5 anthology horror films you should seek out this Halloween

Tales From the Crypt (1972)

Before HBO bought the right to Tales From the Crypt, turning it into a series that blended frights with a fair amount of sexiness, the British Amicus Productions decided to make a feature-length anthology film. They enlisted the help of director Freddie Francis, who’d seen success with several Hammer horror films and created a movie that blended the comics’ morality tales with a fair amount of Hammer-esque horror.

All based on EC Comics stories, the film tells of five strangers trapped in a room with the mysterious Crypt Keeper (Ralph Richardson) who proceeds to tell them about how they will die. The film’s most prominent story is “And All Through the House,” about a murderous wife (played by Joan Collins) who offs her husband on Christmas Eve only to have to fend off a maniac dressed as Santa Claus. (Fans of the HBO series will recall this was remade as the show’s pilot episode.) Other stories include a take on W.W. Jacobs’ “The Monkey’s Paw” about a couple trying to find wealth but can’t seem to get their wishes right, and “Poetic Justice,” a darkly disturbing tale about a young man attempting to drive his neighbor (played by Peter Cushing) to suicide.

These stories would later translate to the television series in some way, but there’s nothing that compares to the elegance of this 1972 original.

Rent on Amazon.

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