‘Everything that makes life worth leaving!’
The Vault of Horror is a 1973 British anthology horror film made by Amicus Productions. Like the 1972 Amicus film Tales from the Crypt, it is based on stories from the American EC Comics series written by Al Feldstein. The film was directed by Roy Ward Baker (The Vampire Lovers; Scars of Dracula; Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde) from a screenplay by Milton Subotsky.
None of the stories are actually from Vault of Horror comics. All but one appeared in Tales from the Crypt, the exception being from Shock SuspenStories.
The film is also known as Vault of Horror, Further Tales from the Crypt and Tales from the Crypt II.
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Cast:
Terry-Thomas (The Abominable Dr. Phibes; Dr. Phibes Rises Again), Dawn Addams (The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll), Denholm Elliott (To the Devil a Daughter; Hammer House of Horror), Curd Jürgens (The Sleep of Death), Tom Baker (The Mutations; Doctor Who), Michael Craig (Inn of the Damned; Turkey Shoot), Daniel Massey (Shadows of Fear; The Cat and the Canary) and Anna Massey (Frenzy; Haunted).
Framing Story
Five strangers board a descending lift, one by one, in a modern office block in London. They reach the sub-basement, though none of them have pressed for that destination. There they find an elaborately furnished room which appears to be a gentlemen’s club. The lift door has closed and there are no buttons to bring it back, nor any other exit. Resigned to waiting for help, each tells of a recurring nightmare…
Midnight Mess (Tales from the Crypt #35)
Harold Rodgers (Daniel Massey) tracks his sister Donna (Anna Massey) to a strange village and kills her to claim her inheritance. After settling down for a post-murder meal at the local restaurant, he discovers the town is home to a nest of vampires…
The Neat Job (Shock SuspenStories #1)
Obsessively neat Arthur Critchit (Terry-Thomas) marries Eleanor (Glynis Johns), a young trophy wife who is not quite the domestic goddess he hoped for. His constant nagging about the mess she makes eventually drives her mad. Upon his shouting at her, “Can’t you do anything neatly?”, she kills him with a hammer and cuts up the corpse, putting all the different organs into neatly labelled jars.
This Trick’ll Kill You (Tales from the Crypt #33)
Sebastian (Curd Jürgens) is a magician on a working holiday in India, where he and his wife are searching for new tricks. Nothing impresses until he sees a girl (Jasmina Hilton) charming a rope out of a basket with a flute. Unable to work out how the trick is done, he persuades her to come to his hotel room, where he and his wife Inez (Dawn Addams) murder her and steal the enchanted rope. Sebastian plays the flute, and the rope rises; Inez climbs it, only to disappear with a scream…
Bargain in Death (Tales from the Crypt #28)
Maitland (Michael Craig) is buried alive as part of an insurance scam concocted with his friend Alex (Edward Judd). Alex double-crosses Maitland, leaving him to suffocate. Two trainee doctors Tom (Robin Nedwell) and Jerry (Geoffrey Davies) bribe a gravedigger (Arthur Mullard) to dig up a corpse to help with their studies. When Maitland’s coffin is opened, he jumps up gasping for air…
Drawn and Quartered (Tales from the Crypt #26)
Moore (Tom Baker) is an impoverished painter living on Haiti. When he learns that his work has been sold for high prices by dealers and critics who told him that it was worthless, he goes to a voodoo priest and his painting hand is given voodoo power; whatever he paints or draws can be harmed by damaging its image. Returning to London, Moore paints portraits of the three men who cheated him, and mutilates them to exact his revenge…
When the story of the final dream is told, the five ponder the meaning of their nightmares…
Reviews:
“All in all, The Vault of Horror contains enough to warrant repeat viewings. Whilst it is sometimes a product of its time and the film’s twist can be seen from space, it has that strangely comfortable feeling you only get from the output of companies like Amicus and Hammer Horror. It’s like settling down into a cracked leather chair next to a roaring fire with a glass of brandy. It just seems to work.” John Noonan, HorrorNews.net
“Vault of Horror is a great anthology – more camp than Asylum or Tales from the Crypt, but infinitely more enjoyable than the turgid Torture Garden. A surfeit of 70s locations, some great character actors, and a healthy dose of humour don’t hurt, either.” British Horror Films
“Whereas Francis often managed to inject some atmosphere into his Amicus omnibus movies, Baker’s flat direction can’t overcome the lengthy and plodding expository scene, making this the least interesting of the series in spite of the excellent photography and Tony Curtis’s pleasing sets.” Phil Hardy (editor), The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror
“Art direction, music and photography are all uniformly impressive, and Roy Ward Baker pulls the directional strings with consummate professionalism. Added to this is a smart line in grim humour (and an amusing in-joke that sees Michael Craig flicking through the paperback tie-in to Tales from the Crypt), which at times succeeds in achieving a little of the EC Comics style…” Allan Bryce, Amicus: The Studio That Dripped Blood
“The first story is the most memorable and Glynis Johns does a wonderful comic turn in the second. The rest of the film has little to offer in the way of thrills.” Gary A. Smith, Uneasy Dreams: The Golden Age of British Horror Films, 1956-1976
” … director Roy Ward Baker goes through the paces in a somewhat workmanlike manner, relying mostly on the writing, editing and performances to carry the stories, with minimal instances of clever staging or stylised atmosphere. This is all the more unfortunate when Baker actually does flex his directorial muscles, as these snippets of visual inspiration call deeper attention to how flat the rest of the film often is. Having said that, it’s still worlds more stylish than Freddie Francis’ uncharacteristically flat direction in most of Crypt.” Mitch Davis, Ten Years of Terror: British Horror Films of the 1970s
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Cast and Characters:
- Daniel Massey as Harold Rogers
- Terry-Thomas as Arthur Critchit
- Curd Jürgens as Sebastian
- Michael Craig as Maitland
- Tom Baker as Moore
- Anna Massey as Donna Rogers
- Glynis Johns as Eleanor Critchit
- Dawn Addams as Inez
- Edward Judd as Alex
- Denholm Elliott as Diltant
- Robin Nedwell as Tom
- Geoffrey Davies as Jerry
- Terence Alexander as Fenton Breedley
- John Witty as Arthur Gaskill
- Jasmina Hilton as Indian Girl
- Ishaq Bux as Fakir
- John Forbes-Robertson as Wilson
- Maurice Kaufmann as Bob Dickson
- Arthur Mullard as Gravedigger
- Mike Pratt as Clive
- Marianne Stone as Jane
- Erik Chitty as Old Waiter
- Tommy Godfrey as Landlord
- Jerold Wells as Waiter
Choice dialogue:
Maitland (Michael Craig): “There’s no money in horror.”
Filming locations:
Millbank Tower, London, England
Sheen Lane, Richmond-Upon-Thames, Surrey, England
(Where Tom Baker’s character, Moore, hails a taxi)
Twickenham Studios, London, England
Beyond the Vault of Horror:
There is a shot, apparently from the original closing sequence, in which the characters walk to the graveyard with dead, skeletal faces. It may be that this shot has been lost, or was deemed too crude, edited out and used for publicity purposes only. Does anyone know?
Trailer:
