tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5739588130392043394.post8714027055820887894..comments2024-03-02T23:44:06.835+00:00Comments on Buck Theorem's Hide-out: AsylumBuck Theoremhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15229297104282779341noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5739588130392043394.post-28051650833428846322016-11-23T13:39:01.267+00:002016-11-23T13:39:01.267+00:00Yes, I agree that Newman's summary of Amicus i...Yes, I agree that Newman's summary of Amicus is a little unfair, but it does make for an amusing line. Peter Cushing alone is so damned good at playing all this straight and with investment; there is never the sense he is condescending to the material. Buck Theoremhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15229297104282779341noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5739588130392043394.post-9901426776688721822016-11-23T12:03:16.043+00:002016-11-23T12:03:16.043+00:00The "embarrassed guest star" part is act...The "embarrassed guest star" part is actually a little unfair, I think; at least to the best of them. Cushing of course was always the trouper's trouper, and <i>From Beyond the Grave</i> has quite an impressive assembly of British character actors who all play their roles creditably. It's obvious that Ralph Richardson in <i>Tales from the Crypt</i> is just along for the pay-cheque, but at least two of the stories (a variant on "The Monkey's Paw" and a poetic-justice tale set in a home for blind men) are pretty memorable. Philiphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18076353733931722397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5739588130392043394.post-78245195607073804832016-11-23T11:50:51.914+00:002016-11-23T11:50:51.914+00:00Oh, I have a soft spot for this stuff, even though...Oh, I have a soft spot for this stuff, even though I'm not really a Bloch fan. 'From Beyond the Grave' is perhaps my favourite too: the ghost beyond the blue door scared me a lot when I was a kid. There is a '70s British atmosphere and execution that is impossible to recreate: I should guess that nostalgia plays its part but these anthologies made an impression on me. I even have a soft spot for 'The Monster Club' (1981) which is kind of a deadknell for this period of horror, veering as it does into awful 1980s trends (the over-arching tale is terrible).<br /><br />I do like Newman's description.Buck Theoremhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15229297104282779341noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5739588130392043394.post-25915401489932102402016-11-23T01:52:24.668+00:002016-11-23T01:52:24.668+00:00Kim Newman describes the cumulative effect of the ...Kim Newman describes the cumulative effect of the Amicus anthologies as "about fifty mini-movies in which something supernaturally horrid happens to an embarrassed guest star." My favourite has always been <i>From Beyond the Grave</i>, which has Cushing as the proprietor of a tempting antique shop with some amusing novelty surprises. Perhaps because I first saw it at a rather young age, it made quite an impression: David Warner earning a place in a haunted mirror, Ian Bannen getting his come-uppance via a wedding cake, and Margaret Leighton hamming it up beautifully as a medium who exorcises the elemental on Ian Carmichael's shoulder, only for it to end up somewhere even less convenient. The source material was by R Chetwynd-Hayes, who shared Bloch's flippancy of style but had far less talent to redeem it.Philiphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18076353733931722397noreply@blogger.com