Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965)

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

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

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:

This would have been Isla Blair's first appearance in a feature film but she had her scenes cut from final print.

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)

Very atmospheric Amicus compendium

This was the first Amicus film and it's anthological style was to become their trademark.

It's a wonderfully atmospheric film, with the linking story and the subsequent tales mostly taking place in the dark.

Peter Cushing is brilliant; his portrayal of Dr. Shreck is perfectly judged in that he gives his character a mysterious aura without going "over-the-top".

The 1st story involving a werewolf is efficiently eerie. However, story 2 (killer vine) and story 3 (voodoo) are disappointingly silly, whilst story 5 about a vampire (with a baby-faced Donald Sutherland)is good and has a nice twist at the end.

The best story of the lot (by far) is Story 4 with Christopher Lee as a savage art critic and Michael Gough as a sensitive artist - watch out for the disembodied hand! This story is worth watching the film alone!

Freddie Francis battles against some cheap looking sets to maintain the film's eerieness throughout and essentially, it's a film I would recommend to anybody.

As would happen later, Amicus found it very difficult to put a decent linking story and four or five consistently effective tales together in one film. Never mind....