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Horror Compendiums (films)

D'wards

IT'S YOUR DECISION DANIEL
I love a good horror compendium, and even a bad one. (was reminded of this when reading about the upcoming film V/H/S)

The best ones seem to be 60's/70's British ones like;

Tales From the Crypt
The Vault of Horror
Asylum
Dr Terror's House of Horrors

Of course then we have Creepshow, brilliant, part 2 was okay, 3 was awful

I have seen loads more but can't remember the names - i think Body Bags was crap despite having a good pedigree. I saw another one that had a bit of a black politics racial slant, which was shit, but can't remember what it was called.

Theres another excellent B&W that had a tale about a ventriloquists dummy that came to life, which later beacame Magic with Sir Anthony Hopkins.

Can anyone help me out with the names of the others, or any recommendations please.
 
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Theres another excellent B&W that had a tale about a ventriloquists dummy that came to life, which later beacame Magic with Sir Anthony Hopkins.
That's Dead of Night from 1945, the daddy of them all and it's still great.


The recent V/H/S is a "found footage" horror compilation film and worth checking out. The sequel is coming out soon and has been getting great reviews at Sundance.

The Japanese Kwaidan from 1964 may not be super scary, but is incredibly beautiful. If you find it too long, just check out The Woman of the Snow.

 
Grim Prairie Tales was an odd one, which was all horror stories set in the old west. One episode involving a mysterious pregnant woman was quite good.
 
Names please, names

Three...Extremes is worth checking out, though its best episode Dumplings got turned into a superior feature film. It's a follow up to the earlier Three which is less highly regarded and which I haven't seen.
 
There was a Thai horror anthology called 4bia/Phobia, where the episode about a corpse on a plane was really spooky. There also is a sequel called Phobia 2 which I haven't seen.



Trick'r'Treat is quite popular. It's about several interlocking tales that take place on Halloween. I found it a little overrated, but it's watchable and has its fans.

Trilogy of Terror was the most popular horror antholgy TV movie. Three episodes starring Karen Black with the last one about a fetish doll that comes to life being a classic.



Black Sabbath is a very stylish Italian one by Mario Bava from the 60s starring Boris Karloff.

Twilight Zone the Movie is quite famous, remaking classic TV episodes with two good efforts (by Joe Dante and George Miller) and one terrible one (by Spielberg).

Spirits of the Dead is three Edgar Allan Poe Tales interpreted by three famous Euro art house directors and it's worth checking out for Toby Dammit by Fellini, a haunting pop art riot starring Terence Stamp.



Fear(s) of the Dark is an animated horror compilation with a couple of creepy episodes.

Necronomicon was an interesting one based on HP Lovecraft tales.
 
The worst was The Uncanny, several horror tales about cats where some stage hand forever keeps chucking poor kitties at the cast from off frame.

 
Brilliant, thanks - interested in checking out all of these.

BTW, have you seen the League of Gentlemen Christmas Special for about 10 years ago? Was an homage to the horror compendium, and was excellent.

Have i missed any other British 60's/70's ones?
 
Have i missed any other British 60's/70's ones?

The House that Dripped Blood
From Beyond the Grave
Torture Garden
The Monster Club
Tales that Witness Madness

Talking of The League of Gentlemen, Mark Gatiss did a horror anthology for TV called Crooked House, which was initially screened as a series. The first two episodes are lame, but the last one about a door knocker which is the only remnant of a haunted house, is quite spooky.
 
JUst watched The Lords of Salem.

It was cheesy shite but I still adore Rob Zombie (writer and director) so really enjoyed it anyway.

Just about to watch Shadow of the Vampire, which I have seen before and is kind of a quirky comedy horror but I really like it. :)

I am posting here because I can't find the last Horror Film thread I was posting on :hmm:
 
One of my favourite portmanteaux is Tales Of Terror, with three Edgar Allen Poe stories squished into a single Roger Corman film - and Vincent Price starring in each of them! The first one is a bit draggy, and the last one a bit grim, but the middle one, 'The Black Cat', is sublime, and has Peter Lorre hamming it up also. Definitely good value.

The Monster Club

I saw that on IMDb and thought it sounded worth a spin and stuck it on a wishlist. My mother, bless her, bought it me for my birthday. It really wasn't that great :D But certainly has its moments. The terrible punk band for starters.

From Beyond the Grave

Keep meaning to watch this, have it sitting on the shelf, sounds pretty decent, and I see it's the directorial debut of Kevin Connor, who went on to helm enjoyable Troy Doug McClure Amicus nonsense like The Land That Time Forgot, The People That Time Forgot, At The Earth's Core and Warlords Of Atlantis - plus the marvellous Trial By Combat!
 
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