Tales from the Crypt (1972)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Tales from the Crypt (1972) – F. Francis

With its title drawn from the EC Comics series of the 1950s and its five stories also taken from the pages of that comic or one of its siblings, this Amicus Productions portmanteau film is actually pretty good.  When touring an ancient burial crypt, five people get side-tracked into a secret cave where they are confronted by the Crypt Keeper (played by Sir Ralph Richardson) who then details to them their future deaths, based on his knowledge of their secret (evil) intentions.  So, we are treated to five episodes where the protagonists (including Joan Collins, Nigel Patrick, Ian Hendry, Robin Phillips, and Richard Greene) commit some evil act and then meet with a horrible doom.  Peter Cushing guest stars in a rather atypical role in one of the tales.  And, although some of the acting seems middling at times, the horror is actually pretty memorable and the scenarios stayed with me after the film ended (some of them are quite gruesome in fact).  I’ve seen a couple of other portmanteau films from Amicus that were not as good as this.  I won’t spoil them for you but each one is short and sweet, packs a punch, and doesn’t overstay its welcome.