Good start, but then it gets ruined

Best movie of this year hands down!

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

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

I'm a big fan of the horror anthology film in general. I'm an especially big fan of the ones made by Amicus. This is the second of their portmanteau films, following Dr. Terror's House of Horrors. This isn't their best but it's still entertaining. It's written by Robert Bloch and directed by Freddie Francis. There are four stories plus the linking/wraparound story. The first story is "Enoch," about a no-account who causes the death of his uncle while trying to extort money from him. Later he discovers the bizarre source of his uncle's wealth: a telepathic cat named Balthazar with a peculiar appetite. A weird but unique tale. The next story, "Terror Over Hollywood," is the weakest. An ambitious (and unlikable) actress discovers the secret of how movie stars stay so youthful-looking. Lame. The third story is "Mr. Steinway," about a reporter who becomes involved with a concert pianist. Too bad his piano is the jealous type! A little silly but fun. Finally, there's "The Man Who Collected Poe," which is about two Edgar Allan Poe collectors (Jack Palance, Peter Cushing) and the extremes they go to for the sake of their obsession. This is my favorite story in the film.The linking story has a sideshow showman named Dr. Diablo (Burgess Meredith) taking five people into a back room where they get to see their future. This leads into the other stories and finishes the movie with the expected twist about Diablo that, while amusing, will surely surprise no one. The best stories are the first and the last but the linking story is fun in its way, due to Burgess Meredith's performance. As I said, this isn't one of Amicus' better horror anthologies but it isn't bad either. The segments are interesting and feel fresh, not just rehashes of older stories. It's a good time-passer.

Entering a carnival attraction, five customers enter and have a carnival barker reveal their futures, hoping it will help them mend their ways.The Good Stor(ies): Enoch-Summoned out to meet him, a man finds his nearly-dead father hoarding cash, but before he reveals the location, passes on. Spending the night before the funeral, he searches the house systematically for the treasure, eventually finding it in the basement guarded by a devilish cat intent on seeing how far he will go to earn it. This was a highly enjoyable tale that really works. The Gothic atmosphere in the basement, with it's dirt-covered surroundings, coffin and the design of the rooms, are all fantastic and the interplay with the cat is fun. It's the greatest part, as the torture is fun and unnerving, with the final resolution to it all quite chilling. The murders are relatively bloodless, except for the last aftermath shot, but are rather brutal in execution and overall it's quite enjoyable.The Man Who Collected Poe-Meeting at an auction, two friends find a shared bond over a love of Edgar Allen Poe's work. Taking up an invitation to visit his house, he shows him his collection of Poe memorabilia, including many rare and hard-to-find pieces. When he's shown completely new and unknown works, he questions where they came from and finds an answer he wasn't expecting at all. This was a great way to end it all, with a strong showing that works well in here. The love affair is really shown through, with the basement scenes being absolutely prime material. Despite feeling entirely creepy on it's own, there's a big feeling to it that comes from how the artifacts are displayed out, and it's just a strong segment. The ending is Gothic horror at it's best, with the dusty bookshelves, littered surroundings, candle-lit passageways and the creepy realization of what's going on, ending in a climatic blaze with an absolute blast of a twist. This is a rather fantastic segment.The Bad Stor(ies): Terror Over Hollywood-Struggling to break into the movies, an actress and her roommate try to further her acting career with an important dinner. Accidentally ruining her chances, she goes out on the dinner instead and is offered the role, only for the original leading man to wind up murdered. When he returns to the film without a scratch on him, she discovers the real reason why stars never seem to age. There's really only a few moments of horror, all of which are contained at the end with the revelation about what's going on. Once they return to the set, it's all quite good, but unfortunately, what happens before is utter boredom brought about by the dullness of the rest of the segment showcases to set up it's twist. This has been done better in other segments, and is easily skip-able.Mr. Steinway-Arriving at his house, a woman finds that a reclusive piano prodigy is just as smitten with him as he is with her, despite his reluctance to spend time together. Rubbing off the feelings, they continue to see each other only to keep getting the feeling that something is wrong. Blaming it on the piano, she refuses to believe it until it starts to prove his stories true. There's again very little to like here, most of which is based around the final piano attack, which here is really incredible and well-done. The rest of the segment, though, is merely too short to mean anything or done in a haphazard way. The central idea is laughable and consists merely to find ways of getting the piano lid to slam loudly, which is all the segment has. Easily skip-able.Today's Rating/PG-13: Violence.

'Torture Garden' ( 1967 ) doesn't feature a garden, much less any torture. It was the second horror anthology produced by Amicus following 'Dr.Terrors House Of Horrors' ( 1964 ), inspired by the Ealing classic 'Dead Of Night' ( 1945 ). Whereas the former movie was scripted by co-producer Milton Subotsky, 'Garden' was based on stories by Robert Bloch, author of 'Psycho'. A group of assorted people visit a macabre fairground attraction - 'Torture Garden' - where they meet 'Dr.Diabolo' ( Burgess Meredith ), an odd little man who promises to reveal their futures to each of them in turn. All they have to do is stand before a waxwork of Atropos - The Goddess Of Destiny ( Clytie Jessop ) - and all will be revealed.Colin Williams ( the excellent Michael Bryant ) murders his rich uncle Roger ( Maurice Denham ) and is then plagued by a strange cat called Balthazar which keeps ordering him to kill.Sexy aspiring starlet Carla Hayes ( Beverly Adams ) uncovers the existence of a secret Hollywood elite - movie stars who have preserved their good looks by being turned into robots by Dr.Heim ( Bernard Kay ). Rather than kill her to keep her quiet, Heim gives her the same treatment.Dorothy Endicott ( Barbara Ewing ) becomes secretary to a world-famous pianist ( John Standing ), only to fall in love with him, incurring the wrath of his deceased mother who has been reincarnated - if you can believe this - as a piano.Ronald Wyatt ( Jack Palance ) is an avid book collector, in particular the works of Edgar Allan Poe. He visits fellow collector - Launcelot Canning ( Peter Cushing ) at his Maryland home, and finds a veritable shrine to the late author ( I bet Canning has copies of the Roger Corman/Vincent Price A.I.P. movies stashed away somewhere ). Finding unpublished works on modern paper, Wyatt demands to know where they came from. The answer is startling. Canning has managed to resurrect Poe from the dead...Once the stories are over, there is a final twist concerning the true identity of Dr.Diabolo.This is not a bad collection, at times it resembles the Hammer television series 'Journey To The Unknown'. As is usually the case in movies such as this, the stories themselves are a mixed bag - the first and last ones are the best, while the third is absolute rubbish ( if you can restrain yourself from laughing as Barbara Ewing is murdered by a piano, you're made of stronger stuff than I am ). Story number two is 'Twilight Zone' style science fiction, and sticks out like a sore thumb. The last one is my favourite, with Palance hamming it up as a man obsessed with Edgar Allan Poe. You can feel his envy as Canning shows him round his private collection. Cushing is, as ever, excellent. And good old Penguin himself ( Burgess Meredith ) is always watchable.'Atropos' appears in all four stories - keep an eye out for her.Bloch wrote two more movies in similar vein for Amicus - 'The House That Dripped Blood' ( 1970 ) and 'Asylum' ( 1971 ).

TORTURE GARDEN is the second in a series of seven Amicus horror anthologies. If THE MONSTER CLUB is included as part of the series, this would make eight movies. Although, that movie is very different from the others.I look upon the Amicus anthologies with great memories as I used to love them when I was in my teens. My feelings for them today are just as strong.TORTURE GARDEN is a very misleading title for this movie because there is no torture and no garden.The movie has been unfairly maligned by IMDb users. I will put up an argument in its defence.The linking story in this movie is easily one of the best found in Amicus anthologies. It provides a long but highly interesting introduction that had me hooked from the first moment. Burgess Meredith gives a truly magnificent performance as the sinister showman, Dr. Diabolo. He persuades a group of fairground visitors that he can show them real horror. Four of the visitors have their futures predicted and this constitutes the framework for the stories.The first story sees Michael Bryant as a somewhat opportunistic young man who allows his uncle to die just so he can get his hands on his money. The uncle has a mysterious cat that leaves coins behind every time someone is killed. Bryant ends up going on a mini killing spree to get the money. In the end, he goes crazy and is locked up. He thinks he's free of the cat, but is he? Watch and see. This story provides a solid start to the movie. Michael Bryant gives a great performance as a greedy man who is driven to insanity.The second story takes a very different course to the first. In this quirky tale, Beverly Adams plays an actress determined to find out why other actors manage to stay young. This story is very much maligned. I admit that one really has to suspend disbelief when viewing this story but I found it entertaining and Miss Adams looked very glamorous in her part.The third story sees Barbara Ewing as a journalist falling in love with a pianist, played by John Standing. This strange piano with a mind of its own becomes jealous of their affair and decides to do something about it. This is easily the weakest story in the movie. It not only requires suspension of disbelief but is mostly boring to sit through. The end is unintentionally funny but not really entertaining enough to endure the rest of the story for. John Standing is very bland in his role and his performance is flat and lifeless. However, he can't really be blamed for that given the absurd story he has to work with. Barbara Ewing fares better, giving everything she's got, but even she can't save this story.The final story and easily the best puts the movie back on track. Jack Palance is a fanatic of Edgar Allan Poe's work. He meets a fellow fanatic, played by the late great Peter Cushing. Cushing lets him into a secret - Poe has come back from the dead and is writing new stories. The finale of this story is very confusing but interesting to watch. Jack Palance does little more than stand around smoking a pipe in this and the linking story. Another IMDb user has stated on the comments page that Christopher Lee would have been a better choice for the role. I certainly agree with that analogy.Freddie Francis directs the material he is given very well, adding a particularly unique effect at the end of each story. When the transition is made from a story back to the linking story, a pair of scissors is seen and heard cutting a ribbon. This creates the effect of snapping both the character and the audience out of what is presented as a kind of nightmare. Some excellent camera angles in the first story help to make it seem more macabre than it really is. Some intelligent editing is employed in the third story to try covering up its absurdity.Overall, TORTURE GARDEN has its flaws but is a must-see for fans of the Amicus anthologies, fans of other Amicus movies or fans of portmanteau horror movies. If my summary provides the movie with enough appeal in your eyes, check it out. You'll enjoy it!