Review of Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965) by L J — 13 Oct 2007

Yes, the title clearly states "House Of Horrors", but it's definitely a train-carriage (wouldn't have made as snappy a title though, I guess).

First of Amicus' portmanteau horrors which became their speciality. And it's a corker!

We have five tales: Werewolf, Creeping Vine, Voodoo, Disembodied Hand, and Vampire - the titles pretty much speak for themselves, don't they?

Framing these short tales is Cushing's title character (Dr Schreck), one of his coolest ever roles. Chris Lee is fantastic as the dismissive sceptic (even though his individual story in this is (for me) one of the weaker episodes, his performance in it is superb - EXPRESSING fear in a film, rather than CAUSING it, as he usually does!).

A very weird cast: Donald Sutherland (it's not every day you see Donald Sutherland opening a can of beans in a film!), Roy Castle (also appearing with Cushing in the same year's Dr Who & The Daleks), disc-jockey Alan 'Fluff' Freeman, Kenny Lynch and the great Michael Gough; but they are all superb (even Castle doesn't annoy (too much) here).

Sure, some tales are less effective than others, but this just works great as a whole, for me. One of Amicus' finest, if not THE finest.