31 Nights of Halloween Horror - From Beyond the Grave

From Beyond the Grave

97 mins

Dir. Kevin Connor

1974/UK

This year's anthology movie is the last of Anthology movies from Amicus studios.  It was the first directorial feature by Kevin Connor who would later go on to direct Motel Hell.  Let us go inside the antique shop, Temptations Limited and see what offers proprietor Peter Cushing has to offer.

The wrap around story of the four short films deal with people entering the antique shop and taking advantage of Peter Cushing on items they buy wether it is, offering less than it is worth, stealing it or switching tags.  However each person learns there is a price to pay for their dishonesty.  In the first story David Warner (The Omen, Wax Work, Time Bandits) underpays for a mirror with a soul trapped inside that possesses David, to bring him blood from victims to release him from the mirror.  The second film star Donald Pleasance and his real life daughter Angela Pleasance, (who you should remember from The Godsend.  Shame on you if you didn't watch it) fulfilling someone's dream in a rather morbid round about way.  The third film finds a man who switches tags on an item and winds up coming home with an elemental (look it up)  on his shoulder.  He calls a psychic to get rid of it for him, but can you ever really get rid of an elemental?  And the final story involves a man who purchases an old gothic door that leads to a room beyond and spirit trapped there that needs to swap souls to be free.

All in all pretty standard stuff here, Peter Cushing looking more sunken in the cheeks then usual due to make-up is his usual great self.  All the stories are well done, short and to the point and everyone pays their dues as happens in these types of movies.  Worth a watch if you like anthology films, which are always fun to watch this time of the year or if you need to watch in segments because you only have 20 minutes to spare.