Dr. Terror's House of Horror (1965)

Five men board the 7:55 Express for Bradley. They get into the same train compartment, total strangers. When joined by a sixth passenger, they will know quite a bit about each other. That man, one Dr. Shreck, or Dr. Terror, will use his "House of Horrors", a deck of Tarot cards, to show each man his fate.

So begins one of the best Omnibus movies of the Amicus era, "Dr. Terror's House of Horrors" (1965). Peter Cushing, sporting an accent, uses his talents to tell the fate of each passenger. Directed by Freddie Francis, one of the better directors of horror films of the period, the film is broken into five separate stories of the supernatural. It will be the first in a line of Omnibus or Anthology Films to come from Amicus.

Each story starts with three taps on the deck of Tarot cards. Dr. Terror deals out four cards and a tale of the supernatural begins. The first story, titled "Werewolf" deals with an architect who is returning to the home his family once owned to make some alterations to the property. It features Neil McCallum, who is a veteran of mostly television shows. The woman who asks him for his services belongs to a family that also owned the property, but had it stolen by the architect's family hundreds of years ago. Her ancestor was reportedly a werewolf. As legend had it, he would, one day, rise from the grave and reclaim his heritage.

The second story is titled "Creeping Vine", with Alan Freedman, who has few screen credits to his name. Here, a family man, his wife and his daughter return home from holiday to find an unusual plant growing in the garden. It soon becomes apparent that the plant has murderous intent, as it does in the family dog and a family friend. It soon takes over the house, with the family still inside.

The third story, titled "Voodoo", features Roy Castle, who played Ian in the screen version of "Dr. Who and the Daleks". The tale is about a musician who is looking for a new sound. A trip to the islands produces a local melody played during a native ceremony. He adapts the tune for his band to play at the club. Too late does he realize the music invites more than just customers.

Product Placement?

The fourth story is crown jewel of the movie. "Disembodied Hand" deals with an art critic, portrayed menacingly by Christopher Lee, who makes life miserable for one artist, who is played by the always excellent Michael Gough. In retaliation, the artist shows the critic for the vile person he is by having him rave over a painting that was done by a monkey. The critic causes the artist to lose his hand. That hand follows him everywhere looking for revenge.

The last story, titled "Vampire", spotlights Donald Sutherland, who is still several years from his break out in "MASH" and "The Dirty Dozen". The story is about a newly married couple moving to a New England town, where the man will set up practice as a doctor. There is an established doctor there who takes the new man under his wing. A strange malady is going through the town. It causes people to be weak and tired and manifests itself as two small puncture wounds on the victims neck. The young man is convinced by the old doctor that there is a vampire in the area and that it is his wife. In the end, the wife is a vampire and is killed by her husband. But he is arrested. The old doctor denies any knowledge of vampires, but is very happy.

Although each story ends with the showing of the Death card from Dr. Terror's deck, we never really see anyone die. A few are implied, like in "Werewolf" and "Creeping Vine". But the other three end with the person seemingly alive. The matter of their deaths seems unresolved.

The sad part about Omnibus films is that they tend to be uneven. Not all the stories will hit the nail on the head. One, sometimes two, will stand out . Others will be forgotten. Here, the strongest story of the five is "Disembodied Hand." It had a great advantage over the other four. To have Christopher Lee and Michael Gough sharing the screen is a delight. Two actors who know how to scare, joining forces to put the audience on edge, is fun to watch.

"Creeping Vine" is unusual, as it takes place mainly in the bright daylight. The effect is no less, as one can see quite clearly there is no place to hide. It attempts to convey a claustrophobia usually found in zombie films.

While "Werewolf"and "Voodoo" are more atmospheric, using shadow and off stage noises to convey menace to the character, they don't seen to deliver the chills as well as the others. And "Vampire", well, honestly, I find distracting, as I am more interested in watching an early Donald Sutherland performance, rather than paying full attention to the story. But that's just me.

Still, the film is entertaining enough and gives the viewer a sense of what horror was like in the 1960s, before George Romero and Tobe Hooper would change the landscape forever. It is a good start for Amicus' Omnibus series.

Primer on the Tarot

Tarot cards are actually two deck of cards. The Major Arcana consists of 22 cards. These are non-suited and begin at 0 (zero), which is the Fool, and include others like The Sun, The Moon, The Hermit, The World and, of course, Death. The cards that Dr. Terror turns up in his divination are from the Major Arcana. Interestingly enough, Death is not the worst card that someone can get. The Falling Tower, which does appear in the film, is the card that bears no good tidings. It usually symbolizes despair and ruin. In the world of the Tarot, it is the "Worst Case Scenario."

What does not appear in the film is any card from the four-suited section of the Tarot, known as the Minor Arcana. These go from the Ace to the Ten, then to Knave, Knight, King and Queen. Their suits are Wands, Swords, Cups and Pentacles. These would become the playing deck that anyone who has played Go Fish would be familiar with.

Dr. Terror is using a quick reading of five cards. A normal reading uses ten cards. For the purposes of the setting, namely, a railway carriage, a five card reading is more practical.

The deck shown is a French deck and not the normal Waite deck that most people are familiar with. And, yes, those are my cards. They were big in the mid 1970s. I managed to acquire two decks.


If you haven't seen this film, it is available on YouTube!  Enjoy!!