I Watch Films: Tales From The Crypt (1972)

 

Tales From The Crypt (1972)

Five mis-matched strangers are on a tour of the crypts, get lost and meet a mysterious spooky figure. He gives them all a vision of the gruesome ends they face. Joan Collins gets interrupted killing her husband on Christmas Eve. Another character leaves his wife, only to get in a car crash with unexpected consequences. The next hounds dustman Peter Cushing to death, to buy his house. In the next a business man is on the verge of ruin, and his wife discovers a Chinese figurine that will grant three wishes*. And finally a former military man gets put in charge of a home for the blind, where his efforts to economise causes them to seek revenge when one of them dies from illness.

It’s a portmanteau horror film based on anthology horror comics! There’s the odd jarring shift in tone, some have supernatural elements, others don’t. Generally the characters are nasty, and then they come to a bad end.

Watch This: Old school short horror films packaged up in a fun if silly frame
Don’t Watch This: Bad people have nasty things happen to them

* Not only is this The Monkey’s Paw, they directly reference that story, having a bit of very nasty fun with the last two wishes. See also Deathdream.