Boring

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Pete Cushing plays a sinister proprietor who sells cursed objects that wreck havoc on the customers lives'.Decent anthology horror movie that provides legitimate thrills and chills. First, "The Gate Crasher," and fourth, "The Door'" segment provide the best art direction, lighting, set decoration, and special effects. The second segment, "An Act of Kindness," is the creepiest. The third segment, "The Elemental," excels in humor. Donald Pleasance and Margaret Leighton give the best performances in this underrated horror movie.Don't go in expecting too much, it's only anthology horror. "The Gate Crasher" is a little sleazy (similar to "Hellraiser"). "An Act of Kindness" is low quality and a little offbeat for modern audiences. "The Elemental" is more goofy and silly. "The Door"has cheesy moments. In fact, all of the stories have cheesy moments.

4 Weak stories. Cheap. Low budged crap.Instead of 4 stories they should have concentrated on 1 story combining story #4 with #1. The acting all around sucked. The middle 2 stories sucked the worst. Music, cinematography, stories, acting, all crap. Hard to watch. Better luck next time.4 Weak stories. Cheap. Low budged crap.Instead of 4 stories they should have concentrated on 1 story combining story #4 with #1. The acting all around sucked. The middle 2 stories sucked the worst. Music, cinematography, stories, acting, all crap. Hard to watch. Better luck next time.

FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE is one of the best of the Amicus horror anthologies, in that the stories are some of the most inventive and eeriest. It also benefits from an exceptionally strong cast, with at least a couple of famous actors in each and every story giving their all in the interests of horror. It's hard to pick the best anthology when Amicus were making so many good ones around this time, but FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE at least has stories which are all above average with no real duffers. It also contains a brilliantly atmospheric pan through a ghostly green Highgate cemetery while quiet orchestral music plays in the background - great stuff.The first story is basically a variant of one of the tales in DEAD OF NIGHT, except with added '70s-style sleaze and gore. Although not a gruesome film by today's standards (it got a PG certificate in the US actually), for the time it was made this is still a pretty grisly little movie with flowing blood on occasion - just don't expect to see any severed body parts as in THE VAULT OF HORROR. David Warner takes the lead and is very good as the possessed man, and there are plenty of spooky bits to enjoy (like the ghostly face in the mirror and the dream forest, plus some choice dialogue (eg. "come - you must feed me!"). The way that Warner hides all the murdered prostitutes under the floorboards recalls 10 RILLINGTON PLACE and the segment's packed with atmosphere and gritty realism.The second segment is chiefly memorable for its excellent performances by the father and son team of Donald and Angela Pleasence (who also put in a very good spooky turn in THE GODSEND and other movies). Initially they seem to be a kind and charitable people but things turn darker when Angela practises voodoo, creating a doll of Diana Dors (of all people!) and murdering her with it! This is stuff you won't see anywhere else and is highly recommended. Ian Bannen also puts in a good turn as the stuffy Christopher Lowe who is totally suckered by the Pleasences and ends up regretting his decision. Although the cast is great, the story - by once-famous horror author R. Chetwynd-Hayes (upon whose stories the whole film is based) - is also solid, throwing in a nice, surprising twist ending.The third story is the "comic" tale of the anthology, kind of like the Terry-Thomas segment in THE VAULT OF HORROR. Ian Carmichael plays a businessman who finds an invisible elemental living on his shoulder. There's an over-the-top exorcism scene taking the mickey out of THE EXORCIST and a funny performance from Margaret Leighton as "Madame Orloff", clairvoyant extraordinaire. Despite having an unexpected downbeat ending, this is probably my least favourite of the stories.Thankfully, things are once again on top form with the final story, which stars horror veteran Ian Ogilvy as a newly-wed who comes to regret his decision to purchase an ancient carved door. This has some fun, effective clichés to enjoy (the dragging steps coming from behind a closed door), a spooky set of the blue room, and an excellent ending in which Ogilvy discovers that if he "hurts" the door, the evil ghost will also be injured. Thus we have a scene of Ogilvy madly axing a bleeding oak door, classic stuff. This segment also has a brief, cheap Dracula-style death in which the ghost is reduced to a skeleton. I'm a sucker for those.The wrap-around story stars the inimitable Peter Cushing as the "Antique Shop Proprietor", who owns one of the dingiest, dustiest and most genuinely spooky antiques shop you are every likely to see. Cushing is excellent, giving life to his oddball character and enjoying himself in his flat cap, northern accent, shabby coat, and playing with a pipe. He gets lots of darkly humorous lines to deliver ("I hope you enjoy snuffing it") and is great as he chuckles to himself. The finale - in which Cushing is attacked by a robber who discovers he has made a terrible mistake - is also classic stuff. Kevin Connor's direction is pacing and interesting, the stories are all above-average and genuinely creepy, and the cast is brilliant: what more could you possibly want from a horror film?

Great spooky little opening sequence, almost on-par with the one from 72's Tales From the Crypt. Okay, having four tales instead of five means that they're all long enough to be well developed and aren't over too soon, but in my opinion none of them are all that good. They're not intolerably awful, but I'm not blown away by any of them either. They all felt a little downbeat and dreary somewhere, and not as if it's the right word to use, 'innocent' as the stories of Tales From the Crypt. Also the essential elements of the classic dark irony and grisly twists seemed to be virtually absent, and that's where most of the fun comes from with anthologies for me. The idea and arc of the first story is interesting, with David Warner's character gradually being exchanged with the ghoulish Mr.Black Arts trapped within the mirror via the bloody sacrificial murders until the cycle eventually begins anew many years later when new owners finally move in who just happen to notice the dusty old mirror which has never been taken down, and "It's séance time!" Man oh man, how campy was that stupid line!? Especially when the second fella says it! The early scene is so chilling when the guy's drawn to the ghostly pier on the other side of the mirror and is approached by the mysterious stranger who looks like he's coming straight from the black mass of Jack the Ripper, and who opens his red-lined cloak to reveal the fearsome array of deadly instruments concealed within! And I've heard the term "The Ultimate" before in an old horror story that I read once. It might've been by R.Chetwynd Hayes, I can't remember. Slightly weak, but a good start. The second story attempts to take the movie to ~strange new places!~ Things were getting artsy fast, and I didn't like where they were going! I didn't enjoy at all the domestic hell situation of the irritating spineless man and his sour frump of a wife who constantly humiliated him in front of his own son! It was too harsh and bitter, I don't need to see that kind of nasty s**t when I'm watching what should be a fun anthology. David Pleasance put in a class act, although I thought he was wasted on such a sorry excuse of a story. And I just found the skulking brain-damaged character that his daughter played to be ridiculous and repulsive. Either her lines were weird or she was saying them weird, but it was like watching an alien! And at the end, when it turns out it was all for the boring kid's sake all along and she cuts the cake and there's a bit of blood, but it's not really gross or frightening because the tone of the story is too damned bizarre.. Gag, nasty fat ogre wife, ugly moon-faced girl, the story's too all over the place for me to take! I'm not too fussy about the third story either. Having it be about some kind of little demon that the audience can't see and therefore must use the imagination with is a novel concept, but it just seemed like a cheap lazy gag to me. I did like the old witchy-woman character a lot, the actress' performance was fun and entertaining, and she made it worth watching. Not good nor bad, just muddled.. Like the great Madame Orloff says "It's a bit of a ruddy mess!" The final story's my favourite as I find it the most atmospheric, and I think the idea of a terrifically ornate door being a gateway to the parlour of an ancient satanist was awesome. And I thought it was really clever how the key to destroying the "Ghost room" as the comically Captain Hook-like villain so apply described it, was by chopping up the door which caused the room to crumble in the impressively done climactic scene. I had a great time with that one, the idea was neat. It's actually the wraparound that I love the most though, such a beautifully mysterious and quaintly foreboding place, so many weird and wonderful things to see... There's a disturbing abundance of puppets and dolls. Brr.. For me the late-great Peter Cushing steals the show as the humble shop keep who's possibly more sly and sinister than he appears. I love seeing him in a rare role where he's using a northern British accent, which was very different from his own in real life, but he made it so natural and completely sincere. He's eerie without even trying to be, and I'm sure that he allows some of the people to cheat him on purpose just so they can be punished by the cursed antiques! He's never all that ominous or threatening at all, but there's still something more subtly going on there. It's an excellent performance, and for me he's the very glue that holds this decidedly uneven picture together which, though greater than the sum of its parts, is thoroughly charming and enjoyable. A very good day to you. "Nay, but I'm defenceless!"