This horror compendium is hard to find on video but I managed to get a used copy through Amazon. It’s worth getting for those who like this sort of thing.

Burgess Meredith is a carnival barker who entices a number of unsuspecting clients into his side-show to experience their deepest fears. The quartet of stories that follow vary in quality but that is typical of this genre.

The first one, featuring the great stage actor Michael Bryant, who passed away on April 25th of 2002, is by far the best. Bryant brings weight to his role as a killer under the spell of a carnivorous feline that makes for compelling viewing.

The rest of the stories have their moments but apart from an appealing, over-the-top performance by Jack Palance as a fanatical Poe collector in the last episode, there is not much else of note. A word about Palance. He is often maligned as being a ‘hammy’ actor. Maybe at times he is, but he is always memorable. Palance, a Method actor, has played many serious roles including Stanley Kowalski in A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE on stage. He is simply too good to dismiss as ‘hammy’. I’d rather have a so-called ‘hammy’ performance that is truly memorable than some low-key supposedly ‘real’ performance that you forget 20 seconds after you leave the theatre. Oh well, Jack. You’re in good company with Charles Laughton!

This type of film has been done many times before, most effectively in TALES FROM THE CRYPT. I once had the pleasure of auditioning for the renowned stage director Robin Phillips, who as an actor, had appeared in TALES. As I left my audition I said to him ‘By the way, I really enjoyed your performance in TALES FROM THE CRYPT.’ He dropped his head, as if in mock shame and frustration, but had the class to simply say ‘Thank you.’ Although he was obviously not proud of his work in that film I think it’s exceptionally good. After all, the great Ralph Richardson was also in ‘TALES’. Surely he didn’t need the money!

TORTURE GARDEN was produced by Amicus Productions, those great Hammer imitators. All in all, it’s a decent film. Again, I must qualify my recommendation by saying it is a good film for the genre. It’s not exactly great art! But few of us would expect it to be.

Speaking of TALES FROM THE CRYPT, some other horror anthologies you might enjoy are VAULT OF HORROR, DR. TERROR’S HOUSE OF HORRORS, ASYLUM and of course the brilliant 1945 film, DEAD OF NIGHT. All of these titles are available on video, although in the case of VAULT OF HORROR you may have trouble finding it.

VAULT has a terrific scene when the great (and alas, no longer with us) actor Daniel Massey finds himself in a small town that is populated by vampires. He goes into a restaurant to order dinner and finds that everything on the menu has blood in it! When the waiter asks him ‘How do you like your clots?’ the look on Massey’s face is priceless. It’s precisely the sort of horror-camp that audiences like to see in this kind of film.

Jon Ted Wynne