This movie was not what I expected. While it stars Peter Cushing, one of Britain’s greatest horror actors, the movie was uninteresting, unentertaining and I couldn’t get into it at all. I have heard you have to understand British storytelling to “get” this movie, but I’m a fan of many other films that come from Britain (most famously Monty Python though you wouldn’t consider it a horror film) and understand the quirky British sense of humor. Whatever the reason is, I just didn’t like this film.

Release Information:
From Beyond the Grave was originally released in 1973. This movie was the first movie directed by British film director, Kevin Connor. The writer for the film, Raymond Christodoulou, is basically known for From Beyond the Grave and that’s about it. It is pretty clear to see why he didn’t have a flourishing career as a screenplay writer. The screenplay was adapted from short stories written by British author R. Chetwynd-Hayes. I can only hope the stories were better than this movie.

From Beyond the Grave was released with six other movies in the Twisted Terror Collection Box Set. The other movies included in this box set are Dr. Giggles, Deadly Friend, The Hand, Someone’s Watching Me, and Eyes of a Stranger. The box set came out on September 25, 2007, courtesy of Warner Bros.

The From Beyond the Grave Plot:
There is an antique dealer (we don’t know his name or if he has one) played by Peter Cushing, who owns a store, Temptations Ltd. He is the common link between these four stories and they are all tied together by him. It’s hard to explain the plot of each story without giving everything away, but in short, these are the customers of Cushing’s character’s store. Each story tells their fate because they have tried to cheat him in some way during their excursion at the antique store.

The first story involves a magic antique mirror that is filled with evil. The mirror turns its owner into a psycho murderer, but to find out why and what happens, you will just have to check this one out. The second story is about Jim Underwood (Donald Pleasance) a street peddler who has made up a story about being in the war to sell his wares. Jim steals an Infantry medal from the antique shop to provide more authenticity to his story. Jim meets Christopher Lowe (Ian Bannen), a man who works as an office manager and is no longer in love with his wife, Mabel (Diane Dors). He invites Christopher home to have dinner where he meets Jim’s daughter, Emily (Angela Pleasence). Emily is an interesting girl who practices witchcraft and is willing to get rid of Mabel, for the right price.

In story three, we learn about the scamming ways of Reggie (Ian Carmichael). Reggie has switched price tags at the antique shop, wanting to pay a smaller price for an antique box of higher value. On the train ride home, Reggie meets a psychic named Madame Orloff (Margaret Leighton). She tells him that he has evil on his shoulder, but he doesn’t listen to her and when he returns home he tries to kill Susan (Nyree Dawn Porter), his wife. Now its time for an emergency exorcism, though it might be too late for that. In the fourth and final story, it is believed that William Seaton (Ian Ogilvy) stole some of the money from Cushing, to pay for a new door for his cabinet. When the door is put on the cabinet, and the clock hits midnight, a blue ghost appears with evil intentions aimed at William’s wife, Rosemary (Lesley-Anne Down).

Audio & Visual Quality:
The audio for From Beyond the Grave is terrible. I had my volume turned up at over 40 on my television and it was still barely audible. I ended up having to put on the English subtitles just to know what was going on in this movie. Subtitles are also available in both Spanish and French. The audio quality is Dolby Digital mono for all three languages (English, French and Spanish). The visual quality is fair, especially for a movie released in 1973, but it isn’t winning any awards for excellence. The DVD is presented in an anamorphic widescreen format.

Bonus Features:
From Beyond the Grave has only one bonus feature. It is the theatrical trailer for the movie. I guess I should say that I’m glad there aren’t any more. I wouldn’t want to prolong any suffering felt by those who dislike this movie, myself included.

Bottom Line:
I didn’t like it much, but I’ve seen other reviewers praise this movie. I guess, to each their own. This is one of those films that you might watch if you get it in a pack, but I don’t really recommend purchasing it on its own. This one really drags down the rating of the entire Twisted Terror Collection. Watch with the intent to dislike From Beyond the Grave because maybe if your expectations are so low, it won’t be that bad after all.

Rating:

Technorati Tags: From Beyond the Grave, Twisted Terror Collection, Warner Bros, Horror, Box Set, Review, Peter Cushing

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