Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Freddie Francis

Writer:

Milton Subotsky (screenplay)

Release Date:

28 February 1965 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

Acclaimed as "THE FEAR OF THE YEAR"

Plot:

Five strangers board a train and are joined by a mysterious fortune teller who offers to read their Tarot cards...

Plot Keywords:

Vampire | Werewolf | Revenge | Voodoo | Tarot Card

Cast

Christopher Lee	...	Franklyn Marsh (segment "Disembodied Hand")
Max Adrian	...	Dr. Blake (segment "Vampire")
Ann Bell	...	Ann Rogers (segment "Creeping Vine")
Michael Gough	...	Eric Landor (segment "Disembodied Hand")
Jennifer Jayne	...	Nicolle (segment "Vampire")
Neil McCallum	...	Jim Dawson (segment "Werewolf")
Bernard Lee	...	Hopkins (segment "Creeping Vine")
Roy Castle	...	Biff Bailey (segment "Voodoo")
Peter Cushing	...	Dr. Sandor Schreck (segment "Dr. Terror")
Alan Freeman	...	Bill Rogers (segment "Creeping Vine")
Peter Madden	...	Caleb (segment "Werewolf")
Kenny Lynch	...	Sammy Coin (segment "Voodoo")
Jeremy Kemp	...	Drake (segment "Creeping Vine")
Donald Sutherland	...	Bob Carroll (segment "Vampire")
Harold Lang	...	Shine

Also Known As:

The Blood Suckers

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

Norway:16 (1965) | UK:PG (tv rating) | Finland:(Banned) (1966) | Germany:16 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG (video rating) (2004) | UK:X (original rating) | USA:Unrated | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England, UK

Company:

Amicus Productions

Trivia:

Acker Bilk was hired to play Biff Bailey but had a heart attack and was replaced by Roy Castle.

Goofs:

Plot holes: Franklyn Marsh does not touch the deck three times as is necessary according to Dr Terror around the beginning of the movie.

Quotes:

Hopkins: There's one thing that every intelligent thing is afraid of - fire! If a species ever develops that isn't, it could be the end of the world.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Dr. Terror's Gallery of Horrors (1967)

Pick a Card...Any Card

Peter Cushing joins five men in a railway carriage only to have each man pick one of his deadly tarot cards and have Cushing predict his future. Each man picks the same card and each then tells/hears a story about some awful thing that happens to him and leads to his death. A very well-done horror anthology here by the folks at Amicus and director Freddie Francis. Francis gives his usual workmanlike effort creating some suspenseful moments and at other times slight and tedious plodding. Each story is done in a flashback style or dreamlike sequence. One story is about some mean green...plants that take over a household and even kill when threatened. Another story deals with a tribal voodoo song and what happens when copyright is infringed. There is a story about an old house and a werewolf. The final story deals with vampires in which Donald Sutherland, unbeknownst to him has married a vampire. This story as well as the voodoo story try to be funny as well as frightening. The best story for me stars Christopher Lee as a snobby art critic who has been embarrassed by a man whose art he continually berated, finally exacting his revenge on him...a revenge that becomes bittersweet. This revenge keeps Lee with more problems than he can HAND-le. This story is particularly effective and Lee and Michael Gough give some outstanding performances. The frame story is also very good and Cushing does a wonderful job enticing his fellow travelers to find out their futures and then let them know they have all been had by Death itself. Lots of fun here!