From Beyond the Grave

This DVD is perfect for Halloween- or any time you want a fright. British, from 1973, From Beyond the Grave tells 5 stories of terror. My stomach was in knots, but I couldn't stop watching. If you like the Hammer films, you'll appreciate these tales of the supernatural, which all begin in a antique shop.

This review is for the Blu-Ray edition of 'From Beyond the Grave' released by Warner Brothers in 2019.BLU-RAY & Extra's: The picture is not especially good. I'd give it a 5 out of 10. It's decent but it's nothing to get excited about. The colors are average at best and the picture is soft and sometimes grainy. On the plus side, their is no serious problems with the picture. The print seems fairly clean with only minimal imperfections such as specks, spots, etc. The movie is shown in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The runtime is 98 minutes. The only extra's are a trailer and subtitles. The trailer is 2mn 49sec and is unrestored.*****SOME MINOR SPOILERS BELOW THIS POINT*****PLOT/SUMMARY: This anthology movie consists of a framing story and 4 short stories. They are as follows:FRAMING STORY: An antiques shop proprietor (Peter Cushing) runs a shop called 'Temptations Limited'. It's motto is "Offers You Cannot Resist". Throughout the story, we see a person hanging out in the street who seems to be 'casing' the shop. Each customer shown coming into the shop appear to be looking to 'cheat' the owner. After four customers enter the shop and their stories are told, the stranger who has been hanging out, outside the shop, enters... The Gatecrasher - Edward, tells the proprietor that an antique mirror he wishes to purchase is a reproduction. After a seance with friends, Edward begins to see a face in the mirror that orders him to kill people. An Act of Kindness - Christopher Lowe, encounters an old soldier selling miscellaneous items in the street. He steals a medal from the proprietor in order to impress the soldier. The soldier invites Lowe to home and introduces him to his daughter. Lowe falls in love with the soldier's daughter... The Elemental - A businessman, Reggie changes the price tag on a snuff box in the proprietor's shop. On his train ride home he encounters a psychic, Madame Orloff, who tells him that he has an elemental on his shoulder. Once home, strange things start happening and Reggie calls Madame Orloff for help... The Door - A writer purchases an ancient door from the proprietor. His wife does not think the door fits in it's location. Eventually, they discover what lies behind the door...PRODUCTION: This movie was released in 1974 by Warner Bros. in the U.S.A. It was directed by Kevin Connor and stars Peter Cushing and Donald Pleasance.-'From Beyond the Grave' is the last anthology movie that Amicus Productions made.-There are a multitude of recognizable actors in this movie. Among them are Peter Cushing, Donald Pleasence, Ian Oglivy, Lesley-Anne Down, Diana Dors, Ian Bannen, etc.-Donald Pleasance's daughter in this movie is his real life daughter, Angela Pleasance. WHAT OTHER ANTHOLOGY FILMS DID AMICUS MAKE?Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965)Torture Garden (1967)The House that Dripped Blood (1970)Asylum (1972)Tales From the Crypt (1972)The Vault of Horror (1973) WHAT OTHER MOVIES DID PETER CUSHING APPEAR IN FROM AMICUS PRODUCTIONS?: Cushing is best known for the movies that he starred in for Hammer Productions (of course he is probably best remembered for his role in Star Wars (1977)) In addition to this movie, Cushing also appears in...-Tales from the Crypt (1972) - Cushing appears as a widower who is tormented by his neighbors. The photo of the woman he speaks too was his actual wife.-And Now the Screaming Starts! (1973) - An excellent off-beat horror story.-The Beast Must Die (1974) - Some consider this to be the weakest Amicus horror film.RECOMMENDATIONS/CONCLUSIONS: This is pretty much a bare bones release. You only get a trailer as an extra. The picture is no better than OK. Probably the most interesting story for me was 'An Act of Kindness'.Recommended for fans of Amicus films.Recommended for fans of anthology horror films.Recommended for fans of Peter Cushing.RATINGS:Plot: 6/10 or 3 stars - It's decent.Picture: 5/10 or 2 1/2 stars - Could be better.Extra's: 1/10 - There is a trailer and that's it.Overall: 6/10 or 3 starsIF YOU LIKE THIS MOVIE THEN TRY... I list a bunch of horror anthologies from Amicus films above. Try any of those. My favorite of the lot is 'Asylum (1972)'.Also...-Creepshow (1982)-Tales of Terror (1962)

Good horror movie

A startling cast of eerie British eccentrics gathered together on one delirious slice of quaint gothic.A solid roll-call of weirdness conspiring to chill and thrill in a darkly humorous, shiver-some collection of short stories by R. Chetwynd Hayes, transferred to the screen by the excellent Amicus Productions.'FBTG' is a portmanteau movie (ie. it's divided into segments); a cinema sub-genre whose horror strain began in the UK with the (still) scary 'Dead of Night' in 1945.Peter Cushing (with an extra-ordinary accent; faintly Yorkshire but anyone's guess..) plays the laconic owner of Temptations Ltd: a side-street antique shop into which a desperate array of cheats and criminals venture for a 'deal', and deservedly ending up on the losing end of their particular terrible transaction.Each customer is as tricky as they come as they try to rip old Cushing off, but each finds adjusting his price brings a greater price of its own.The opening gory story sees the brilliantly sinister David Warner conning old Peter into selling him a mirror for a tenth its worth and finding out far too late it wasn't the wisest course of action. Something demanding and nasty exists in the mirror, needing blood to facilitate its transmutation to the real world.Warner is excellent as a Poe-type figure descending into madness Trapped in his corpse-strewn apartment, compelled to spill blood for the thing in the mirror.'Alice Through the Looking Glass' this tale certainly ain't.Twitchy Ian Bannen's in the next story (remember him in the Peter Collinson/babysitter-in-peril thriller - 'Fright'?), playing a hen-pecked office clerk who invents himself an elaborate military history to impress a street shoelace salesman (!), a sly and understated Donald Pleasence.Stealing a DSO medal from Temptations Ltd, he then finds himself embroiled with Pleasence and his spooky, wiccan offspring (real-life daughter Angela).As his own home life is wretched, he finds the lavish dishes and unconditional respect he enjoys at the Pleasence's much more to his liking.His seduction by Pleasence's alarming daughter is incredible: "I wish to serve you. I will do anything you ask, you only have to order . . " she whispers - oblivious to decades of suffrage and bra-burning - and naturally he can't resist.Needless to say it all ends badly, with a great twist (you WON'T see it coming); all seemingly overseen by a tut-tutting Cushing in his dusty emporium.Poor old Ian Carmichael is the next to fall to Temptation; naughtily switching the price on a snuff box and finding himself with an evil spirit eating into his shoulder.Engaging the services of a batty medium who trashes his house ousting the creature (known as an elemental) it seems all is well, but it's only the beginning . .This is my favourite episode. Funny and scary in all the right places, with some lightning witty lines and acted to perfection by Ealing favourite Carmichael; Nyree Dawn Porter - superb as his increasingly terrified wife; and Margaret Leighton - delightfully dotty as the avaricious exorcist.A magical segment even in such elevated company.The final story is the weakest but still good. Ian Ogilvy ("you took him from me, YOU TOOK HIM FROM ME !!") 'purchases' a door which of course, has a deSade type occultist inhabiting the 'Blue Room' beyond it.This story also has a decent little hook, and has the desperately sexy Lesley Ann Down in horrific peril as a redeeming perk.The film finishes with a rather clumsy culmination of the framing story, with a robber who's been constantly disturbed by the various 'clients', finally having a violent crack at poor old 'defenceless' Peter.Unwise.'FBTG' is ace. Atmospheric, enthusiastically directed, constantly amusing while at the same time delivering delicious old-fashioned chills.It has a surprising amount of gore - for those interested in that type of thing - and Cushing, mad accent and all, hold's the whole thing together with a wicked twinkle.So horror, humour and hantiques (I am REALLY sorry!); 'FBTG' may not be a horror Rembrandt but it's certainly an esteemed and worthwhile objet d'art.

This film is about a man who runs a small little antique shop.The antiques he sells appear to be cursed.Several customers go in and buy things from him they all end up dead.It's like an anthology film,a collection of 4 different horror stories from UK horror cinema of the early 70s,i don't think Hammer horror made this production though.It was from a different studio in the UK.Peter Cushing does a excellent job in his performance as a antiques shop owner.

A perfect 1970s portmanteau horror film. Always amazes me when I hear people say stories like these are not that scary. However, if any of these events happened to you personally you would need new underwear pretty quickly. This film beats any more recent multi-kill slasher flicks. boring! Boring!

Thank you Amazon for the prompt delivery of this item. I hadn't seen this movie since I was a child. Sadly, I no longer get frightened by horror films, but it was pure joy watching this again. I love Peter Cushing and he plays his character really well. I won't go into any of the stories as other reviewers have done so already. But if you love old British horrors, then this may be for you.I was quite happy with the picture and sound quality.No real extras other than a trailer.

I first saw this film when 'Friday Night Fright' was shown on BBC in the early/mid 1980's, and have been looking for it ever since. The storyline is genius for its time, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching Peter Cushing as the eerie shopkeeper sell his wares with 'added extras'. It's a shame that horror films aren't made like this any longer. Would recommend this to anyone who enjoys watching genuinely creepy horror.

One of the best Amicus films .