The cast for Amicus' anthology movies continued to rise: this one features Ralph Richardson, Roy Dotrice, Joan Collins, Richard Greene and Ian Hendry as well as the usual suspect, Peter Cushing. It's based on the famous comic book and resulted in one of Amicus' most popular ever films.
The acting is of high quality, and it looks great, as movies directed by Freddie Francis usually did. It runs 90 minutes and features five stories plus a "bridging" story so some of the tales feel a bit thin. Still there are some decent shocks and gore (this is more bloody than others in this series, complete with still-beating hearts and intestines).
The stories: Joan Collins knocks off her husband only to be tormented by a maniac (this one was very brief); a man runs off with his mistress and winds up in a car crash; some nasty money grubbers try to run nice little old Peter Cushing off his land; Barbara Murray gets the right to grant three wishes and makes a balls up of it (wishing her husband Richard Greene wasn't dead.... then turning him into this creature whichcan't die, which was a neat twist); blind people get revenge on an officious nursing home manager Nigel Patrick in an installment that takes too long to get going.
It's always fun to see Joan Collins play someone evil, Peter Cushing is touching as the little old man, and Patrick Magee once again provides some tasty ham in his performance. But the atmosphere isn't as strong as the better ones in this series. It could have done with some more menace and shock.
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