4. Dr. Terror's House of Horrors - Franklyn Marsh
DR TERROR was Amicus Productions first anthology film, and its success resulted in a wave of follow-ups from both the studio and copycats. The villainous Dr. Schreck (Peter Cushing, of course) joins a group of four men (including a disturbingly young Donald Sutherland) and proceeds to use his Tarot cards to predict the upcoming calamities that will result in their deaths. Unfortunately, DR. TERROR doesnt work all that well nowadays. Its cheesy, slow and repetitive and most of the stories have since been done in other, better versions. Heck, CREEPSHOW redoes one story almost beat-for-beat but one-ups it in over-the-top grossness (CREEPSHOW one-ups most things in over-the-top grossness). There is, however, one story from DR. TERROR that stands as a work of cinematic genius that any and all horror fans must see. Now, I assume that everyone reading this site is a sane, intelligent person. And, like all sane, intelligent people, you will agree that EVIL DEAD 2 is the greatest great thing to ever be created in the history of great things. Theres no room for debate on this one. And the stand-out sequence in what is essentially one giant stand-out sequence is Bruce Campbell fighting his own severed hand. Its awesome. Twenty years prior to that benchmark in cinematic history, DR. TERRORS HOUSE OF HORRORS told an evil severed hand story, and it trounces every other segment in terms of atmosphere, craft, chills and knowing black humor. Pushing this segment from good time to MUST WATCH is the casting of Christopher Lee as Franklyn Marsh. Lee appears in the film (but you already knew that. Its a British horror movie, so Christopher Lee WILL appear in it. Its like a law or something) playing an aggressively snooty and hateful snob. Christopher Lee could radiate dignified menace if he was appearing in a three hour long TELETUBBIES and SPONGEBOB slash fiction movie and hes in top form here. He goes so far over the top with the haughtiness of his art critic character, it drags the entire story into camp territory, which makes the craziness involving sentient hands and accomplished artist chimpanzees make way more sense than they should. And when Lee is fighting with the severed hand, you actually believe in the events on screen, such is his command of the screen.
Runner-up: The wrap-around story is better than any of the other stories, thanks largely to more Lee and the presence of Peter Cushing, both of whom get the tone they have to play in a way that no one else seemed to.