Dr Terror's House of Horrors (1965)

Who doesn't love DR TERROR'S HOUSE OF HORRORS? The first Amicus portmanteau film, it was followed by a series of similarly styled movies that, on the whole, were better than it, but you have to start somewhere. Anyway, after the guest appearance of the film's poster in Edgar Wright's LAST NIGHT IN SOHO Fabulous Films are giving the film a new Blu-ray release. 

Peter Cushing! Christopher Lee! Roy Castle and...er...Alan Freeman! If nothing else DR TERROR is an interesting time capsule of things past (including attitudes). So, nearly sixty years later, are the five stories the film tells still worth a look? Well, the Werewolf episode is still fun and the most atmospheric, Creeping Vine was always a bit silly but now it comes across as ludicrous, Voodoo has those 'attitudes of times past' but does have some fun Tubby Hayes jazz and it's based on an uncredited Cornell Woolrich story so it's still of interest, Disembodied Hand has some great interplay between Lee and Michael Gough (with monkey) and the Vampire story has Jennifer Jayne and an ending that's rather fun. 

Then there's Freddie Francis directing and doing his best to use the widescreen format to depict a cramped railway carriage (he doesn't do too badly) and a music score by Elisabeth Lutyens - twelve tone Lizzie herself (as she was apparently known) that's refreshingly different from a lot of horror movie music scores of the time.

DR TERROR'S HOUSE OF HORRORS has been released on disc in the UK a few times, and unfortunately if you're a DR TERROR obsessive you need all the releases, including the new Fabulous Films one. The significant ones are the original Anchor Bay DVD release which boasted two commentary tracks, one from Freddie Francis and Jonathan Sothcott and the other from Alan Bryce. The 2015 Odeon Blu-ray dropped the Bryce commentary, added a new making of (House of Cards by Jake West) but had transfer issues and a repressed disc had to be issued. 

The latest Fabulous Film release keeps the West documentary, as well as the trailer and Stephen Jones image gallery, but has no commentary tracks. What it does have is nearly an hour of new interviews courtesy of Derek Pykett, namely Ann Bell (21 minutes), Jeremy Kemp (8 minutes) and Kenny Lynch (24 minutes). The disc also comes with a booklet and a double-sided poster of Graham Humphreys artwork

DR TERROR'S HOUSE OF HORRORS gets its latest Blu-ray release from Fabulous Films on Monday 5th December 2022

Asylum (1972)

"Standout 1970s British Horror"

It's time for that overly bombastic (and to my mind best ever) arrangement of Mussorgsky's Night on the Bare Mountain courtesy of arranger-composer Douglas Gamley to start hammering through the speakers as one of the best anthology films ever made gets a whistles and bells limited edition Blu-ray release from Second Sight.

When Dr Martin (Robert Powell) attends Dunsmoor Asylum to interview for the vacant SHO (that's senior house officer) post, he finds himself set an odd task by acting head Dr Rutherford (more wheelchair acting from Patrick CLOCKWORK ORANGE Magee). He has to interview four patients and decide which of them is Dr Starr, the former head of the asylum who has undergone a state of 'hysterical fugue', allowing 'a new personality to take over', and also allowing us to enjoy a smashing British horror film.

Yes the four patients lead us into four Robert Bloch short stories, except, that unbeknownst to Dr Martin he's already in one of them. Oh yes, the quality of an anthology picture can often be measured by the strength of its framework story and ASYLUM has the best of the lot, one in which Bloch reworked one of his stories ('Mannikins of Horror') to link the action.

ASYLUM is an example of where everything comes together to create something very special indeed. The first story, 'Frozen Fear' (which traumatised your reviewer on its first BBC showing back in the 1970s to such an extent I swore off watching any horror films ever again) works because of stellar, soapy, sleazy performances from Richard Todd, Barbara Parkins and Sylvia Syms, deliciously horrid production design, and Roy Ward Baker's sensible decision to let everything build with sound before we actually see anything. It was meant to be the third story but I've always agreed with producer Max Rosenberg to put it first because it gives you enough of a jolt you wonder what on earth the rest of the film is going to be like.

Because of that the second story 'The Weird Taylor' is a quieter affair but works better because your anxiety levels have been pumped up by the first story. Consequently you feel much more weirded out by Peter Cushing and his empty house except for that coffin than you might otherwise be.

'Lucy Comes to Stay' is a bit of 1970s posh suburban horror with casting that helps the story immensely. Britt Ekland has one of her best roles as she gets to bounce off Charlotte Rampling's drug-addicted Barbara while James Villiers and Megs Jenkins add character colour.

And then the finale. Is Herbert Lom and his army of killer mannikins actually Dr Starr? If you haven't seen the film I won't tell but I will say I think ASYLUM has possibly the best ending of any Amicus anthology.

If you have Severin's US region-free Blu-ray of ASYLUM then you don't need to double dip as this is essentially the same, including the same grainy transfer (although who knows if it's possible to make ASYLUM look any better?). Extras are also the same, including the ported over Roy Ward Baker / Neil Binney commentary track from the Anchor Bay DVD. You also get David J Schow on Robert Bloch, Fiona Subotsky talking about her producer husband, the 'Two's Company' set report from 1972 and the Inside the Fear Factory Featurette.

Exclusive to the Second Sight Limited Edition is the rigid slipcase featuring excellent Graham Humphreys artwork, which is reproduced on one side of the fold out poster (the other side is the UK quad design but portrait-orientated). You also get a perfect bound book with essays by Allan Bryce (more history of Amicus that's different to the essay for HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD), Jon Towison (concentrating on the Bloch stories used here) and Kat Ellinger (a considerably more general piece this time around that doesn't really address the film at all).

ASYLUM is a great British horror film. In fact it may well be one of the greatest. If you're a fan then this is definitely the set to get.

ASYLUM is out on Blu-ray in a Limited Edition from Second Sight on Monday 29th July 2019

The House That Dripped Blood (1970)

"Beautiful Presentation of a Horror Classic"

One of the finest anthology movies to be made by England's Amicus Films gets a gorgeous limited edition release from Second Sight.

Horror film star Paul Henderson (Jon Pertwee) has disappeared. Inspector Holloway (John Bennett) discovers from a local police sergeant (John Malcolm) and an estate agent called Stoker (John Bryans, completing the framework story 'trilogy of Johns') that the house Henderson rented might have had something to do with it.

Using the title location as an excuse to package four Robert Bloch short stories, HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD achieves the admirable quality of swinging between psycho-crime thriller ('Method For Murder'), Peter Cushing & Joss Ackland being threatened by the really rather weird ('Waxworks'), Christopher Lee being upstaged by witchy four year old Chloe Franks ('Sweets to the Sweet') and comedy (the quite marvellous Pertwee facing off against an equally excellent Geoffrey Bayldon going full Ernest Thesiger in 'The Cloak'). 

There aren't many horror anthologies that can put their funny episode last and pull the entire thing off with such aplomb, but director Peter Duffell makes it all look easy.  Each episode very much has its own character (and facet of the house) but that doesn't detract from HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD working as a stylish, well made whole. It's one of the best of these kinds of movies Amicus made and while one can understand why Duffell didn't want to make any more one still wishes there could have been.

Second Sight's Blu-ray transfer looks absolutely wonderful if you've only seen the old Anchor Bay DVD, otherwise it sparkles in the same way the US Scream Factory Blu does. Extras are on the whole similar to that disc as well. The Troy Howarth commentary track which was new to that release has been carried over, as well as the Peter Duffell / Jonathan Rigby one from the DVD. There's an interview with second assistant director Mike Higgins and an archival featurette featuring interviews with Duffell, Franks and Bayldon. You also get radio spots, trailers and a still gallery.

Second Sight's Limited Edition also comes with a rigid slipcase showcasing some lovely Graham Humphreys artwork, a fold-out movie poster featuring the Humphreys artwork on one side and the US one-sheet poster art on the other, and finally a nice little book containing essays by Allan Bryce (an overview of Amicus and the film in question), Jon Towison (a nice piece on Robert Bloch, one of my all-time favourite writers) and a very decent essay by Kat Ellinger that gave this reviewer, who has watched THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD more times over the last forty years than I dare to count, a new angle from which to examine the film - great stuff. 

        THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD Limited Edition is a top quality package of a top quality 1970s British horror film. Well done to Second Sight for going the extra mile. Fans should snap this up, while those new to 1970s UK horror could do worse than start here.

THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD - Limited Edition is out on Blu-ray from Second Sight on Monday 29th July. 

The Skull (1965)

We finally get a bit of classic Amicus on Blu-ray in the UK as THE SKULL comes out in a dual-format presentation from Eureka. It’s well known that Amicus’ forte was the telling of short horror stories on the big screen, usually in the anthology format that became their trademark. When they tried to expand a short story to a ninety minute length the results weren’t as successful - AND NOW THE SCREAMING STARTS is a ponderous version of David Case’s novella Fengriffen, and THE SKULL is a (very) padded out version of a Robert Bloch short story.

That doesn’t mean THE SKULL is a bad film, though. In fact, far from it. Saddled with a script that lasted 50 minutes at best, director Freddie Francis proves to be one of the real stars of this one by giving us plenty of atmosphere and interestingly lit scenes that don’t feel like padding unless it’s pointed out. I haven’t mentioned what plot there is because to be honest there isn’t much, but here we go:

Anthropologist Christopher Maitland (Peter Cushing) acquires the skull of the Marquis de Sade from sleazy dealer Anthony Marco (Patrick Wymark). Maitland’s friend and rival in All Things Expensive & Satanic Sir Matthew Phillips (Christopher Lee) warns him that evil invisible forces seek to worship the skull and will cause him no end of trouble. Maitland goes mad and eventually ends up as the skull’s latest victim.

The joy of the first half of THE SKULL lies in the deliciousness that British horror cinema of the period was capable of. The design and dressing of Cushing’s study is a Jamesian delight, filled with books, dried specimens and weird paraphernalia, and Freddie Francis makes the most of what he’s given. It’s also a sheer pleasure to enjoy the interplay of the talents of Cushing, Lee and Wymark, with added Michael Gough, Nigel Green and Patrick Magee for good measure. The flashback scenes have a decent cemetery set and good old George Coulouris as well.  

It’s the second half of the film where THE SKULL runs out of dialogue (and script, one suspects) that it actually moves from a delight to something weirder and more interesting. Cushing’s descent into madness and horror relies not just on his acting, but excellent use of lighting, sound effects, and a great discordant Schoenberg-like music score from Elizabeth Lutyens. People who don’t get these sorts of films may laugh at the floaty skull, but those of us who first watched THE SKULL at midnight on a BBC double bill will probably remember how unnerving all of this can feel under the right conditions. Hammer were the best at gory period horror, but Amicus often gave us stuff that was more interesting, even if it was more by accident than design, and THE SKULL is very interesting indeed.

Eureka’s Blu-ray & DVD set comes with just over forty minutes of extras in the form of interviews with Jonathan Rigby and Kim Newman, both of whom take sufficiently different angles in their approach to talking about the film that they’re both well worth watching. An excellent package  - now can we have Blu-rays of THE BIRTHDAY PARTY and THE PSYCHOPATH? 

Amicus' THE SKULL is being released on dual format Region 2 DVD and Region B Blu-ray on 26th October 2015 by Eureka