Dr. Terror's House of Horrors
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Dr. Terror's House of Horrors is a 1965 British horror film from Amicus Productions, directed by veteran horror film director Freddie Francis and starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. It was the first in a series of portmanteau films from Amicus and was followed by The Torture Garden (1967), The House That Dripped Blood (1970), Asylum (1972), Tales from the Crypt (1972), Vault of Horror (1973), From Beyond the Grave (1973) and Tales That Witness Madness (1974).
Production
Filming began on Dr. Terror's House of Horror at Shepperton Studios on 25 May, 1964 with a budget of $105,000. The script began as a still-born television series in 1948 during the time when Dead of Night was a recent release. Milton Subotsky considered it "the greatest horror film ever"1, and used it as a blue-print for Dr. Terror and the rest of the later portmanteau films. It completed filming on 3 July, 1964 and was released on 5 February, 1965. It went on to become a major hit.Plot
Five men board a train followed by Dr. Sandor Schreck (Peter Cushing). Shreck (German for 'Terror') offers to read their Tarot cards. Each passenger is given a reading and his future, and how he will die, is revealed:
- "Werewolf" — a surveyor returns to his ancestral home to discuss major structural changes, but the new owner is not what he seems.
- "Creeping Vine" — Alan Freeman plays a character attacked by sentient plant-life.
- "Voodoo" — Roy Castle plays a Jazz trumpeter on holiday in Haiti when he hears a voodoo chant, the playing of which is forbidden. Upon his return home he turns it into a hit.
- "Disembodied Hand" — Christopher Lee plays an art critic who badly damages the hand of an artist (Michael Gough) in a hit and run driving accident.
- "Vampire" — Donald Sutherland plays a young doctor returning to his home town with his new perverse bride, who turns out to be a vampire.
Footnotes
1. Quoted in John Brosnan's The Horror People, London, 1976.References
External links
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