An early anthology movie from Amicus, Dr. Terror's House of Horror's is certainly not their best effort at this kind of thing. But with a great cast including Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Donald Sutherland and Roy Castle, there is still plenty to enjoy about this silly-but-fun offering.
Five men on a train are joined by a mysterious fortune teller by the name of Dr. Schreck (which, literally translated, is Dr. Terror). One by one Dr. Schreck reads his Tarot cards for the men, and reveals what the future holds for them.
Each story has a fantastical or supernatural twist and the whole thing is wrapped up with a ridiculous ending in which it is revealed that all five men are already dead, having been killed in a train crash (which of course, makes a mockery of Dr. Terrors 'predictions' which we have just witnessed). And Dr. Terror turns out to be none other than Death himself!
Freddie Francis takes the five rather pedestrian tales and injects them with enough energy and stylish visuals to make them rather enjoyable. Despite (or maybe because of) some rather camp moments and a really bad German accent by the great Peter Cushing, Dr.Terror's House of Horrors is certainly never boring.
In the first story, an architect battles with a werewolf on a remote Scottish island. The second, features a killer plant that traps a family inside their house. The third (which is my personal favourite due to the amazingly cool musical numbers), is about a trumpet player (Roy Castle) who regrets his actions when he 'borrows' some sacred tunes he hears during a voodoo ritual. Story four features Christopher Lee as a critic who is pursued by the severed hand of an artist. In the final story, Donald Sutherland discovers his wife is a vampire (this tale has a nice twist ending).
Amicus later went on to fine tune the anthology movie with Tales from the Crypt, From Beyond the Grave and Vault of Horror; whilst these are all better than Dr.Terror's House of Horrors, the movie is still worth giving a go. After all, you wouldn't want to miss the rubber crawling hand attacking Christopher Lee, would you?
Five men on a train are joined by a mysterious fortune teller by the name of Dr. Schreck (which, literally translated, is Dr. Terror). One by one Dr. Schreck reads his Tarot cards for the men, and reveals what the future holds for them.
Each story has a fantastical or supernatural twist and the whole thing is wrapped up with a ridiculous ending in which it is revealed that all five men are already dead, having been killed in a train crash (which of course, makes a mockery of Dr. Terrors 'predictions' which we have just witnessed). And Dr. Terror turns out to be none other than Death himself!
Freddie Francis takes the five rather pedestrian tales and injects them with enough energy and stylish visuals to make them rather enjoyable. Despite (or maybe because of) some rather camp moments and a really bad German accent by the great Peter Cushing, Dr.Terror's House of Horrors is certainly never boring.
In the first story, an architect battles with a werewolf on a remote Scottish island. The second, features a killer plant that traps a family inside their house. The third (which is my personal favourite due to the amazingly cool musical numbers), is about a trumpet player (Roy Castle) who regrets his actions when he 'borrows' some sacred tunes he hears during a voodoo ritual. Story four features Christopher Lee as a critic who is pursued by the severed hand of an artist. In the final story, Donald Sutherland discovers his wife is a vampire (this tale has a nice twist ending).
Amicus later went on to fine tune the anthology movie with Tales from the Crypt, From Beyond the Grave and Vault of Horror; whilst these are all better than Dr.Terror's House of Horrors, the movie is still worth giving a go. After all, you wouldn't want to miss the rubber crawling hand attacking Christopher Lee, would you?