Films That Witness Madness

review

FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE

Reviewing an omnibus film is sometimes difficult. The temptation is to break the film up into pieces and look at it as a mini-film fest, reviewing each one as they come with little attention paid to the experience as a whole. After all, if one goes astray, the whole picture may suffer for it. Or if one is absolutely great while the rest are garbage - I'm looking at you TRILOGY OF TERROR - that one episode may overshadow all the others. You might just walk out with a big, dumb grin on your face even though you spent the first hour of the movie bored to tears. But does that one episode make the whole film worth it? Exactly what are the criteria for success when discussing an omnibus film? Well, I have my own way of doing it, my own mathematical formula that I like to call the SUCKS/GOOD ratio. Brilliant, eh? Fun to say, easy to use!

Now let's apply this ingenious method to FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE, an early seventies anthology of shock from the British masters of the form, Amicus. The story that bookends the film is rather commonplace. Peter Cushing plays the owner of Temptations Limited, an antique shop that specializes in some rather odd pieces - inspiration for Lewis and his Curious Goods shop, maybe? He also doesn't take too kindly to people ripping him off, something several people find out when they wander home with their purchases.

The first customer/victim we meet is Edward - played by David Warner - who purchases an old mirror. One night Edward gets the bright idea to hold a seance and unleashes an evil force in the mirror in the process. Now Edward is a slave to the haunting apparition that returns every night in the mirror. He must kill for it and feed it blood. In no time flat, Edward's place is a shambles, blood is everywhere, and the ghost in the mirror wants him to kill his girlfriend, Pam. Edward refuses, choosing to kill his annoying neighbor instead - good call. That final sacrifice is enough to free the apparition from his mirror prison. Problem is, someone has to take it's place.

We're gonna chalk this one up to SUCKS. The episode isn't given enough time to become much of anything and the flat, crowded apartment setting allows for nothing in the way of atmosphere. Warner is good - as always - but that isn't enough to save it. SCORE: 1/0.

Next up is the story of Christopher, a nothing clerk saddled with an incredibly obnoxious wife and smarmy kid. He meets Jim, a down-on-his-luck ex-service man selling matches and shoelaces on the street. Taking a shining to the old man, Christopher buys a pair of shoelaces, then the next day a pair of matches, quickly forming a strange friendship of sorts. Christopher steals a service medal from Cushing's shop to impress his new friend with and impresses him it does. So much so that Jim invites Christopher back to his flat to meet his daughter, Emily. Christopher is immediately smitten with the strange girl and returns time and time again. Then one night Emily offers to do whatever he wishes her to do and produces a voodoo doll of his obnoxious wife. From there things get really interesting.

This one goes in the GOOD pile. Aside from being clever and wicked, it's also varied and wonderfully acted by Ian Bannen, Diana Dors, Donald Pleasence, and Angela Pleasence. SCORE: 1/1.

The third story is pure comedy with a nasty twist at the end. We meet Reggie, a well-to-do gentleman, as he's swapping the prices on a couple of snuff boxes. But the wily Peter Cushing catches on - even wishing him a fond "Have fun snuffing it!" on his way out the door. While riding the train home, Reggie is accosted by a kooky psychic who tells him he has an elemental on his shoulder. And not just any old elemental. It's a homicidal elemental. A homicidal elemental that scares away his dog and strangles his wife as they lay next to each other in bed, no less. Reggie calls on the psychic, Madame Oloff, and she performs a very weird exorcism of sorts, ridding Reggie of his elemental. Or so he thinks...

Most omnibus films simply can't resist throwing a comedic episode into the mix. Why? I have no idea. This one in particular should have been left out of the mix. It's like Monty Python's The Horla or something. Ian Carmichael and Margaret Leighton plays their roles well but the whole damn thing feels out of place because, well, it is. Another for the SUCKS column. SCORE: 2/1.

The last story concerns a door. Yep, an antique door. William and his wife - or girlfriend, I'm not sure; whatever, she's played by a smokin' hot Leslie Anne-Down and that's all that matters - have the door installed in William's study. One night, the door opens and William discovers that it now leads to a huge, old room. There's a creepy painting of a man on the wall and a dusty old book on a table. William reads the book. It details the author's plans to capture souls using the door as a trap. Wouldn't you know it, the old man from the painting soon makes his appearance and William and his girl become trapped in the room.

Aside from being a tad bit silly - if you had a door in your place that opened into a haunted room, wouldn't you just, you know, get rid of the door? - this is a decent little film. Actor Ian Ogilvy has one of the most hilarious "Holy Shit!" faces in all of British genre cinema but can play the hero pretty well. Leslie Anne-Down used to be quite the looker and the sometimes ingenious set design and camera trickery makes the whole thing seem more grand than it really is. All-in-all, this was a good choice for the closing number. Fast, weird, and genuinely exciting at times. Chuck it in the GOOD pile. SCORE 2/2.

Tie game. That leaves us with the game breaker, folks. The wrap-around. Usually this little bit of film serves as nothing more than filler and here it's no different - see the Ealing classic DEAD OF NIGHT for an example of how this is done right. But the wrap-around for FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE stars the great Peter Cushing. That's GOOD enough for me.

SCORE: 2/3.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner!

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