Dr. Terror's House of Horrors

If you can find a copy of "Dr. Terror's House of Horrors", try to ignore its dark, fuzzy appearance (I've seen it once on videocassette and twice on television, and it looked the same way each time; the movie has not yet been made available on DVD). This is a first-rate British horror film in the old style, and if you liked "The House That Dripped Blood" and "Tales From the Crypt", you'll enjoy "...House of Horrors", too. The standout tales are 'Voodoo', which features Roy Castle as a jazz horn player who nicks a piece of sacred African music while spying on a voodoo ceremony and comes to regret it, and 'Disembodied Hand', an unpleasant story of wounded pride, foul play, and revenge that stars Christopher Lee and Michael Gough. Peter Cushing is appropriately sinister as Dr. Schreck, the German metaphysicist who predicts the futures of five unsuspecting men with his "house of horrors", a deck of Tarot cards. The soundtrack deserves a mention, too--it's subtly creepy, and the Dave Brubeck-style jazz (performed by the Tubby Hayes Quintet) in the 'Voodoo' segment is really nice as well. Hopefully someone will acquire the rights to this entertaining film, restore the print, and release it on DVD soon.