With my circadian clock clogged with up snot I'm not sleeping when I should. Hence I was up late last night nursing my cold, drinking more hot tea and watching more old films, horror films; Amicus anthologies to be exact, those Seventies-set competitors to Hammer's more gothic output.
The first I watched, Tales from the Crypt, is one I associate totally with my older brothers when they were teenagers in the early 1970's. Advertised in the newspaper at the time, along with all the other films on, they saw it at one of the three cinemas in Preston town centre at the time: ABC, Odeon or Ritz. I was a mere boy of 10 when Amicus released Tales from the Crypt in 1971, a classic 'X' for 18's only.
An earlier American generation, nearly twenty years earlier, would have enjoyed the original EC comic it was based on but I don't think I knew about EC then. Creepy and Eerie were the US imports of note at the time. Maybe my older brothers had heard of EC, I don't know. Nowadays, I'm pleased to say I have a few EC reprints keeping my Warren's company.
Amicus's Tales from the Crypt is that wonderful thing and perfect Christmas fayre; a selection box with something for everyone: Joan Collin's raving Santa, the monkey's paw-styled Death on a motorcycle, Ian Hendry's late crash victim, the amazing Blind Institute story and of course Grimsdyke the binman's story is simply fabulous and so well made.
But my personal favourite is And All Through the House, the first story and the one set on Christmas Eve. I adore this nostalgic tale starring Joan Collins and the ubiquitous Chloe Franks. The contemporary 1970's set reminds me so much of my parents' house; the Xmas tree, the cards, the decorations and the Seventies décor such as the big radio playing carols, the huge chunky nail-art style pictures and of course the massive transparent cigarette lighter that needed two hands! Its so evocative I can almost touch my past and step right into it, which is indeed a storyline in another portmanteau!
I won't spoil it, although I imagine everyone reading MC will have seen Tales from the Crypt. Needless to say, as in the original EC comics, cardinal sinners, especially the greedy ones, are punished ruthlessly and their just desserts dished out with a very large hammer indeed ... or a spade ... or a sword!
I will say that watching And All Through the House was the start of this year's Christmas for me last night, such is its nostalgic power every year.
I couldn't locate Crypt's Amicus stablemate Vault of Horror immediately but eventually found it for free on You Tube, but therein lies another tale ..., five!
Do you like Tales from the Crypt? What's your favourite segment? Do you have any EC comics?
I love all of the Amicus anthologies, but Tales from the Crypt might be my favorite. A good horror tale, told well in under twenty minutes, is about my attention span nowadays! SFZ
ReplyDeleteYes, the anthologies do have that quality SF I agree, short compact stories that get the job done quickly. My Missus noticed, whilst enduring Tales from the Crypt, that there always a moral. I reckon its often the same one: Be Greedy at your Peril! In the post-war Mid-Fifties when EC were at their height perhaps greed was frowned upon by your average American? A sentiment that still holds true I would say. Certainly here in the UK, although the Xmas TV ads can range from the subjects of abject poverty to food excess in the same half-minute!
DeleteThanks for the reminder about Tales from the Crypt as I couldn't remember which movie had Highgate Cemetery in its opening credits. That's all I remember about the movie other than I think it was the last time I saw actor Richard Greene, TV's Robin Hood on screen.
ReplyDeleteI grew up near Highgate Cemetery and sketched there often never finding it as 'spooky' as others claimed, that is until this movies opening credits with organ(?) music playing.
Richard Greene plays a good part in Tales Terran, the beleaguered tycoon. I adore his red Jensen Interceptor! I hadn't realised it was Highgate to be honest. There's a famous Hammeresque columned mausoleum entrance there isn't there? Maybe that's in the film - I'll keep an eye out next time. A friend of my wife and I took us round the cemetery in the mid-1980's. He lived in Barnet or Mill Hill, maybe that's close by. I know my older Brother visited it when he worked for the Met and lived in East Finchley in the late 1970's. There's a similarly gothic cemetery in Bradford called Undercliffe. Do you still have any of your Highgate sketches?
DeleteI watched 'Tales' in the middle of the night on You Tube. What a gem and throwback with actors who were ubiquitous in the 60's and 70's like Barbara Murray. Not to mention Ralph Richardson as the Gate Keeper. I do think the demise of Richard Greene playing against his usual roles was my favorite.
DeleteThe Highgate Cemetery sketches were before college so not sure if I still have any. I hasten to add once the credits are over and they're walking underground it's a studio set!
The mausoleum it the central element that makes the place 'spooky'
Barnet, Mill Hill and East Finchley are just a few miles from Highgate.
In the middle of the night Terran? You sound like me! Is it Highgate were Karl Marx is buried?
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