Rish Outfield's reviews
This was a tidy little horror anthology that featured lots of attractive British women, but most importantly, featured Donald Pleasence. He played the head of a mental institution, who takes a fellow doctor on a little tour of four of his patients, telling each one's bizarre story of insanity. They were all well-told and fun, and the ending left me wanting to see more of these tales. Of course, I've been crazy for years.
"Mr. Tiger" was a predictable, but no less fun, tale of a little rich boy who has an imaginary friend, who turns out to be less than imaginary, and more than a little hungry. "Penny Farthing" told the story of a antique shop owner who comes under the spell of a haunted old-time bicycle. In "Mel," my favourite of the segments, a husband discovers a rather hideous-looking tree while jogging and decides to bring it into his home, as a decoration I suppose. His wife (Joan Collins) takes an immediate dislike to the tree, especially when her husband begins to become obsessed with it. It was very well-told, and the twist ending was clap-your-hands surprising. In tyranist's recent review of Dark Places, he mentioned that Joan Collins was never attractive. Well, I had the complete opposite experience while watching this film. Joan Collins was amazingly hot. Who knew? I never knew what the big deal was about in the "Dynasty" days, and even in that best of "Star Trek" episodes, "City on the Edge of Forever," she didn't turn my head. But she was somethin' else in this film.
In the last tale, known as "Luau," an ultra-rich woman and her daughter play at the affections of a visiting ladies man, who turns out to have a slight character defect . . . from time to time, he kills as part of voodoo ceremonies. When the babe rich girl ‘wins' the man's hand, well, she is not only served a raw deal, but is served raw at a banquet that same night.
I'd Recommend It To: some people. British horror, like British humour, tends to distance some audiences. I thought it worked wonderfully here, with an intelligence and a good sense of pace that I really appreciated.