From Beyond the Grave

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1. ›'From Beyond the Grave' (1974): Above-Average Amicus Anthology@janenightshade2433d

   *Four horror stories are told in **From Beyond the Grave,** courtesy of Peter Cushing as the proprietor of a curious antiques shop in London.*

   From Beyond the Grave (1974), directed by Kevin Connor; starring Peter Cushing, David Warner, Donald Pleasence, Angela Pleasence, Ian Carmichael, Margaret Leighton, Ian Bannen, Diana Dors, Ian Ogilvy, and Lesley-Ann Downe.

   From Beyond the Grave is one of the lesser-known of the fabled Amicus horror anthologies of the 60s and 70s. Despite being overshadowed by more famous offerings like Vault of Horror, From Beyond the Grave is actually one of the best of the lot. The script is based on stories penned by horror writer R. Chetwynd-Hayes, who also provided the inspiration for The Monster Club (1981).

   Peter Cushing stars as the elderly proprietor of a London antiques shop called “Temptations, Ltd.”, which is located near the famous Highgate Cemetery. The intro to the film is memorable, as the camera tracks quickly through the cemetery while creepy music and muffled sounds play in the background.

   Four stories are told, involving four customers who come into the shop. They consist of:

   The Gate Crasher. First up is David Warner, beloved by most horror fans as Jennings, the doomed photographer in The Omen (1976). He looks very much like Jennings here, in his groovy threads and 70s shag haircut. Warner plays Edward Charlton, a swinging bachelor-about-town, who buys a heavy antique mirror from the old antiques shop. He insists that the mirror is a reproduction and pays the proprietor ten percent of its actual value. When he gets home, he tells a friend that he knows it’s a valuable antique and laughs about how he cheated the proprietor. During a party at his flat, he goes along with a guest’s suggestion to hold a seance, and calls up an evil spirit who lives in the mirror. The mirror spirit takes over Edward’s mind and forces him to become a serial killer. He prowls the streets luring prostitutes back to his flat and stabs them while the mirror ghost watches. Warner is excellent as a man forced to kill against his will and the murder scenes are chilling.

   An Act of Kindness. Next up is Ian Bannen as Christopher Lowe, a middle-aged businessman with a shrewish wife (Diana Dors). He befriends a military veteran, Jim Underwood (Donald Pleasence), who sells matches on a corner near Lowe's office. In order to impress Underwood, Lowe steals a prestigious military medal from Temptations, Ltd. and passes it off as his own. Underwood invites Lowe home for dinner, and he meets the man’s creepy daughter (Angela Pleasence, looking almost exactly like her father). Eventually he spends most evenings at the veteran’s house and starts a romantic relationship with the strange daughter. In the final scene, Lowe learns that father and daughter had sinister ulterior motives for befriending him. This is by far the creepiest and most unusual segment in the film, with excellent acting by the Pleasences and Diana Dors, especially.

   The Elemental. This episode is somewhat humorous, featuring Ian Carmichael (from the great Lord Peter Wimsey series of the early 70s) as another middle-aged businessman. He goes into Temptations, Ltd. to buy an antique snuff box. While the old man’s back is turned, he switches price tags, so that a forty-pound snuff box is priced at five pounds, and buys it at the cheaper price. On the train home, he sits opposite a daffy woman, Madame Orloff, who says she’s a psychic. She claims to see “an elemental” -- an invisible evil spirit -- on the man’s shoulder. He dismisses her as a crank, until he gets home and discovers an irresistible urge to strangle his wife. He later calls Madame Orloff in to clear his house of “the elemental.” While Margaret Leighton is entertaining as Madame Orloff, this is the weakest segment of the film.

   The Door. The final segment brings Ian Ogilvy into the shop as William Seaton, a middle-aged homeowner looking for something to spice up a boring closet in his house. He buys a carved antique door from Temptations, Ltd. The old man turns his back for a few minutes and leaves the cash drawer open, but Seaton doesn’t succumb to the bait. He uses the door to replace an ordinary one, but later finds that when he opens it, he can enter an old room painted blue, which has a sinister vibe. He eventually meets a 17th Century ghost in the room who has evil designs on Seaton’s lovely wife (Lesley Anne-Down). Like The Elemental, this segment isn’t as strong as the first two, but it has some creepy moments and wraps up the anthology nicely. On disc and streaming; a decent copy can be found on Daily Motion if you don’t mind ads.

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