By
Hank Reineke
I must confess from the onset that I have always
considered From Beyond the Grave, directed by Kevin Connor, to be the
least of the Amicus horror anthologies. It’s not a terrible film by any means, but the E.C. Comics-inspired
insanities and dark supernatural energies that powered the franchise for a
decade or so seemed less potent this time around. This final curtain-closing portmanteau from the
folks at Amicus would feature, as usual, a well-established and highly regarded
cast of stars, Peter Cushing, Donald Pleasence, Margaret Leighton, Lesley-Anne
Down and a trio of Ian’s (Bannen, Oglivy, and Carmichael) among them. The talent behind camera was of equal pro
grade, but somehow the celluloid cocktail that resulted was far less kitschy
and exhilarating than its forebears.
An anthology film is only as strong as its collected interior
stories, of course, and the four tales that compromise From Beyond the Grave are, at best, weak tea. Naturally, the same can be said about any
number of standalone episodes from such classic and revered television fare as,
say, The Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits. These series all have their own episodic gem
marks, the handful of entries that everyone recalls and can agree upon as
favorites. Perhaps it was an atmospheric
spine-tingler or perhaps a more thoughtful episode that ends with a novel
twist. The other less-celebrated episodes that buttress these high-water marks are
either – at best – only dimly recalled or simply less regarded.
Amicus was, far and away, the uncontested “studio†of
honor in their presentations of these anthology horror films. The term “studio†is perhaps a bit of a
misnomer as the company had no Bray House or formal studio lot as a permanent
home. Taking a page from the 1945
British classic Dead of Night, transplanted
American producer Milton Subotsky and his mostly stateside partner Max J. Rosenberg
unleashed their first portmanteau horror Dr.
Terror’s House of Horrors in 1965. That film’s success – and its dependable formula – would be tirelessly reworked
a half-dozen times with such subsequent entries as Torture Garden (1967), The
House That Dripped Blood (1971), Asylum
(1972), Tales from the Crypt (1972), and
The Vault of Horror (1973).
In an interview with Gary Smith, the author of Uneasy Dreams: the Golden Age of British
Horror 1956-1976, producer Rosenberg revealed that it was the studio brass
at Warner Bros. who actually approached them one last time to make From Beyond the Grave. When the completed film was finally delivered
to them, Rosenberg recalled “the executives at Warner Bros. hated it†with the
studio declining to even release it. In
a prudent business move to minimize the financial losses of both parties, the
savvy Rosenberg arranged to retrieve for Amicus the sole rights to the film. It was then that Subotsky and Rosenberg were
able to negotiate a mutually less-risky, cost-saving distribution deal with
Warner Bros.
To be fair, I suppose one can sympathize with the
reservations expressed by the Warner executives as From Beyond the Grave (1974) is a somewhat pedestrian entry. The bloom was already off the rose for this
particular sort of production, and the already struggling British film industry
was still in the midst of battling up from the mat. To make matters even more trying, by the mid-1970s,
interest in the two-decade long reign of stylish, stiff-lipped and sometimes
winking British horror films was clearly on the wane. The horror film zeitgeist had moved back to
the U.S. with audiences now grappling with dark devil-worshipping blockbusters
as Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist. Not to mention the indie-film slashers who
were waiting in the wings for their own bloody turn.
But there was no crystal ball to see the end was near in
1973, so the machine continued to grind. Amicus was not above pinching talent – especially more recognizable old-school
on-screen talent as Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee – from Hammer Films Inc. The folks at Hammer were Amicus’s most famous
rival in the British horror industry, and non-trainspotting fans could – and
often did - misidentify their films as genuine Hammer productions. While the formidable Christopher Lee was cast
in such Amicus productions as Dr. Terror’s
House of Horrors, The House That
Dripped Blood and the Jekyll and Hyde pastiche I, Monster, it was – unquestionably – his professional contemporary
Peter Cushing who would provide the studio its principal marquee value.
Cushing would appear in no fewer than thirteen Amicus
productions 1965-1976 and he, more than anyone, would become the most public
face of the company’s acting troupe. Likewise, director Freddie Francis who had helmed such horror and
psychological terror films as Paranoiac,
Nightmare, The Evil of Frankenstein and Dracula
Has Risen from the Grave for Hammer between 1963 and 1968, would bring to
Amicus that studio’s recognizable flourish and attitude to his new assignments
for Subotsky and Rosenberg.
The four short stories woven in the creation of From Beyond the Grave were collected
from the ghost and horror tales spun by the British author R. Chetwynd-Hayes:
“The Gate Crasher,†“An Act of Kindness,†“The Elemental†and “The Door.†I can’t comment on how faithful the film commits
to Chetwynd-Hayes’ original stories as I have not yet had the pleasure of
reading through his collected works. What I can say is that the four tales presented here aren’t particularly
suspenseful or mysterious… though there is, I suppose, enough atmosphere
sprinkled about to keep one interested throughout the film’s ninety plus
minutes. Peter Cushing likely enjoyed
only a day or two of work on the film, his contribution limited to a bit of sketchy
shop-keeping – and episode bridging - at the alley storefront of his macabre
antique parlour Temptations Ltd. The
four tales woven are really minor morality plays that end with unforgiving Old
Testament judgments. Nearly every
duplicitous customer who scams the elderly Cushing gets… well, what they
deserve.
The problem is that the stories chosen for the adapted screenplay
courtesy of Robin Clarke and Raymond Christodoulou are not a particularly
compelling or interesting. For the
earlier Amicus anthologies, Milton Subotsky dutifully combed for ghoulish material
through the grotesquely entertaining stories that appeared in the pages of the
schlocky E.C. Comics. Though Subotsky
was not, even by the account of co-producer Rosenberg, a particularly good
writer, he still managed to successfully capture some of the demented E.C.
Comics spirit in these earliest productions. Freddie Francis, who would go on to direct no fewer than nine films for
Amicus, was impressed by Subotsky’s “passion and perseverance†for the movie
business, but rued matter-of-factly in his own memoir that the producer, ultimately
and alas, “wasn’t very good at making them.â€
Subotsky was, without question, better at attracting
talented writers. The anthologized stories
and screenplay of Torture Garden, The House That Dripped Blood and Asylum were all penned by Robert Bloch,
the author of such psychological thrillers as Psycho and a score of science-fiction and horror based short
stories. The Chetwynd-Hayes stories
featured in From Beyond the Grave are
more brooding than many of the more comic-book style Amicus predecessors, so,
consequently, they’re also far less fun. Having said that, this film’s third entry “The Eternal†was no doubt designed
to counter the morbid seriousness of the other three episodes, the tale coming
off nearly as an outright comedy disguised as a tale of supernatural
possession. Many fans consider the
film’s final tale, “The Door,†as the best of the lot. I suppose it is, but perhaps only in
comparison to the film’s other entries.
There are the usual fine performances by the assembled
company of acting professionals, and they do their level best with the material
given them. The most memorable turns in
front of the camera are those of the ladies. The pale-faced Angela Pleasence, daughter of Donald, is otherworldly
weird in her portrayal as the unlikely black-mass-candle-lighting-timid-voodoo-priestess
Emily Underwood. British stage actress Margaret
Leighton, in contrast, is delightfully over-the-top as “Clairvoyant
Extraordinaire†Madame Orloff… even if I confess that I found her particular
episode the least successful of the four.
For all my criticism here, I am an unapologetic fan of
these Amicus anthologies. My most recent
viewing of From Beyond the Grave on
this brand new Blu-ray from the Warner Bros. Archive Collection will likely not
be my last. Though not up to Amicus’s
usual standards – The House that Dripped
Blood, Asylum and Tales from the Crypt remain my personal
favorites – you could still do a lot worse than watch this film with the lights
down on some dark and stormy Saturday night. Presented here in 1080p High Definition with a 1.85:1 screen ratio and
DTS-HD Master Audio, this release offers no special features other than the
original theatrical trailer and the option of removable English-subtitles.The disc is region-free.
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