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15 out of 17 people found the following comment useful :-
"An underrated horror omnibus from Amicus!", 18 September 2003
Author: jamesraeburn2003 from Poole, Dorset

An underrated horror omnibus from Amicus, makers of such hits as Dr Terror's House Of Horrors (1965) and Tales From The Crypt (1972). All the stories (taken from the EC comics by William Gaines and Al Feldstein) are great fun. These feature Daniel Massey who murders real-life sister Anna Massey for her inheritance, only to walk into a restaraunt frequented by vampires-including his sister! Glynis Johns is driven over the edge by her nagging husband Terry Thomas, whom she kills and dismembers his body neatly putting the body parts into correctly labelled jars. Michael Craig and Edward Judd are fun as two unloyal friends who plan to fake the death of one of them, claim the insurance money and kill the other. However, the most accomplished story is left until last. It's a superb tale about the consequences of Voodoo featuring Tom Baker as an artist who is cheated into believing his work is worthless by three men. While working in Haiti he visits a witchdoctor who gives him power in that whatever he paints will come true. He uses this power to get back at the people who have been profiteering behind his back, but this ultimately results in horrifying circumstances! Often criticised for being a pedestrian production, director Roy Ward Baker's approach to the film is simple but very effective. The tales are played for laughs but at the same time they all have something to say underneath. The professional cast does it's stuff and the whole film is well staged.

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15 out of 21 people found the following comment useful :-
"Strange. Mysterious. Unworldly. Almost unbelievable.", 18 June 2002
4/10
Author: The_Movie_Cat from England

There's something so deliciously cheesy about British horror films from the 60s and 70s. Badly dubbed, erratically edited and with cranky dialogue they're awful yet wonderful at the same time.

Most anthology films seem to take the basic template of the superb Dead of Night, yet fail in two important respects. One is the colour. The 80s may be the biggest fashion disaster, but for home decor the ubiquitous browns and oranges of this era are a horrific mistake to be forever avoided. The other is that Dead of Night's framing story was at least as interesting as the tales that it surrounded. In The Vault of Horror it's just five blokes sat around a table discussing nightmares. The ultimate resolution to this is quite familiar to fans of Brit Horror, and is pretty much identical to similar conclusions in Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965) and sort-of prequel Tales From The Crypt (1972).

The stories themselves don't lend much to narrative tension, given that it's openly stated that they're dreams. Mind you, most of the tales are campy affairs that only pre-PC Britain could have produced anyway. Middle class vampires with their own restaurant chain; a hen (cockerel?) pecked housewife with a hammer fetish; a stereotyped India, replete with sitars and magic rope trick; and Tom Baker as a portrait artist specialising in voodoo. It's the sort of thing ripe for satire, which makes it all the more disappointing that Steve Coogan's "Dr. Terror's House of Horrible" wasn't really very good. The Indian girl with the rope trick is even a white actress (Jasmina Hilton) browned up, for goodness' sake!

The film could make for a good study, as it shows an interesting line in what really frightened middle class Englishmen at the time. Not mummies, demons or Frankenstein's monster. Instead we get misogyny and racial minorities. The fourth story sets itself out from the preceding ones by actually opening strongly - a man buried alive - rather than the somewhat laborious pace of the others. However, it too goes nowhere, and with Arthur Mullard as a gravedigger it's the campest of the lot.

Prize for the best segment then goes to the voodoo art of Tom Baker in the final tale. Punningly titled "Drawn and Quartered", the rankness of this subtitle is only bettered by the first's "Midnight Mess". Not scary, witty or particularly inspired, it's weird because this film is rubbish, yet I really quite liked it.

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10 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
Uneven horror anthology with a strong cast. If you don't expect all that much you should have some fun., 24 February 2004
Author: Infofreak from Perth, Australia

An uneven anthology of EC horror comics stories from Amicus, this time directed by Roy Ward Baker who had worked on 'The Avengers' and was responsible for some of the best Hammer movies ('Quatermass And The Pit', 'The Vampire Lovers', 'Dr Jekyll And Sister Hyde'). Baker had already made 'Asylum' for Amicus the previous year. It was a similar anthology, only based on stories by Robert Bloch. 'The Vault Of Horror' has an even better cast of actors than 'Asylum', but is slightly less enjoyable for me. Maybe it's because there's five stories instead of four, and is therefore a bit rushed in places, but a lot of it has to do with the uncertainty of the tone. Gruesome black comedy is easy to pull off in a comic book, but not so easy in a movie. Well, not in this movie anyway. It's starts off strangely, almost like a Bunuel film. Five strangers (Donald Massey, Terry-Thomas, Curt Jurgens, Michael Craig, Tom Baker) enter a lift which unexpectedly takes them down to a basement. They get out and see a table waiting for them, so they sit and begin to recount nightmares that haunt them. Massey's involves looking for his missing sister, Terry-Thomas plays a newly married neat freak, Jurgens a magician looking for new ideas in India, Craig a man with an ingenious insurance scam and Baker a painter who uses voodoo to punish his enemies. All the stories have their moments but the final one starring Tom Baker (just before he became Dr Who #4) is the most effective. The film is full of well known faces in supporting roles including Denholm Elliot, Glynis Johns, Edward Judd, and even a surprise appearance from Robin Nedwell and Geoffrey Davies from the "Doctor" TV shows, playing yes, medical students. I can't honestly say that 'The Vault Of Horror' is all that good, but I enjoyed it for the most part, and if you approach it not expecting all that much you should have some fun.

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7 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
It can be Deadly to be TOO neat!, 5 August 2000
Author: BaronBl00d (baronbl00d@aol.com) from NC

A great anthology film in the Amicus tradition. Five men find themselves going down an elevator into a huge room(looking like a giant boardroom) where they seem to be expected. Each one has a fear that continually seems to plague him and they relate their fears to each other. The opening lacks the production values and Sir Ralph Richardson of its predecessor Tales From the Crypt as the crypt-keeper sorely, but the stories are all well-done with finesse from cast, crew, and the very able direction of an underappreciated Roy Ward Baker. The first story is about vampires in a small English town, and it is a very tasty vignette. The second story, starring Glynis Johns and Terry-Thomas(both funny beyond belief), is the comedic relief of the film about a man who is too neat who needs to have that point hammered into his head by his wife. For him it is definitely a jarring experience. The third story is about a magician and his wife that kill to acquire a magic trick. Curt Jurgens is very good as the evil magician. A good story. The fourth story is easily the weakest about a man buried alive for insurance. Lastly, the most literate of the stories concerns Dr. Who's Tom Baker seeking revenge on those that have profited on his artwork behind his back. He gets revenge through voodoo. All in all a great deal of fun. As previously stated, be sure to get the uncut version.

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6 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
THE VAULT OF HORROR (Roy Ward Baker, 1973) ***, 20 October 2007
7/10
Author: MARIO GAUCI (marrod@melita.com) from Naxxar, Malta

Fairly good entry in the Amicus anthology cycle, even if none of the stories are particularly remarkable (or original). The premise is also quite simple: five men meet inside an elevator which takes them, irrespective of the floor to which they were destined, to the basement of the building where a table has been set up for them; they gather around and, to while away the time until they're rescued, each recounts a recurring dream.

The cast is fine, as usual: Daniel Massey goes in search of his missing sister (real-life sibling Anna), eventually locating her at a remote village – where, as it turns out, all the locals (including the woman) are vampires!; this may be the most popular episode but also, perhaps, the most disposable (despite the amusingly outrageous fate awaiting Massey at the end) – considering that Amicus had already dealt with the subject of vampires in at least two previous horror compendiums, DR. TERROR'S HOUSE OF HORRORS (1965) and THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD (1971). Terry-Thomas is an ageing wealthy man who decides it's high time for him to marry, but ends up literally driving commoner wife Glynis Johns crazy with his obsessive fastidiousness! Curt Jurgens is a magician on holiday in India with wife Dawn Addams: to show off, he exposes a local exponent plying his trade at the market square; humiliated, the latter plots an elaborate and terrible revenge – with the aid of his young daughter – by intriguing Jurgens with a new trick involving a magic rope.

In the fourth episode, Michael Craig plans to collect his own life insurance (with the help of pal Edward Judd) by faking his own death – the latter, however, has no intention of sticking to his part of the bargain (though he's ultimately not allowed to reap the rewards of his fraud and betrayal). Craig eventually wakes up from a deep sleep in his coffin – terrorizing a couple of intended body-snatchers into the bargain, but himself runs into the wrong end of the graveyard custodian's shovel! This is the shortest episode and, frankly, I was expecting its ironic punchline to be more grisly and drastic! The last segment is the longest and best, if still offering nothing we haven't seen before: a painter (Tom Baker) living a bohemian existence on a tropical island discovers that promoters of the business (including Denholm Elliott as an influential art dealer) had downplayed his talent in order to acquire his stuff cheaply, and then made a pot for themselves by selling it again at the proper value. He turns to a voodoo priest for revenge, who gives him the power to destroy the subject of his paintings – naturally, he draws portraits (from memory and apparently in no time at all!) of his three enemies and has his way with them; what he doesn't know is that, while he's away from the studio, something is about to happen to his self-portrait...

The final revelation is typical of Amicus; while the handling is somewhat pedestrian yet reasonably efficient and the general tone unassuming, this kind of fare has endured by always putting the accent on fun (with the added bonus of star gazing). Incidentally, like its predecessor TALES FROM THE CRYPT (1972), this drew inspiration from the popular EC Comics; as a matter of fact, the film itself was known in some quarters as TALES FROM THE CRYPT, PART II. Having mentioned the latter film, both of these have just been released as a 2-Disc Set DVD by Fox; unfortunately, the print used for THE VAULT OF HORROR (while presented in its OAR, unlike the DivX copy I watched) is reportedly the milder PG-rated edit. There are only a few shots missing but, apart from being awkwardly replaced by still-frames, they actually constitute a couple of delightful reveals and one instance of hardly-shocking gore! Considering the fact that I also own TALES FROM THE CRYPT on DivX and that the DVDs contain no significant extras, I'm content with these versions.

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5 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Great anthology!!! Equally as good as (if not better than) "Tales from the Crypt"., 21 June 1999
10/10
Author: hkchris from Lakewood, Ohio USA

As far as anthology films go, it's hard to beat this one. It's got a great early 70's campiness about it that gets better each time I watch it. It not the easiest film to find (I've only seen it at ONE video store in the midwest US) and if you do track it down on the old Nostalgia Merchant label it's cut. There are quite a few scenes out of place and some cut altogether (most notably the "vampire sequence"). It's too bad Fox couldn't pick this up and distribute it along with "Tales From The Crypt". Overall, I highly recommend this film and suggest getting your hands on a UNCUT Japanese import.

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7 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Great 'little' movie, 30 June 2000
10/10
Author: dubnut

What more could you ask for? This movie shines with a brilliant line-up of actors playing up the script for all it's worth. Directed by Roy Ward Baker, VoH oozes with direction and style (see his filmography). Fans of classic not-too-low-budget horror will appreciate this film, as will anyone with a lust for british films. And Hammer films.

To date, this is the ONLY multiple-story film I can watch more than once. Maybe it's the era bleeding through the screen into my brain, bringing me back to a time when cgi didn't exist and movies held their own magic without having super budgets spewed into them. Maybe it's because Tom Baker, my all-time favourite Doctor, plays a rather scruffy-looking artist with a serious dark side. Maybe it's the memorable soundtrack, oddly orchestral amid the tumult of intrusive moog soundtracks of the period.

As mentioned in another review, get the UNCUT version if you can. If there are kiddies about and you want to frighten them without the (very mild) gore found in most films of today, the edited version will do. It is near-impossible to find a commercial copy of this film in the states, but maybe Cinemax will run it again late at night? Please?

If you see it on a shelf, get it.

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5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Subtle Horror Despite a Couple Hands Chopped Off, 15 January 2003
Author: Damon Foster (damonfoster@earthlink.net) from Bay Area, CA

Since I first saw photos of it when I was a little kid, I wanted to see this early 1970s horror movie from the same British who brought us TALES OF THE CRYPT. When I was like 7 or 8 years old, I was a little chilled by the photo of the man hanging upside-down and a vampire has connected a tap-fawcet to the unfortunate bloke's neck! Sadly, this scene happens in VAULT OF HORROR (1973) exactly as it did in magazine oldies like FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND and THE MONSTER TIMES: It's a still shot! That's right, a single photo of the fanged villain and his victim! It's done this way for dramatic effect and seems to work, but I had already seen the exact same thing in printed form!

However, this is not to say I was disapointed. This series of stories is very interesting, with intriguing characters throughout. The ending is predictable to anybody who's already seen TALES OF THE CRYPT, but there's a nifty gore seen earlier in the film where a guy's hands get chopped off. As is often the case with British horror, the emphasis is more on drama than sheer terror-- but it's all pretty entertaining.

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6 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
A Nice Sequel to the Original, 23 April 2004
8/10
Author: ClassixFan from USA

I adore the 1972 film; Tales From the Crypt and this 1973 follow-up is a solid effort. Granted, not all of the stories in this Amicus anthology are as strong as the '72 film, but this film is still a lot of fun. My favorite story in this anthology is the Terry-Thomas/Glynis Johns effort. It's definitely more comedy than horror, but even that packs a bit of a punch at the end. I've read that there was to be a third installment to this series of films, but a less than over-whelming feeling by the film-going public put an end to any further plans for a third film. The cast to this film is really strong and it's just a shame that the stories aren't as solid, still, an enjoyable effort and if you're looking for a fun way to spend an afternoon, a double-feature of Tales From the Crypt and Vault of Horror is definitely the way to go.

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3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
From The Crypt To The Vault, 13 September 2008
9/10
Author: AdamFontaine from Ambrosia

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Five men enter an elevator in a London building. Instead of taking them to the ground floor, it whisks them to a basement, where they become hopelessly trapped. While they wait to be rescued, they pass the time by telling each other their most recent ( and strange ) dreams.

Rogers ( Daniel Massey ) tracks down his missing sister to a strange town and kills her. She had recently inherited the family fortune, which he wants for himself. But he did not know that she had become a vampire...

Critchit ( Terry-Thomas ), a man of fastidious habits and with an obsession for neatness, marries the lovely Eleanor ( Glynis Johns ). His constant complaining about her untidiness drives her mad, and he winds up inside his collection of storage jars...

Sebastian ( Curt Jurgens ) is a professional stage magician. After seeing the Indian Rope Trick for himself, he is impressed sufficiently to want it for his own act and resorts to murder. He now has enough rope to hang himself...

Maitland ( Michael Craig ) comes up with the perfect insurance scam. He takes a drug designed to simulate a heart attack, and then arranges for a friend ( Edward Judd ) to collect the money, then go the cemetery where he is buried and dig him up. But the unexpected intervention of a pair of medical students causes him to lose his head...

Moore ( Tom Baker ) is an artist who acquires voodoo powers in Haiti. From now on, anything he paints comes magically to life. Returning to London, he uses this ability to avenge himself on the three art dealers/critics who swindled him out of a fortune...

One year after the financially successful 'Tales From The Crypt', Amicus were back with more weird tales from the E.C. Comics' back catalogue, all vividly brought to life by a fine British ( apart from Curt Jurgens ) cast. With the likes of Arthur Mullard ( as a gravedigger ), Tommy Godfrey, Robin Nedwell, Geoffrey Davies, and Terry-Thomas around, it is fair to say that this is hardly 'The Exorcist' ( which also opened that year ) though.

What it is is an entertaining horror picture boasting good stories and nice black comedy touches. The casting of Nedwell and Davies as medical students was in itself a joke, as they were known for their roles as 'Dr.Duncan Waring' and 'Dr.Dick Stuart-Clark' in I.T.V.'s 'Doctor' series. For copyright reasons, they had to be renamed 'Tom' and 'Jerry'! ( why didn't Hanna Barbera kick up a stink about that? ). When Steve Coogan did a spoof of this movie for his 'Dr.Terrible's House Of Horrible' show a few years back, it fell flat because the original was funny to start with.

Logic occasionally goes out of the window. Why does Maitland so implicitly trust his friend to dig him up out of the grave? Why does Rogers have a meal in a restaurant only a few yards from the spot where he just killed his sister? Why does the air in Moore's safe take so long to run out? Answers on a headstone please.

The cast are, as one would expect, marvellous. Tom Baker is suitably menacing in one of his last roles before putting on his scarf and hat to become the fourth 'Dr.Who'. Terry-Thomas is hilarious as the ever-so neat and tidy Critchit, a sort of English 'Felix Ungar' from 'The Odd Couple'. Distinguished thesps Denholm Elliott and Terence Alexander are also around. The late Daniel Massey appears opposite his real-life sister Anna, a neat bit of novelty casting Amicus pulled off again in 1975 when 'From Beyond The Grave' teamed Donald Pleasence with daughter Angela. Getting top-draw actors to commit themselves to a few days' filming worked a treat and was preferable ( in my eyes, at least ) to watching talentless teenagers pretending to be scared by a loony in a fright mask.

'Vault' has for a long time played on television in a cut version, without the scene where Rogers is hung upside down by vampires who then drink his blood through a tap they installed in his neck. That was in the most recent version I saw ( on Film 4 ), although the climax where the trapped men turn into walking corpses still is missing. The ending is never in any real doubt of course. Anyone who saw even one of Amicus' earlier multi-storey horror pictures will be able to predict it well in advance. But if you like your horror slightly refined, and not just consisting of non-stop blood and gore, you should seriously consider opening this particular vault.

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