As Good As It Gets

Admirable film.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Amicus Productions' 1972 movie "Tales from the Crypt" is a superior example of the horror anthology film that would become most popular with '80s films like "Creepshow".It's also possibly the best movie that was associated with the "Tales from the Crypt" brand name, though only two of its stories were taken from that comic book series: the other three were from "Vault of Horror".The framing story involves a group of tourists who get lost in some catacombs and meet the Crypt Keeper, who in this movie is about as far from the wise-cracking, shrill voiced zombie puppet from the TV show as can possibly be. He is played by the splendid eccentric stage actor, Ralph Richardson, as a spooky monk.The Crypt Keeper tells the tourists stories about how they may die. A lady, played by Joan Collins, kills her husband on Christmas Eve, only to have her daughter let an escaped mental patient in the house because he's dressed like Santa Claus. A man abandons his family to be with his mistress, but then is involved in a car crash he is lucky enough to survive - or does he? An elderly man, played by Peter Cushing in an unusual, standout role for him, has a smear campaign conducted against him by snobbish neighbours, a businessman finds a Chinese figurine that grants wishes - but at deadly cost - and an incompetent manager of a home for the blind cuts cost for the men under his care, leading them to take revenge.The movie then has a final twist, which I admit I did not see coming.Some of the stories here are quite memorable, particularly the first, with Joan Collins, and the third, with Peter Cushing. The rest may not quite measure up to that standard, but they are never less than entertaining and well put together, meaning that Amicus's "Tales from the Crypt" is one of the best horror anthology films ever made.

During a museum tour, five strangers get separated and lost from the others. Trapped inside a strange tomb, they all meet a mysterious monk who begins to tell them of how they are going to die.The Good Story(s): Reflection of Death-After saying he has to go out for the night on business, a man instead heads out to see his mistress. Deadly tired from a long day of work, she offers to drive instead. While sleeping, his nightmares accidentally force them off the road and they crash. Stumbling away from the wreckage, everyone he meets acts like he is the devil incarnate. Making it back to her apartment, he learns that she survived the accident but became permanently blind. Seeing his face on a picture, he realizes that he is a zombie which wakes him up from his dream. This has to be my favorite of the stories, for the punch-line at the end is so well thought out that it simply hits and hits well. This is the one I don't won't to spoil, and is the main reason why this is a recommended.Poetic Justice-After spying on his neighbor, a man is appalled at how well like he is by all the neighborhood kids and frames his dogs digging up a neighbor's roses. After further acts of hatred against him leave the man even more humiliated, he simply vanishes on Valentine's Day after suffering his greatest humiliation. Wondering where he is, he goes over to check and see that he has hung himself in the bathroom. On the anniversary of his wife's death, the man returns for his final vengeance. What really sold this one was how well Cushing did in portraying Arthur. He really brought out a certain kindness and sympathy in his role. I not in the remotest a sentimental person for movie roles, but I really did feel a little sad for him during the movie. This was a very real performance, as it was a short story that he appeared in. I can't speak enough about how well Cushing was in this story, and is a major reason for watching this particular one. The story might be a little cliché and can be seen coming a mile away, the supernatural vengeance here seems the most appropriate based on the treatment within, and the finale's pretty tense as well.Blind Alleys-Inheriting a retirement villa, a former Army Major runs it so shabbily that the residents are appalled at their treatment. Deciding to get rid of him, they build a giant tunnel full of razor wires that he has to successfully get through in order to live. Even though it is the longest of the stories, nothing of real importance happens until the very end. This is where the famous still shots of the movie come from, and it is a real famous one too, which means that I won't spoil it for you.The Bad Story(s): And All Through the House-After murdering her husband on Christmas, a woman tries to hide it from her daughter. While trying to dispose of the body, she hears an announcement that a killer has escaped from a mental institution and is on the loose. Realizing that the killer is right outside her door, she tries to hide both the body and herself. After an attempt to break into the house, she finally hides the body in the basement and cleans up the crime scene. After a strange set of keys on the table alerts her that the killer is on the house, who is dressed as Santa Claus, her daughter inadvertently lets him into the house. What ruins this for me is that the Christmas music that is blaring throughout the entire story, while appropriate, is completely intrusive on the rest of the action. Suspense is shattered when music plays during scenes where tension should be. Instead, the happy Christmas sounds take you right out of the moment anything happens. It is, in fact, so loud that all other sounds except for a small amount of other noise is drowned out by it being played at the same volume as well. When she is three rooms away from the radio, we still hear it at the exact same level.Wish You Were Here-In danger of declaring bankruptcy, a man finds a rare Chinese statue on his mantle-piece of acquisitions and learns that the statue is very similar to a monkey's paw. A wish is made for him to come into money, but on the way to receive it, he is accidentally killed. His wife wishes him alive again, but he is in so much pain that he can't stop screaming. Trying to hack him to pieces, she realizes that her wish was for him to be alive forever. What ruined this one was that it really only served to me as a way of introducing a swift punch-line at the end. It never gave me a jump as the other one's did, and I never really felt any emotion other than boredom during this story. It does have a cool gore scene when she hacks him up and we can see his insides, but it is so obviously a set of pig intestines used. It is recommended only for that one cool scene, but it sticks out from the other scenes for its fake-ness.Today's Rating/PG-13: Violence and Adult Situations.

This was the first, and in my opinion, the best of several horror anthologies that Amicus Productions created in the 70s based off the stories from EC Comics. For those not familiar with some of those name a little history. Amicus Productions was a Brit film studio that was the closest competitor to the legendary Hammer Studios, so the movies always felt a great deal similar to the work from Hammer that more people are familiar with in horror. EC Comics really kept horror alive during the 40s and 50s when the studios weren't producing as many horror films by bringing monsters and mutilations to the kids in comic book form. Many of these stories were originals and some were re-workings of popular stories from pulp mags like WEIRD TALES. These stories were so influential that most horror directors for decades to come would point to them as early inspirations. As a result, horror fans often see these same stories reworked in many TV shows and films so much that they feel familiar, but most originated in these comics. Most often these stories involved some reprehensible person who got his "comeuppance" in the end through some ironic twist death. Sorry for the history lecture. I get a bit geeky about this stuff. On to the movie....As with any anthology, there are uneven ups and downs as not every segment is of the same quality. Overall, though, this is an excellent movie that is a lot of fun both for fans of modern horror as well as the old school monster fans.The wraparound story involves the Crypt Keeper introducing these stories to each of 5 people, with a conclusion that gives us one last little twist. There isn't much meat to the wraparound, but it does a fine job of tying things together and bringing some atmosphere and tone.AND ALL THROUGH THE HOUSE is probably my favorite segment. It's got everything you can want; multiple murders, an evil Santa, a sexy as hell Joan Collins and excellent directing. Francis really keeps the dialog to a minimum here and let's the creepy story do the work. I could watch over and over.REFLECTION OF DEATH may be the weakest, but is also the shortest. A character is essentially reliving the same nightmare over and over. There is a typical twist, but only the dullest viewer won't see it coming.POETIC JUSTICE features one of the best roles I've seen Peter Cushing play as it's so different from his usual. It's a heartbreaking story in a lot of ways as he see some neighbors ruin the life of a kind old man. Naturally, he gets his vengeance in the end with some fairly good zombie makeup to boot.WISH YOU WERE HERE is a take on the old story "The Monkey's Paw" which is your basic "you get 3 wishes, use them wisely" tale. There is some flawed logic in the story, which I usually don't let detract too much in a fun horror tale, but mostly it's just dull for not using the premise nearly as fulfilling as it could have been done.Finally, BLIND ALLEYS is the longest segment and a good one. An army officer takes command of a home for the blind and treats his residents all too poorly. As with all EC tales, he is going to pay for his sins, but it's the retribution forced on him by the blind denizens of the home that is worth the wait, though one can't help but have wanted a little more grue.If you've seen the HBO show, you're probably familiar with a few of these stories. Anyone who loves those old horror comics or stuff like CREEPSHOW and TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE will surely enjoy this memorable movie.

Five strangers lose their way while on a tour of a catacomb and find themselves in the company of a strange crypt keeper (Sir Ralph Richardson) who predicts each person's future… or so they think.The five stories are as follows: And All Through The House: Joan Collins plays murderous wife Joanne Clayton, who bashes her husband's head in with a fire poker on Christmas Eve, but gets her just desserts when an escaped homicidal maniac dressed as Santa pays her home a visit. Easily my favourite of the five (and not just because Joan is smokin' hot in this!), the first story offers genuine atmosphere and scares with a really neat twist (admittedly, Joanne misses a trick by not calling the cops and blaming her husband's death on the lunatic in the Santa suit, but she's acting under a lot of pressure). My only real complaint is this one is over all too soon.Reflection of Death: Carl Maitland (Ian Hendry) leaves his wife and family to start a new life with his sexy young mistress Susan Blake (Carry On babe). While asleep in the passenger seat, he wakes from a terrible nightmare shortly before the car careers off the road, in what proves to be a dream-within-a-dream style story. A decent central performance by Hendry and a cool POV sequence makes this one fun despite the well-worn circular nature of its narrative (which dates way back to 1945 when it was used in the classic anthology Dead of Night).Poetic Justice: I first saw tale three as a child, when I sneakily caught part of the film on TV; it gave me nightmares! Peter Cushing plays kindly old man Arthur Grimsdyke who is hounded so badly by his neighbour that he commits suicide (the final straw being a pile of hate-mail delivered on Valentine's Day). One year later, Arthur crawls from his grave to exact revenge. The memorable mouldy reanimated corpse and a classic EC-style payoff makes this one a winner.Wish You Were Here: Enid (Barbara Murray), the wife of bankrupt businessman Ralph Jason (Richard Greene), realises that her Chinese jade statue has the power to grant 3 wishes, but finds that being precise with her words is of the utmost importance. OK, so this is basically a derivative of the classic 'Monkey's Paw' tale, but the ways in which the final wish backfires is so wonderfully twisted that one can't help but have fun with it (I particularly enjoyed the shot of glistening intestines and severed hand—pretty gory stuff for an Amicus film).Blind Alleys: Unfortunately, the last story is also the weakest… Major William Rogers (Nigel Patrick), callous superintendent at a home for the blind who probably wishes he had been a bit kinder when he is forced to take a walk down a narrow corridor lined with razor blades where an even nastier surprise awaits him at the end. This one takes way too long to get going and, just as it looks as though one's patience will be rewarded, it robs the viewer of Roger's grisly demise, making it a bit of disappointment.Fortunately, with four of its five tales of the macabre being above average (or better), this 1972 Amicus production—based on publisher William Gaines' infamous horror comics of the '50s—should prove to be a ghoulish treat for fans of the anthology format.