Dr Terror's House of Horrors

Christopher Lee - Franklyn Marsh
Michael Gough - Eric Landor
Neil McCallum - Jim Dawson
Bernard Lee - Hopkins
Roy Castle - Biff Bailey
Peter Cushing - Dr. Sandor Schreck
Alan Freeman - Bill Rogers
Kenny Lynch - Sammy Coin
Donald Sutherland - Bob Carroll

Low-budget Amicus horror portmanteau stylishly directed by Freddie Francis from a script by American co-producer Milton Subotsky. This was the first of several Amicus portmanteau films and opens with Peter Cushing enquiring: “Room for one more in here?” a reference to the Hearse Driver segment of Ealing’s inspirational Dead of Night (1945). The vignettes in Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors have dated badly and are more amusing than terrifying, but Alan Hume’s superb cinematography does add a modicum of creepy atmosphere to proceedings. Four of the five stories and inconsistent, unintentionally funny and predictable; the best tale by far is a re-working of 'The Beast with Five Fingers' featuring Christopher Lee and Michael Gough. Of the other performers, McCallum is rather bland, Alan Freeman somewhat wooden but thankfully given little speaking material and famed trumpeter Roy Castle (a late replacement for Acker Bilk) manages to be immensely irritating.

Five passengers board a carriage at the railway station and during the train journey have their futures told by the sinister fortune teller Dr. Schreck (Peter Cushing) using his pack of tarot cards.

Their respective stories involve all manner of occult happenings. The first to have his cards read is architect Jim Dawson (Neil McCallum), who discovers the tomb of a werewolf in the walls of a remote Scottish estate. Bill Rogers (DJ Alan Freeman) follows, and the tale of his family home being besieged by an intelligent yet deadly creeping vine is foretold. Next up is jazz musician Biff Bailey (Roy Castle), who steals a witchcraft tune he hears on a tour of the West Indies and invokes a voodoo curse. The 4th story involves the most sceptical passenger in the carriage, arrogant art critic Franklyn Marsh (Christopher Lee) who is avidly pursued by the severed hand of an artist (Michael Gough) he ran down. The final tale is set in America, a doctor (Donald Sutherland) suspects that his new bride has become a vampire.

Finally, with all their destinies revealed, the five passengers disembark the train and Dr Schreck reveals his final terrifying secret.