Monday, August 24, 2020

From Beyond the Grave (1973)

From Beyond the Grave (1973): Based on stories by R. Chetwynd Hayes; screen play by Robin Clarke and Raymond Christodoulou; directed by Kevin Connor; starring Ian Bannen, Peter Cushing, Diana Dors, Margaret Leighton, Donald Pleasence, David Warner, Lesley-Anne Down, and Angela Pleasence: Highly enjoyable anthology movie adapting four stories by English horror writer R. Chetwynd-Hayes, with Peter Cushing as the frame story's owner of a sinister antiques store (called Temptations, nudge nudge). 


There are some nice moments of horror here, along with some bleak humour very appropriate for any adaptation of the often tongue-in-cheek Chetwynd-Hayes. The climax of the segment starring Donald Pleasence and daughter Angela especially reaches a tone of extremely dark whimsy. In any case, the haunted or possibly cursed items in the stories are a mirror, a Distinguished Service Cross, a snuff box, and an ornately carved wooden door. So avoid such items at all costs.


This isn't a Hammer production but rather an Amicus one, for those who know about such distinctions. Cushing seems to be having quite a bit of fun behind some moderately heavy make-up. The moral of the story seems to be that one shouldn't barter to lower prices at an antique shop, and for God's sake, don't steal anything. Recommended 

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