From Beyond the Grave (1975)

the leading man is my tpye

Highly Overrated But Still Good

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Out of all the horror anthology films, this one like a class by itself "Tales From the Crypt" had mostly the gore and "Tales From the Darkside" has its subtle nature. For "From Beyond the Grave", this says it all. When 4 different customers come to the antique shop, 3 of them meet their fates when they cheat out the proprietor(Peter Cushing). One man (David Warner) buys a mirror by conning the proprietor, and pays a high price when he held that seance. The second customer(Ian Bannen) is a working drone in a joyless marriage befriends an old soldier(Donald Pleasence) by lying to him that he is a soldier as well. He steals a medal from the store. Once he has shown him that, he gets invitation for tea. At the former soldier's home, he meets his daughter(Angela Pleasence). Emily, who is kinder than his wife, Mabel (Diana Dors) has a creepy side to her. She would make a doll that resembles the man's wife. She pierced the doll, blood comes out, and the man would run back to his home to find the wife, truly dead. He marries Emily. Only to end up like the first wife. It appears that the son didn't like either one of his parents. How can you find love when both parties are not loyal to one another? The third one is a very pompous individual. He would switch the prices of a snuff box. On his way home by train, a clairvoyant(Margaret Leighton) annoys him that an Elemental in on his left shoulder. When he gets home, his dog runs off, and his wife is attacked by an unseen force. When he calls the clairvoyant, she exorcise the spirit and all is well. However, it returns and claims the wife, instead. The fourth shopper buys a door with a sinister design. He received a reduced price. Once the door was in place, it would open up to another world. Inside, instead of the stationery cupboard, there was a blue room. When the buyer of the door sees some notes on a table, it belongs to the maker of the door, an evil occultist. The door turned out to be a trap! Both he and his are prisoners in their own home. He was able to grab the axe and destroy the door. Since was the honest buyer, he avoided the disaster the last three didn't. It was a fun movie to watch. It is a must-have for horror buffs. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Milton Subotsky, who first pitched the idea of remaking Frankenstein and Dracula to Hammer films, was the man behind Amicus productions, who became Hammer's main rivals during the 60's and 70's – occasionally eclipsing the success of the larger company.Amicus made many anthology films whereby three or four short stories would be cradled by a framing device. For 'Beyond the Grave' (one of the better portmanteau productions), Peter Cushing plays a curious accented seedy antique shop proprietor. Each item he sells or is stolen has a story of its own … The magnificent David Warner buys a mirror with demonic properties. The way his life is taken over by this magical object is very well conveyed, an inexorable slide into seediness and blood - plenty of blood.The next story features an incredible cast. Donald and daughter Angela Pleasance, Ian Bannen and Diana Dors conspire to create a weird, unworldly atmosphere about repression, hatred, failure and ultimately revenge.Story three is comedic and has Ian Carmichael as the victim of an 'Elemental' which he hopes will be banished by dotty witch Margaret Leighton.Finally, Ian Ogilvy buys a door that leads into another, horrific dimension. It bears too many similarities to the David Warner tale to provide a satisfying finale in its own right.Apart from story three, I would say that all tales are let down by their respective endings. Often, the carefully constructed build-up of atmosphere and dread is completely undone by the obligatory 'twist' which renders events ridiculous. The story featuring Donald Pleasance and his daughter as a truly sinister duo is trounced, for example, by the revelation, that they are professional problem solvers.The framing narrative comes to end with a prospective thief (Ben Howard) wishing he had picked another shop to rob when Cushing's unnamed proprietor causes his demise. Clearly, the shop owner is more than human.

Amicus seemed to like anthology horror movies, this was their last picture in a series of six including the original 'Tales from the Crypt'. The basic outline is as you would predict, the common theme of four spooky tales sandwiched between a bookend plot which is kinda hosted by an eerie narrator type.The main character throughout the whole film is the horror maestro Peter Cushing who plays the owner of a small antiques store in London. One by one customers enter the store for bits of objet d'art but each one wrongs the shop owner in one way or another. Naturally this causes each person to suffer some kind of nasty cruel fate which appears as though the shop keeper may or may not be behind it...or at least knows of their fate.The first tale sees David Warner tricking the shop keeper into selling him an expensive mirror cheaply. When he then holds a seance (as you do) he is visited by a spirit from within the mirror who sort of brainwashes him into killing people so he may materialise and travel 'beyond the ultimate'. This is probably the most curious of the tales and is nicely spooky, not much is explained so you're left to make up your own minds which is cool...sorta. Personally I really wanted to know more about the background but the looping twist in the tale is smart.Up next is a strange one, a nice married man buys some matchsticks from an ex-serviceman (Donald Pleasence) to help him out. He then sees some shiny medals in Cushing's antique shop and wants to impress the serviceman by pretending to be ex-army himself. Unable to buy the medal because a certificate is required to prove you are a real ex-serviceman the man steals the medal. Impressed with the medal the serviceman invites the gent to tea and to meet his daughter (Angela Pleasence). Over time the gent has an affair with the young girl who seems to be some kind of witch. Eventually the kind gent and young girl end up cursing and killing his dominating wife then marrying, but the twist revolves around the gents young boy.I didn't really understand this one, the gent is a nice guy trying to help the ex-serviceman, he's bullied at home by his wife and gets no respect from his son, his life is a misery. It seems he finds happiness trying to mix with the poorer man, yeah sure he stole the medal but it wasn't a malicious act. He just wanted to make the ex-serviceman happy, feel comfortable around him...he just wanted to be one of the lads really, felt sorry for him. The whole thing with the daughter was just weird and ended up making no real sense, very off the wall, I'm still not really sure what she was, how, what her father had to do with it and why the pair did or do what they do.The elemental is based around demons or gremlins perhaps. Another posh well-to-do gent tricks the shop keeper into selling him something cheaper than it should be. On the way home a little batty old witch warns him of the elemental sitting on his shoulder...no one can see this creature but animals, small children and...errr other witches or crazy people. In time things happen that are totally out of the man's control and he seeks the assistance of the eccentric 'Madame Orloff'. I liked this short tale because the idea of an invisible little gremlin type thing perched on someones shoulder like a gargoyle and taking control is cool. I also think the short is boosted brilliantly by Margaret Leighton as Orloff who comes across like a character straight out of a Disney movie like 'Bedknobs and Broomsticks' or 'Mary Poppins'. Must just add that the ending is kinda evil though, the whole thing goes from a quirky olde worlde English country witch casting spells to a much darker place.Finally there is another almost charming ghoulish tale about a young man buying a very old highly detailed carved wooden door from the antique shop. This door of course opens up to another dimension or world where an evil occultist is trying to lure people so he can collect their souls? I think. Again the plot doesn't make much sense and isn't explained too well but its another visually fun tale in that typically old English manner with a large well decorated olde worlde house...suit of armour on display etc...This time the twist ending isn't a gloomy one though, that in itself is quite unique with these films.Overall its a good little collection of horror tales, three I liked with their old school visuals, quirky characters and stereotypically English gents (although not stereotypical at the time of course). The stars add much gravitas to the whole affair, what old 70's horror flick is complete without Cushing?! and on the whole the special effects aren't too bad considering. Charmingly old fashioned whilst not being too horrific, perfect Halloween fodder and great fun.7/10

Peter Cushing is a kindly(?) antique shop owner whose morally bankrupt clientèle gets more than they bargain for with each purchase in this moody, heavily psychological Amicus anthology. Directed, with varying degrees of success, by Kevin Connor.THE GATE CRASHER: David Warner buys a mirror for a lot less than it's worth and pays for it when the ghoul living in it uses him to do his bidding. Featuring a very creepy séance and a standout performance by Warner. It's the scariest of the lot.AN ACT OF KINDNESS: Ian Bannen gets involved with father/daughter act Donald and Angela Pleasence and they prove more than helpful in disposing of his shrew wife (Diana Dors). Bannen is excellent and the Pleasences are really outré. Dors, looking bloated and very blowsy, is a hoot as a lower class housewife.THE ELEMENTAL: In the most comic of the group, Ian Carmichael finds he has an evil spirit (an "elemental") attached to his shoulder. He hires kooky clairvoyant Margaret Leighton to exorcise it. His wife, Nyree Dawn Porter, shows patience and a whole lot more. Carmichael is terrific and Leighton steals the show in very atypical performance. Normally the most restrained of actresses, she's seems to be channeling both Margaret Rutherford and Cruella DeVil at the same time.THE DOOR: The dullest episode features Ian Ogilvy and Lesley-Ann Warren dealing with an especially intrusive ghost living behind the ornate door Ogilvy purchases from Cushing.