Starring: Beverly Adams, David Bauer, Michael Bryant, Norman Claridge, Peter Cushing Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Binding: DVD Format: Color, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC Label: Columbia Pictures Number of Items: 1 Region Code: 99 Release Date: October 04, 2005 Running Time: 100 minutes Theatrical Release Date: 1967
Description: A special sideshow torture exhibit has the power, according to showman Dr. Diablo, to warn people of evil in their futures. As skeptical customers are shown the greed and violence they're hiding, one of them snaps and kills Diablo. When they run off, we see the murder to be staged as part of the show. One of the customers has hung around to see this, and wants to make a deal with Diablo, aka the Devil.
The Devil Is In The Details! So pay very close attention to him when he is speaking to you! Too many seem to think that the tales told herein are about a dead witches "cat", a couple of Hollywood "robots", a jealous killer "piano", and a few unknown stories of "Poe" - They are not. Not at all! And Burgess Meredith's trademark verbal underlinings should be a big fat clue to all of the clueless watching, as he lays it all out right from the start! All that we have to do is "Pay The Devil His Due" and give him our complete and uninterrupted attention for a spell. He will tell you all you need to know. For a very small fee... "Yes, my friends. There is no end to man's inhumanity to man." - Dr. Diabolo->
Dr. Diablo is Waiting for you... Here's another macabre anthology from Amicus Studios (penned by "Psycho" novel author Robert Bloch who also wrote the anthology film "Asylum") that is worth a look if only for Jack Palance's unusual performance in the fourth tale. He is at times quizzical, gentle, manic, sublime, refined, and demented. He is all over the place, and it is refreshing to see him let it all hang out. He must have really enjoyed this, because it shows. Pairing him with the great Peter Cushing was a stroke of brilliance. They are both elegant and at the same time edgy and a bit odd. Being a collector myself (for collecting is at the heart of the Palance/Cushing story), this dvd makes a wonderful addition to my shelf of horror movies.
Where Terror and Madness Are In Full Bloom In Torture Garden you won't see anyone whipped with string beans or turnips rammed under fingernails, but you do get a good collection of Robert Bloch horror stories...Amicus style! I like the horror anthology format for movies, it's something we really don't see much of anymore. Torture Garden is quite entertaining, but it falls victim to the same thing pretty much all anthologies suffer from, and that's the fact that not every story is a winner. It must be tough to make all the stories good, but sometimes there's that one or two that tend to fall short. But even the worst of Torture Garden is entertaining. I'd have to say the low point revolves around a homicidal piano. In reality, if a piano was trying to snuff you out, it would probably be terrifying, but in the film world, it's pretty silly. The Mangler should have taught us that homicidal inanimate objects are usually good for a laugh rather than a scare. You can't say it's not amusing though. This film stars Burgess Meredith, Peter Cushing and Jack Palance. As we all know, any movie by one of these actors is worth watching, so all three together is a no brainer. Meredith hams it up nicely as the sinister Dr. Diablo(the devil!!), our ringmaster for the horror stories. Palance is a joy to watch as a Poe collector who gets as giddy as a kid in a toy store when he's around Poe memorabilia. And has Cushing ever given it less than 100%? Nope! Modern horror audiences won't give this the time of day, but anyone who digs British horror of Hammer and Amicus(or reads Robert Bloch) should check this out if they haven't already.
Torture garden Fabulous movie - great performances in the repertory style of their decade.Our favourite - the man who collected Poe;the wonderful Peter Cushing matched against Jack palance, neither sadly still with us.The pot pourri collection of stories is perfect for those who grew up with Creepy tales...and the tying story of old Nick collecting souls contains another stirling performance from dear Michael Ripper who inhabited virtually all horror movies of the time, or so it seemed.
Class Brit horror This film is one of several "portmanteau" films made by Milton Subotsky at Amicus, the British horror studio second only to Hammer during the '60s and '70s.
The interlinking story is about four punters at a carnival sideshow run by the sinister Dr Diablo. They each look into the shears of the ancient goddess Atropos to see what their fate holds. The first story is a chiller about a playboy who rips off his dying uncle and winds up possessed by a homicidal cat. The second story is about a wannabe Hollywood starlet who discovers the horrifying secret behind her co-star's longevity. These first two stories are the slowest moving.
Things really pick up for the third story, in which a grand piano gets jealous of its owner's new girlfriend. The girlfriend is Barbara Ewing, later seen in Hammer's Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968). This segment is brilliantly filmed, with some great shock moments and effective photography.
The fourth story is a gem - Jack Palance and Peter Cushing play rival Edgar Allen Poe collectors, one of whom ends up avenged by the famous horror writer himself.
Palance and Meredith stand out among the cast (and of course Peter Cushing, who never gave a bad performance). A must-have for British horror from that era. If you like the style, Dr Terror's House of Horrors is an earlier Amicus effort in the same genre. Sadly, the latter has yet to gain a Region 1 release.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Tailipoe
Trevor
