’t happy about it, but his end is a bit harsh for the sin of poor financial planning.
The final story is one of straightforward revenge. Again, there is no supernatural element, just really angry blind men with a knack for carpentry, but it is a solid entry.
Strangely, the film is devoid of intentional humor. When Tales from the Crypt popped up years later as a TV series and in spin off films, humor would be its calling card.
Amicus Productions’ other horror anthologies are Dr Terror’s House of Horrors, Torture Garden, The House That Dripped Blood, Asylum, From Beyond the Grave, and The Vault of Horror.