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The
Vault of Horror
(1973) |
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The five stories forming these short stories were based on William Gaines horror comics. An encounter with a town of vampires, a husband obsessed with neatness, an Indian rope trick coming to life, an insurance scam and the obligatory voodoo story make up the vault of horror. Sadly, none of the stories are in the least bit scary or even mildly spooky. They also lack any atmosphere and while the film tries to inject a smattering of black humour the end result is neither funny nor frightening. The stories are more concerned with the nasty side of human behaviour. A brother seeks to kill his sister for inheritance, an obsessed husband drives his new wife to murder, a greedy magician attempts to steal a 'trick' from a fellow magician, a man attempts to fake his own death for an insurance scam and a painter suffers a fate akin to Dorian Grey's painting. The attempt at a chilling end wherein the 5 people sharing their stories find themselves face to face with their gravestones has been done previously and this time round its effect, like the rest of the film, is 'flat'. Amicus was for several years the studio that followed in Hammer's footsteps occasionally using some of the same directors and actors and sometimes doing a good job of recreating the Hammer atmosphere as in parts of their last compendium of stories - Dr. Terror's House of Horror. This time round however, their effort is a tedious one with nothing to raise the film above the very ordinary. Should have remained a comic book.
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