By Geno McGahee
Five strangers occupy an elevator and all get off in the basement of a building. When they turn around, they realize that the elevator door is now shut and there are no buttons to open it. In front of them is a table with five chairs. They all decide to take a seat and make the best of the situation. That is when they begin to discuss the recurring dreams that they were having. Yes, this is an anthology, and a very good one.
Midnight Mess
Rogers (Daniel Massey) begins the conversation with the recount of his dream. It begins with Roger tracking down his sister after the death of his father. In his dad’s will, he left everything to his daughter, Donna (Anna Massey), which infuriated brother Rogers. He enters the town and realizes that something is strange. The restaurant closes before dinner begins, the townspeople warn him of “them” that come out at night, and even his own sister is terrified of this group that emerges at night. Well, Rogers kills his sister and is now in line to get all of the money, but makes the mistake of staying in town and meeting up with the evil of the town and a surprise as well. This is a great tale.
The Neat Job
Critchet (Terry Thomas) is a neat freak. Everything has to be in order, dusted, and as organized as possible. He is so obsessive compulsive that he is driving his wife, Eleanor (Glynis Johns), mad. She tries and tries to put everything in order and make the house clean but it is never good enough. Then one day, she goes out of her way to do her very best, hoping that her hubby would notice and be nice to her, but he erupts believing that it is not clean enough. Well, he drives her too far and she reacts in an amusing way, finally organizing things in a way that he could appreciate.
This Trick’ll Kill You
Sebastian (Curt Jurgens) is a magician and he travels over to India with his wife, Inez (Dawn Addams), in search of some new tricks. He easily exposes the most popular magic man of the town, but the comes across a trick that he cannot figure out. A woman uses a flute to life a magic rope from a vase, much like a snake, and claims that the rope itself is magical. Sebastian cannot figure it out and asks to purchase the rope, but no deal. The couple elect to kill the girl and steal the rope and that’s when it gets weird. A very interesting tale.
Bargains in Death
Maitland (Michael Craig) wants to screw his insurance company by faking his own death and collecting the life insurance money. He takes a drug to make it seem as if he’s passed on, is buried, and awaits the moment to be dug up and split the ante with his co-conspirators. The only problem is that there is no honor among thieves and karma figures into this one, leaving Maitland shit out of luck. This is the weakest tale of the bunch, but it is still enjoyable.
Drawn and Quartered
Moore (Tom Baker), is a painter that has made some very good pieces, but due to three dishonest men, he has been screwed out of a lot of money. He goes to Haiti and meets up with a Voodoo Priest and asks for revenge and is granted it. Now, anything that he paints can be hurt by damaging the painting. So, he paints the three men that have caused himself so much trouble, but he also paints a portrait of himself for some reason and you know that that can’t end well. This is a predictable but fun tale.
The trick ending to this movie is pretty obvious, but this is a really interesting anthology, done well, and keeps you interested throughout. The tales are original and filmed very well. The film has the same feel of the classic anthologies: Asylum and The Monster Club. I really enjoyed this film and I highly recommend it.
Scared Stiff Rating: 7.5/10. A very good anthology.