15 Best Anthology Horror Film Segments
9. All Through The House (Tales From The Crypt, 1972)
"We interrupt this program for a special announcement..."
Joanne (Joan Collins) bludgeons her doting husband to death with a poker on Christmas Eve and begins to tidy the crime scene. Meanwhile, the radio announces that there is an escaped lunatic in a Santa suit roaming the streets nearby, who has set his sights on Joanne's home. Unable to phone the police at the risk of exposing what she has done, all she can do is lock her doors and hide from her intruder, while her oblivious young daughter lays soundly upstairs in anticipation of a visit from the big man in red.
What's great about this opening story is that Freddie Francis never feels the need to over-complicate it. We don't know why Joanne has resorted to murdering her spouse on Christmas Eve (he seems like a perfectly devoted husband to us), and we have little to no information on the fellow stalking her. The set-up and final twist are delightfully simple and predictable without any of the unnecessary fluff, and that is what often makes for a great anthology segment. Just look past the appalling fake blood, and enjoy.