Urotsukidoji III: Return of the Overfiend (4 parts, OAV, 1992-1993)
The third part in the Urotsukidoji saga (Japanese name "Chojin Densetsu Urotsukidoji: Mirai hen") takes the story in a rather different direction than the first two installments.
Following on from parts 1 and 2, the story begins 21 years after Nagumo became the destructor demon and the Chojin placed Osaka castle behind an impenetrable holy barrier so that it could gestate in Akemis womb for 100 years.
Things move more quickly than imagined though, and Amano Jyaku finds himself being summoned by a seemingly prematurely born Chojin, who tells him that due to the arrival of "the evil from the east", he has had to come early in order to stop the world from being destroyed, and, as such, he requires Amano Jyaku to travel to Tokyo to find and destroy this evil.
the "evil" in question is actually the legendary Kyo-O", the Chojins opposite number in natures balance, and as the prophecy quoted by Munchausen in the previous film goes "if there is a god, then there must also be a devil..".
One of the side effects of the Chojins appearance and subsequent joining of the three realms is that the mixing of spiritual energies has created a new race, the "Makemono", or "Demon-Beasts", many of whom now live in the Tokyo area, and work for the evil cyborg crime boss known as Caesar.
One of these Makemono is Buju, a large and very bestial looking man who ruthlessly kills and rapes people who live within his domain, however his world is shaken by his growing affection for Caesars daughter, Alector.
over the course of the film, Caesar and his assosiate, Faust, continue Munchausens work and use Takeakis blood (spilled at the end of the previous film) to bring about the birth of the Kyo-O, which oddly takes the form of a young girl, surprising all concerned.
The film never really properly made it out of Japan, as, like the previous entries in this series, the content was considered to be far too horrific to be given an uncut western release.In the original release of this film on video/dvd in the late 1990s, one part which caused the most controversy, and which was subsequently removed in its entirety, was a scene christened "the rape of Alektor", in which Alektor, after finding out some truths about herself and her father, is subsequently violently raped by him while Buju looks on powerless to stop it. Some parts of this scene were restored in later DVD releases, however the entire scene has never been shown in western media, quite simply due to the combination of incestuous content and due to the horrifyingly graphic and disturbing nature of the scene itself.
This reason on its own, for me anyway, marks the turning point in the Urotsukidoji saga in which the series became more concerned with packing in as much violent sex as possible, and focusing on that rather than the main storyline itself, which overall in this entry is rather poor and seems simply to be tacked on as filler in between scenes of rapes, orgies and violent deaths.
This entry in the series also marked the introduction of new characters, while older characters were relegated to being merely second bananas, and the storyline suffers because of it, although i can see that basically Nagumo and Akemi needed to be written out for a while due to their plot not needing to be advanced until later, but the most ridiculous omission was Amano Jyaku himself, who plays little to no role in the films overall plot, instead, most of the stuff he should be doing gets lumped on Bujus shoulders.
So overall, a disappointing entry in the series, I can see what they were trying to do, but instead of sticking to it, they decided instead to make an animated hardcore shocker porn film.
4 tentacles up.
Monday, 24 June 2013
Tuesday, 18 June 2013
Lexx - The Complete Series.
Lexx was a science fiction TV series that ran for four seasons between 1997 and 2002.
A Canadian-German co production (a most peculiar union if i ever did see...and it shows during the series too..) , Lexx was not your usual run of the mill Sci-Fi fayre, as it featured a hell of a lot of surreal story lines, mixed in with some high concept sci-fi and decidedly "adults only" situations and dialogue.
Each season was centred around an overall theme, along with a secondary theme and a few episode specific sub plots, as well as the overall story arc of the crew of the Lexx simply looking for somewhere nice to live after they fled their own horrible or boring lives.
I first saw Lexx in 1997, when it first aired in the UK on the , then new, Channel 5, usually on late on a Friday night.
Unlike the other sci-fi that was airing on the various channels of the time, Lexx was refreshingly different to me as it wasn't pretentious and it actually felt like watching a normal drama series. The characters simply lived in the bizarre universe created by the series and paid very little attention to the rather odd things going off around them, as though they were just normal everyday occurrences.
The tongue in cheek humour and adult story lines really appealed to me as a teenager, and unlike most of the people I knew at the time, I actually "got" most of the story lines and plot points.
The storyline of the entire series is set at soem unspecified point in the far future, and pans out across approximately 8000 years, and in places features some rather intricate plot developments wich take a while to get your head around....
2008 years ago -
In the far, far future, the universe is populated by an incalcuable number of humans, with very few alien species mentioned throughout. Most of the universe is ruled over by the Divine order, an empire of 20,000 worlds that cower in fear of a being known as "His Divine Shadow", a seemingly immortal entity that posesses the bodies of chosen humans and who has seemingly supernatural powers.
Kai, a young warrior from the planet Brunnis-2, leads a group of other young people in a defiant and totally pointless defence of his home planet, which has come under attack by His Divine Shadows flagship of the time, the ForeShadow.
The defence is totally ineffective, all but Kai are killed and Brunnis-2 is destroyed by the ForeShadows planet destroying weapon, so, as a last act of desperation, Kai rams the ForeShadows command pod, serverely injuring himself in the process and bringing him into the presence of His Divine Shadow.
His Shadow explains that he has heard of a prophecy that states that the last of the Brunnen-G, Kais people, will kill him and end his tyrannical rule, so he takes pleasure in knowing that the Brunnen-G are now extinct. His Shadow then personally kills Kai and takes his memories, but rather than having the body disposed of, he orders it preserved as a curiosity for future use.
8 Years ago -
Assistant deputy back up courier Stanley H Tweedle of the Ostral-B heretics, a group of worlds violently opposed to the Divine Order, travels to a pleasure satellite and is embarrassed when his pathetic attempts to barter for sexual services by offering to trade various bits of junk from his spaceship fail to get him what he wants. His pompousity makes him more attractive to the owners of the establishment though, after he blabs and tells them who he is and what he does for a living, so they let him in.
After he has satisfied his lustful yearnings, he returns to the Ostral-B secret base, completely unaware that His Shadows new flagship, the GigaShadow, has followed him after the owners of the pleasure satellite have passed on the morsel of information they managed to trick out of him.
Within minutes of his arrival back at the secret base, the GigaShadow destroys it utterly, leaving Stanley adrift in his damaged spacecraft. He sends out a distress signal and is tricked into being captured by a pair of sadistic mercenaries, who spend the next couple of months inflicting humiliating sexual tortures on him before trading him to the Divine order once they find that one of his teeth hides secret codes for gaining entry into the Ostral-B heretics' homeworld defences.
Season 1 - (4 episodes at 2 hours each)
Stanley Tweedle lives out a miserable existence on "The Cluster", the homeworld of the divine order, as a security guard class 4, the lowest ranking position within the orders workforce.
After being traded to the divine order, they kept him alive just in case he could be of some use to them in the future, but the mind numbingly boring life he leads on the cluster leads to him having real problems with authority, so he always manages to land himself on trouble.
One day while at work (his job is to simply press a button to allow transport ships to dock at his docking bay, which hardly ever gets used) a transport ship containing Thodin, leader of the Ostral-B heretics, as well as Zev Bellringer of the planet B3K, is diverted to Stanleys station. Stanley, relishing the absolute minuscule amount of power he has, at first refuses to allow it to land, (being as the ships captain cant remember the landing code, which no one actually uses any more being as the cluster is one massive fortress), but Stanley is overruled by a more senior officer, and the ship lands, with most of the prisoners being transported on it recognising Stanley and referring to him as "The arch traitor" as they are offloaded and taken for summary justice, ending in most of them being cut up for their organic materials.
Zev of B3K is an extremely unattractive woman, who for the crimes of "failing to perform her wifely duties" and "humiliating her husband in the temple" (she punched her husband after he rejected her during the ceremony for their arranged marriage) Is sentenced to be transformed into a love slave, where she will spend the rest of her life willingly providing sexual services to the divine orders soldiers.
Through a series of bizarre incidents, Stanley ends up gaining possession of the key to the Lexx, which he, Zev, Kai and 790 then steal and use to bring about the death of the Divine Shadow.
Season 2- (20 episodes of 45 minutes each)
This series' main story arc revolves around the crew of the Lexx trying to prevent Mantrid, the former bio-vizier of His Shadows divine order, from destroying the universe, but the secondary story arc deals with Stanley and Zevs ( now renamed "Xev" due to a change in the actress playing her,) largely unsuccessful attempts to get laid.
The series culminates in a final apocalyptic battle between the Lexx and Mantrids forces, ending when the light universe is finally destroyed.
The Lexx manages to escape at the last minute when a portal to the dark zone materialises and sucks the Lexx through......
Season 3 - (13 episodes of 45 minutes each)
This series marked a change of tone in the narrative. Set largely in and around the twin worlds of "Fire" and "Water", the stories of season 3 were a lot more surreal in their tone and this series was generally unpopular as it dealt with some far more esoteric themes.
The main theme of the series deals with the concepts of life and death, as well as the concepts of good, evil and the morally ambiguous.
The Lexx, drained from the battle with Mantrid and then the strain of crossing into the dark zone, informs the crew that it cannot do anything until it feeds, meaning that the ship cannot move under its own power, and that it cannot even provide food for them while it drifts to a planet that it can feed from.
790 calculates that the nearest planet that the Lexx can feed on would take anything between 500 and 16,000 years for them to drift to, so the crew put themselves into cryostasis to wait out the long journey....
3882 years later-
The Lexx is pulled into the gravity well of the twin worlds of Fire and Water, and the crew is awoken by an expedition from the planet Fire, led by a mysterious man simply called "Prince".
The twin worlds share a single atmosphere, and are polar opposites, Fire is an uninhabitable wasteland populated by evil people, whereas Water is a planet rich with life and populated by good people. Both planets are at war with each other , although the people of Fire are always the aggressors.
As the series unfolds, the crew of the Lexx run into people on both Fire and Water who they know to have died, but yet they still live, moreover, no one on either world is afraid of death, or stays dead for very long when they are killed.
All of this series takes place over the course of about two weeks in real time, with very little action taking place on the Lexx itself, and for the first time incorporates a series of recurring secondary characters, all of whom have a part to play in a series of power games orchestrated by Prince, whose soul preoccupations are destroying Water, and stealing the Lexx.
At the end of the series, both Fire and Water are destroyed, and the soulds of the people trapped there fly off into space, converging on a small blue planet in the exact opposite orbit to where Fire and Water were.....
Season 4 - (24 episodes of 45 minutes each)
The Lexx arrives on Earth, seemingly in the 21st century, however things are not quite as they would first seem, especially when they run into Prince again, this time round though, Prince, although still immortal, cannot resurrect himself in the form of anyone he chooses. Prince uses his position as head of the bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms to once again try to steal the Lexx so that he may continue spreading his own brand of evil across the universe, however the crew of the Lexx are always there to stop him, as well as some weir alien drone probes, that seem to take great delight in entering peoples bodies via the anus....
All in all, Lexx was a good series, although very slow and hard going in places, it is still worth a watch even now, as many sci-fi series made after have borrowed concepts used in it, but there has yet to be another series made that successfully blends surreal humor with good storytelling and adult drama.
A Canadian-German co production (a most peculiar union if i ever did see...and it shows during the series too..) , Lexx was not your usual run of the mill Sci-Fi fayre, as it featured a hell of a lot of surreal story lines, mixed in with some high concept sci-fi and decidedly "adults only" situations and dialogue.
Each season was centred around an overall theme, along with a secondary theme and a few episode specific sub plots, as well as the overall story arc of the crew of the Lexx simply looking for somewhere nice to live after they fled their own horrible or boring lives.
I first saw Lexx in 1997, when it first aired in the UK on the , then new, Channel 5, usually on late on a Friday night.
Unlike the other sci-fi that was airing on the various channels of the time, Lexx was refreshingly different to me as it wasn't pretentious and it actually felt like watching a normal drama series. The characters simply lived in the bizarre universe created by the series and paid very little attention to the rather odd things going off around them, as though they were just normal everyday occurrences.
The tongue in cheek humour and adult story lines really appealed to me as a teenager, and unlike most of the people I knew at the time, I actually "got" most of the story lines and plot points.
The storyline of the entire series is set at soem unspecified point in the far future, and pans out across approximately 8000 years, and in places features some rather intricate plot developments wich take a while to get your head around....
2008 years ago -
In the far, far future, the universe is populated by an incalcuable number of humans, with very few alien species mentioned throughout. Most of the universe is ruled over by the Divine order, an empire of 20,000 worlds that cower in fear of a being known as "His Divine Shadow", a seemingly immortal entity that posesses the bodies of chosen humans and who has seemingly supernatural powers.
Kai, a young warrior from the planet Brunnis-2, leads a group of other young people in a defiant and totally pointless defence of his home planet, which has come under attack by His Divine Shadows flagship of the time, the ForeShadow.
The defence is totally ineffective, all but Kai are killed and Brunnis-2 is destroyed by the ForeShadows planet destroying weapon, so, as a last act of desperation, Kai rams the ForeShadows command pod, serverely injuring himself in the process and bringing him into the presence of His Divine Shadow.
His Shadow explains that he has heard of a prophecy that states that the last of the Brunnen-G, Kais people, will kill him and end his tyrannical rule, so he takes pleasure in knowing that the Brunnen-G are now extinct. His Shadow then personally kills Kai and takes his memories, but rather than having the body disposed of, he orders it preserved as a curiosity for future use.
8 Years ago -
Assistant deputy back up courier Stanley H Tweedle of the Ostral-B heretics, a group of worlds violently opposed to the Divine Order, travels to a pleasure satellite and is embarrassed when his pathetic attempts to barter for sexual services by offering to trade various bits of junk from his spaceship fail to get him what he wants. His pompousity makes him more attractive to the owners of the establishment though, after he blabs and tells them who he is and what he does for a living, so they let him in.
After he has satisfied his lustful yearnings, he returns to the Ostral-B secret base, completely unaware that His Shadows new flagship, the GigaShadow, has followed him after the owners of the pleasure satellite have passed on the morsel of information they managed to trick out of him.
Within minutes of his arrival back at the secret base, the GigaShadow destroys it utterly, leaving Stanley adrift in his damaged spacecraft. He sends out a distress signal and is tricked into being captured by a pair of sadistic mercenaries, who spend the next couple of months inflicting humiliating sexual tortures on him before trading him to the Divine order once they find that one of his teeth hides secret codes for gaining entry into the Ostral-B heretics' homeworld defences.
Season 1 - (4 episodes at 2 hours each)
Stanley Tweedle lives out a miserable existence on "The Cluster", the homeworld of the divine order, as a security guard class 4, the lowest ranking position within the orders workforce.
After being traded to the divine order, they kept him alive just in case he could be of some use to them in the future, but the mind numbingly boring life he leads on the cluster leads to him having real problems with authority, so he always manages to land himself on trouble.
One day while at work (his job is to simply press a button to allow transport ships to dock at his docking bay, which hardly ever gets used) a transport ship containing Thodin, leader of the Ostral-B heretics, as well as Zev Bellringer of the planet B3K, is diverted to Stanleys station. Stanley, relishing the absolute minuscule amount of power he has, at first refuses to allow it to land, (being as the ships captain cant remember the landing code, which no one actually uses any more being as the cluster is one massive fortress), but Stanley is overruled by a more senior officer, and the ship lands, with most of the prisoners being transported on it recognising Stanley and referring to him as "The arch traitor" as they are offloaded and taken for summary justice, ending in most of them being cut up for their organic materials.
Zev of B3K is an extremely unattractive woman, who for the crimes of "failing to perform her wifely duties" and "humiliating her husband in the temple" (she punched her husband after he rejected her during the ceremony for their arranged marriage) Is sentenced to be transformed into a love slave, where she will spend the rest of her life willingly providing sexual services to the divine orders soldiers.
Through a series of bizarre incidents, Stanley ends up gaining possession of the key to the Lexx, which he, Zev, Kai and 790 then steal and use to bring about the death of the Divine Shadow.
Season 2- (20 episodes of 45 minutes each)
This series' main story arc revolves around the crew of the Lexx trying to prevent Mantrid, the former bio-vizier of His Shadows divine order, from destroying the universe, but the secondary story arc deals with Stanley and Zevs ( now renamed "Xev" due to a change in the actress playing her,) largely unsuccessful attempts to get laid.
The series culminates in a final apocalyptic battle between the Lexx and Mantrids forces, ending when the light universe is finally destroyed.
The Lexx manages to escape at the last minute when a portal to the dark zone materialises and sucks the Lexx through......
Season 3 - (13 episodes of 45 minutes each)
This series marked a change of tone in the narrative. Set largely in and around the twin worlds of "Fire" and "Water", the stories of season 3 were a lot more surreal in their tone and this series was generally unpopular as it dealt with some far more esoteric themes.
The main theme of the series deals with the concepts of life and death, as well as the concepts of good, evil and the morally ambiguous.
The Lexx, drained from the battle with Mantrid and then the strain of crossing into the dark zone, informs the crew that it cannot do anything until it feeds, meaning that the ship cannot move under its own power, and that it cannot even provide food for them while it drifts to a planet that it can feed from.
790 calculates that the nearest planet that the Lexx can feed on would take anything between 500 and 16,000 years for them to drift to, so the crew put themselves into cryostasis to wait out the long journey....
3882 years later-
The Lexx is pulled into the gravity well of the twin worlds of Fire and Water, and the crew is awoken by an expedition from the planet Fire, led by a mysterious man simply called "Prince".
The twin worlds share a single atmosphere, and are polar opposites, Fire is an uninhabitable wasteland populated by evil people, whereas Water is a planet rich with life and populated by good people. Both planets are at war with each other , although the people of Fire are always the aggressors.
As the series unfolds, the crew of the Lexx run into people on both Fire and Water who they know to have died, but yet they still live, moreover, no one on either world is afraid of death, or stays dead for very long when they are killed.
All of this series takes place over the course of about two weeks in real time, with very little action taking place on the Lexx itself, and for the first time incorporates a series of recurring secondary characters, all of whom have a part to play in a series of power games orchestrated by Prince, whose soul preoccupations are destroying Water, and stealing the Lexx.
At the end of the series, both Fire and Water are destroyed, and the soulds of the people trapped there fly off into space, converging on a small blue planet in the exact opposite orbit to where Fire and Water were.....
Season 4 - (24 episodes of 45 minutes each)
The Lexx arrives on Earth, seemingly in the 21st century, however things are not quite as they would first seem, especially when they run into Prince again, this time round though, Prince, although still immortal, cannot resurrect himself in the form of anyone he chooses. Prince uses his position as head of the bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms to once again try to steal the Lexx so that he may continue spreading his own brand of evil across the universe, however the crew of the Lexx are always there to stop him, as well as some weir alien drone probes, that seem to take great delight in entering peoples bodies via the anus....
All in all, Lexx was a good series, although very slow and hard going in places, it is still worth a watch even now, as many sci-fi series made after have borrowed concepts used in it, but there has yet to be another series made that successfully blends surreal humor with good storytelling and adult drama.
Saturday, 11 May 2013
Urotsukidoji II: Legend of the Demon Womb
Urotsukidoji II (Jap: "Shin Chōjin Densetsu Urotsukidōji: Mataiden") Was the 1990/1991 follow up to the original 1987/1989 OVA, consisting of 2 parts, both if which were later edited together into a feature length film which was released on home video in the early 1990s.
Unlike the first OVA however, Urotsukidoji II was not based on the original manga, instead taking some of the established characters and building up a completely stand alone story which introduced some new characters.
This particular OVA is generally not considered to be "canon" amongst Urotsukidoji fans, because its place within the overall storyline is unclear. On the surface, it appears to take place both during and between parts #2 & #3 of the original, as the apocalyptic events that occured at the end of that chapter havent yet happened, but Nagumo and Akemi are obviously in a relationship, however the sequence of events shown do not properly appear to fit in with the complete story, and a few plot holes appear, but this argument is really rendered moot as in later parts, events of this chapter are mentioned as being historical events.
Either way though, for a sequel, it isnt half bad.
As with the previous entry in the series, the main focus of this entry is Nagumos growing powers and Amano jyaku trying to protect him so he can fulfill his destiny to become the Chojin and unite the three realms in to a utopia, and, as with the previous entry, the storytelling is a mixture of horror, fantasy and adult drama.
Again, Urotsukidoji II was not well liked by the BBFC, and numerous cuts had to be made, once again calling for new scenes to be created that were less explicit, although this time round some scenes of penetration, rape and murder were blurred out, but generally left in where their removal would cause problems, this way, the OAV didnt suffer as badly as its predecessor had.
The main story begins with a flashback..
In 1945, the insane scientist, Doktor Munchausen (named "Muni Hauser/Hausen" in some dubs) begins a dark and perverse ritual in the presence of the fuhrer himself.
A dozen women are strapped to a large contraption, which begins to masturbate them viogourously. As the machine does its work, Maunchausen explains that the device and the ritual will bring about the coming of the "Kyo-O", the natural enemy of the Chojin (The Kyo-O is also referred to as the devil or "the evil king" depending on which version you are watching). Once the women reash orgasm, the machine drains their life force and channels it through a demonic artifact, which begins tearing a hole in reality and allowing a portal to the demon realm to form.
Before the ritual can be completed however, a squadron of American bombers destroy the castle, killing Munchausen in the process (uncle Adolf escapes) , however as the smoke clears, Munchhausens assistant, his teenaged son, still lives, and seeing that his father is dead, he claims the demon artefact for himself, and vows that he will continue his fathers work and one day summon the Kyo-O so it can prevent the union of the three realms.
45 years later, Nagumo, Akemi, Megumi and Kuroko wait at Tokyo airport for the arrival of Nagumos cousin Takeaki, who he hasnt seen for 10 years since Takeakis family moved to Europe.
As the plane comes in to land, a shadowy figure lands on the wing and rips off one of the engines causing the plane to crash, but miraculously, Takeaki survives, and Nagumo, wanting to help his cousin, offers to donate his blood, which after what happened in the previous film when someone got a hold of Nagumos blood, Megumi and Kuroko have reservations about.
Meanwhile in the beast realm, Amano Jyaku, desperate to see the future world which will be created by the Chojin, has sex with the elders grandaughter, whose orgasms can rip a hole in time, despite the fact that he had been warned by the elder to keep away from her.
Eventually, Takeaki becomes corrupted by Munchausen II (Doktor Munchausens son) and a series of events take place in which Munchausen II plans to kill the Chojin, resurrect the Kyo-O and become a despotic tyrant, all in one afternoon, however, at the end, all is not as it seems....
Like i said, this entry in the series isnt bad, however the differences in the plot direction (this OAV is much heavier on the humour and less heavy with gross sex acts, even though there are still some toe curling corkers in there) do make it stick out like a sore thumb from the rest of the series.
all in all though, id give it 7 tentacles up!
Unlike the first OVA however, Urotsukidoji II was not based on the original manga, instead taking some of the established characters and building up a completely stand alone story which introduced some new characters.
This particular OVA is generally not considered to be "canon" amongst Urotsukidoji fans, because its place within the overall storyline is unclear. On the surface, it appears to take place both during and between parts #2 & #3 of the original, as the apocalyptic events that occured at the end of that chapter havent yet happened, but Nagumo and Akemi are obviously in a relationship, however the sequence of events shown do not properly appear to fit in with the complete story, and a few plot holes appear, but this argument is really rendered moot as in later parts, events of this chapter are mentioned as being historical events.
Either way though, for a sequel, it isnt half bad.
As with the previous entry in the series, the main focus of this entry is Nagumos growing powers and Amano jyaku trying to protect him so he can fulfill his destiny to become the Chojin and unite the three realms in to a utopia, and, as with the previous entry, the storytelling is a mixture of horror, fantasy and adult drama.
Again, Urotsukidoji II was not well liked by the BBFC, and numerous cuts had to be made, once again calling for new scenes to be created that were less explicit, although this time round some scenes of penetration, rape and murder were blurred out, but generally left in where their removal would cause problems, this way, the OAV didnt suffer as badly as its predecessor had.
The main story begins with a flashback..
In 1945, the insane scientist, Doktor Munchausen (named "Muni Hauser/Hausen" in some dubs) begins a dark and perverse ritual in the presence of the fuhrer himself.
A dozen women are strapped to a large contraption, which begins to masturbate them viogourously. As the machine does its work, Maunchausen explains that the device and the ritual will bring about the coming of the "Kyo-O", the natural enemy of the Chojin (The Kyo-O is also referred to as the devil or "the evil king" depending on which version you are watching). Once the women reash orgasm, the machine drains their life force and channels it through a demonic artifact, which begins tearing a hole in reality and allowing a portal to the demon realm to form.
Before the ritual can be completed however, a squadron of American bombers destroy the castle, killing Munchausen in the process (uncle Adolf escapes) , however as the smoke clears, Munchhausens assistant, his teenaged son, still lives, and seeing that his father is dead, he claims the demon artefact for himself, and vows that he will continue his fathers work and one day summon the Kyo-O so it can prevent the union of the three realms.
45 years later, Nagumo, Akemi, Megumi and Kuroko wait at Tokyo airport for the arrival of Nagumos cousin Takeaki, who he hasnt seen for 10 years since Takeakis family moved to Europe.
As the plane comes in to land, a shadowy figure lands on the wing and rips off one of the engines causing the plane to crash, but miraculously, Takeaki survives, and Nagumo, wanting to help his cousin, offers to donate his blood, which after what happened in the previous film when someone got a hold of Nagumos blood, Megumi and Kuroko have reservations about.
Meanwhile in the beast realm, Amano Jyaku, desperate to see the future world which will be created by the Chojin, has sex with the elders grandaughter, whose orgasms can rip a hole in time, despite the fact that he had been warned by the elder to keep away from her.
Eventually, Takeaki becomes corrupted by Munchausen II (Doktor Munchausens son) and a series of events take place in which Munchausen II plans to kill the Chojin, resurrect the Kyo-O and become a despotic tyrant, all in one afternoon, however, at the end, all is not as it seems....
Like i said, this entry in the series isnt bad, however the differences in the plot direction (this OAV is much heavier on the humour and less heavy with gross sex acts, even though there are still some toe curling corkers in there) do make it stick out like a sore thumb from the rest of the series.
all in all though, id give it 7 tentacles up!
Monday, 6 May 2013
Tron: Evolution (Xbox 360)
Greetings Programs!
I picked this game up the other week from Thats Entertainment! for the princely sum of £5. I'd been looking for it for a while but for some odd reason none of the usual video games places had it, even the various market stalls hadn't got one either, so I was quite happy to pick one up for the price I paid for it.
Having read one or two reviews of this game beforehand, and noting my own observations that games based on films are generally crap, I wasn't really expecting too much from this one, but thought id give it a try anyways being as I rather enjoyed Tron 2.0 on the PC and was expecting something along similar lines....couldn't have been more wrong though, but not for any bad reason really.
Unlike the first person shooter Tron 2.0, Tron: Evolution (hereafter referred to as TE) is a third person platform/adventure/action type game, similar I suppose to a fusion between Grand theft auto and Batman: Arkham city, albeit without the freedom of movement (more on that later).
As it stands, TE officially forms the bridge between the original Tron film from 1982, the comic/graphic novel "Tron: Betrayal" and the 2010 film "Tron: Legacy" (unfortunately, Tron 2.0 is completely ignored from the Tron "canon", which is a shame because they used some of the new stuff introduced in 2.0 in "Legacy" and the storyline of 2.0 fits in sort of nicely with the canon storyline, ah well).
The storyline begins with a video clip of Kevin Flynn (voiced by Fred Tatasciore , as he is in Tron: Uprising) waxing lyrical about the things he has discovered since he built "The Grid", including the amazing spontaneous evolution of the ISOs which he cannot explain as anything other than a serendipitous event, but one that will have profound ramifications on science, philosophy and theology once he has fully come to understand them.
The action jumps to the world of the Grid, where Flynn, Tron (Bruce Boxleitner) and CLU (Tatasciore again)discuss the ISOs and their integration into the Grids system framework. At first, the ISOs are generally accepted, as many of the programs (referred to in games as "Basics") created by Flynn share his vision of creativity and making the perfect world, however a faction within Flynns system does not see the ISOs as anything other than a menace to be derezzed.
Following the apparent "murder" of one of the ISO leaders, whom Flynn had planned to make a joint system admin alongside CLU, Flynn prepares for the official inauguration of another ISO in his place, this is where the game starts proper..
As a system monitor program named "Anon.exe", working directly under Tron, you are tasked with monitoring the proceedings for the inauguration ceremony, when suddenly Tron spots a mysterious ISO female (Quorra - Olivia Wilde ) attempting to gain unauthorised entry to the ceremony. Tron orders you to follow her, and thus a chain of events begins which leads up to the film "Tron: Legacy".
The first level is, as expected, basically a training level, as you follow Quorra around as she attempts to sneak in and disrupt the ceremony for reasons that become clear later. You really do need to pay attention to this first level though, as this games movement controls are simple but also somewhat complicated at the same time, this is because throughout the game, Anon.exe will move about the levels using various "Parkour/free running" techniques including running up walls, acrobatics, multiple gravity defying jumps etc, all of which are somewhat tricky to get the hang of and WILL lead to you getting derezzed quite a few times until you get the hang of some of the more complicated manoeuvres.
As this is the world of Tron, Disc combat features heavily as your primary means of dispatching corrupted and re purposed programs.
Your two basic attacks are ranged combat, in which you throw your disc, and close combat, in which you use your disc as a melee weapon.
The combat system is based aesthetically on Capoeira, as it involves a lot of stylised , free flowing moves with no fixed stances and lots of acrobatics, and as you progress through the game you will learn different combos incorperating ranged, melee and jumping attacks, as well as "special" moves which unlock as you upgrade your discs functions.
Speaking of upgrades, you gain XP from finding various hidden items, completing objectives and from combat. Combat XP is awarded based on how difficult the enemy (or enemies) is to defeat, but also how "showy" your combat is, for example simply standing back and spamming a group of bad guys with basic ranged attacks will earn you far less XP than wading in and finishing them all of with a nice long freeflow combo. When you level up you will be awarded with some additional memory, which can be traded at various disc upgrade stations for things such as weapon upgrades, health and energy reserve upgrades, as well as buffs which can be used in multiplayer games.
The game world itself is what you'd expect to see, large pseudo futuristic neon lit cities within the digital world, the only real problem is that there is absolutely NO room for you to explore, as the game is a linear adventure, which is somewhat disappointing, and also makes it a little difficult to find the hidden items such as the Tron date files and pieces of Arbraxis's ( John Glover) disc to get extra XP and unlock new items.
As well as the Parkour inspired city based missions, there are one or two Lightcycle based missions, as well as a couple of opportunities to drive a game tank.
The Lightcycle bits play reasonably well, although the lightcycle can become a little difficult to control at high speeds, but the game tank sections are fairly boring, simply consisting of driving around shooting at programs, other tanks and sometimes the odd Recogniser, all while struggling to figure out how to keep the tank driving in the direction you want it to go in.
Now, while i have enjoyed this game thus far, it does have its flaws:-
#1 - Dynamic camera
The right stick controls your direction of facing and/or the camera angle when appropriate, which is fine and an expected part of this type of game. The downfall comes though when the bloody camera angle suddenly changes without warning, often when its most inconvenient, such as in the middle of a jump or even when you are stood with your back against a wall surrounded by bad guys. In the case of it changing during a jump, players should note that this is one of those games where the angle the camera is facing also can affect the direction of movement, you may start your jump holding the left stick "forward", but when that angle changes so that you're looking at yourself from the right side, "forward" on your stick becomes "left" in the game.
As for it switching during combat, this generally means the you wont be able to aim your disc properly, and will not be able to block/parry correctly, and thus you get derezzed....frustrating.
#2 - Unresponsive/over responsive controls
You're in the middle of handing out a whuppin' to a gang of bad guys and you've got a badass 50 hit combo in the making, when suddenly for no apparent reason, Anon decides to mag-lift instead of block, or instead of doing a disc throw followed by a melee smash, he instead does a 3 disc ranged attack, 2 of which hit nothing and waste time while he recovers from being left open. The worst one is when you are trying to climb up a wall, only to find yourself springing off it instead, and all of this is caused by a very, very unforgiving control system which takes a hell of a lot of getting used to.
#3 - Intrusive cut scenes
Although the storyline for TE is pretty good, some of the cut scenes which advance the plot come at really odd times, but the worst offenders by far are the cut scenes which dont advance the plot but instead give you hints at what to do in certain situations, or show you that pressing a switch has had soem sort of effect.
Case in point, there is a section mid game where you and another ISO program are trapped in a room which is falling apart around you. The game tells you you have 80 seconds to flick 3 switches hidden in various locations about the area to open the exit and escape, all around you, large sections of the floor and walls have become corrupted and will damage you when touched, so the last thing you need is for a cut scene to waste 5 seconds of your 80 showing you that when you flick one of the switches, a platform drops down at the other end of the room for you to grab hold of when you finally make your escape.
#4 - "Knock-back"
Back in the 80s, games developers had a thing for making it that when the hero character takes damage, they were knocked back slightly. It was realised by the mid 90s that in platform games this was rather silly as it led to players getting killed a lot more often than they should have due to falling to their deaths, and it quietly went away.....BUT SOMEONE FORGOT TO TELL THAT TO THE DEVELOPERS BEHIND TRON: EVOLUTION!!!!!!!!!! I can understand your guy being stunned after taking a hit, but the "knock-back" is completely unnecessary and just fucking annoying, especially in this type of game.
#5 - "JAFO"
Although Anon.exe takes part in the events which will eventually lead up to Tron:Legacy, for the most part, he is simply a silent observer who simply does as he is told to by the other "named" characters. His silence is also remarked upon by the ISO called "Gibson". I know that for TE they weren't really planning on making it a series of games requiring extensive character development etc, but it would be nice for Anon to do something other than just stand there like a spare wheel while the other characters pontificate.
So, all in all id say that Tron: Evolution is more one for the fans than for consumption by general gamers, it does have its problems, but overall it is an enjoyable enough little game.
Final Score - 7/10
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Monday, 29 April 2013
Urotsukidoji - Legend Of The Overfiend
Urotsukidoji - Legend of the Overfiend (aka "Choujin Densetsu Urotsukidoji" - lit "The wandering kid- Super god-demon legend") is a 3 part anime OVA based on the original 1986 manga by Toshio Maeda.
The story itself is, at heart, a love story, centered around the burgeoning passions of high school geek Tatsuo Nagumo and the object of his lustful passions, Ito Akemi.
....Of course, this being based on a japanese adult manga, its not as simple as that, for this OVA folks, is single handedly responsible for introducing the "Demon/Tentacle rape" genre of hentai not only to the west, but to the entire world....
This first OVA, made up of 3 chapters first released in Japan between 1987 and 1989, is only the first part in an epic five part story detailing how the simple act of a young couple falling in love and conceiving a child has near apocalyptic consequences not only for the human race, but also for the races of other realms which inhabit the same plane as the human world.
When Urotsukidoji first made its way westward and was earmarked for release on home video by Manga entertainment back in the early 90s, they found themselves with an unusual problem.
previous to this, the BBFC (British Board of Film Censorship) had allowed many adult oriented japanese anime titles to be released with only minimal cuts for violent or sexual content, meaning that with some creative editing, most things could sail through and receive either a 15 or 18 certificate without losing too much of the footage or plot, Urotsukidoji however, with its many, many disturbing and sexually explicit scenes crammed into almost 3 hours of film, did not fare so well.
After several rounds of censorship cuts, the leftover "usable" stuff amounted to little more than an hours worth of footage, and even then the plot holes created by losing nearly two thirds of the story to the cutting room floor meant that the finished product wouldnt make any sense to those viewing it who hadnt already had a chance to read the original manga.
To get around this, the original animation studio, West Cape productions, were commissioned to create new, less explicit footage to fill in the gaps as it were, and to boost the film, as it was to now be released as, to a more viewable 90 minutes. As well as creating new footage, West Cape also used the opportunity to touch up some of the original footage, thus more or less creating an entirely new anime film with a similar, albeit less explicit, storyline to the original.
The plotline unfolds like this:-
Several thousand years ago, the Overfiend (aka, the "Chojin" - lit "superbeing") created the Earth and populated it with Humans (the Ningen), Demons (the Majin) and the man-beasts (the Juujin - the man-beasts did not feature in the original manga, there were only humans, demons and hybrids). After some time passed, the Chojin realised that the three races could not co-exist peacfully, nor could they fully evolve into higher beings while they were too busy fighting amongst themselves over matters as trivial as sexual conquests, some of which had produced many bizarre, horrible and/or powerful hybrid offspring, so, to allow the three races to develop along their own paths, the Chojin decided that it would create realms existing simultainiously but kept completely seperate from the rest for each race, so thus was created the realm of man (the Ningenkai) the realm of demons (the makai) and the relam of man-beasts (the juujinkai).
The Chojin then decided that the three races would be allowed to develop without its guidance or interference, and thus the legend of the Overfiend was born.
The legend stated, or so it was believed at the beginning of the first episode of the OVA, that in 3000 years time, the Chojin would return and reunite the three realms into a single realm of peace and plenty for all, and, as the OVA begins, the man-beast Amano Jyaku (the "wandering kid" as alluded to in the translated title) nears the end of his 300 year search for the reborn Chojin, whom he swears to defend so that it can return and bring about the utopia it promised.
The unedited original japanese version of the Urotsukidoji OVA has NEVER been released anywhere in europe, however the closest it came to being released was the Anime 18 "perfect edition" DVD release, which still had ot make some edits in order to be granted a certificate for release, however this version comes in with a run time of 2 hours and 35 minutes, retaining some footage that was originally considered to be "too shocking" for an animated film, but still having to make some use of the newly created footage, along with some on screen blurring/distortion to remove some of the more "risque" elements from scenes which are otherwise perfectly useable (e.g - huge throbbing demon penis-tentacles, close up scenes of multiple penetrations and anal rape, ejaculation, forced sex acts etc.).
All in all, as a standalone movie/OVA, "Urotsukidoji - Legend of the Overfiend" is a fairly good, if somewhat disturbing story, and makes for a good first chapter in the whole saga, which manages to blend horror, fantasy and adult oriented sex drama into an enjoyable enough animated romp, so to speak.
I give it 7 tentacles up!
The story itself is, at heart, a love story, centered around the burgeoning passions of high school geek Tatsuo Nagumo and the object of his lustful passions, Ito Akemi.
....Of course, this being based on a japanese adult manga, its not as simple as that, for this OVA folks, is single handedly responsible for introducing the "Demon/Tentacle rape" genre of hentai not only to the west, but to the entire world....
This first OVA, made up of 3 chapters first released in Japan between 1987 and 1989, is only the first part in an epic five part story detailing how the simple act of a young couple falling in love and conceiving a child has near apocalyptic consequences not only for the human race, but also for the races of other realms which inhabit the same plane as the human world.
When Urotsukidoji first made its way westward and was earmarked for release on home video by Manga entertainment back in the early 90s, they found themselves with an unusual problem.
previous to this, the BBFC (British Board of Film Censorship) had allowed many adult oriented japanese anime titles to be released with only minimal cuts for violent or sexual content, meaning that with some creative editing, most things could sail through and receive either a 15 or 18 certificate without losing too much of the footage or plot, Urotsukidoji however, with its many, many disturbing and sexually explicit scenes crammed into almost 3 hours of film, did not fare so well.
After several rounds of censorship cuts, the leftover "usable" stuff amounted to little more than an hours worth of footage, and even then the plot holes created by losing nearly two thirds of the story to the cutting room floor meant that the finished product wouldnt make any sense to those viewing it who hadnt already had a chance to read the original manga.
To get around this, the original animation studio, West Cape productions, were commissioned to create new, less explicit footage to fill in the gaps as it were, and to boost the film, as it was to now be released as, to a more viewable 90 minutes. As well as creating new footage, West Cape also used the opportunity to touch up some of the original footage, thus more or less creating an entirely new anime film with a similar, albeit less explicit, storyline to the original.
The plotline unfolds like this:-
Several thousand years ago, the Overfiend (aka, the "Chojin" - lit "superbeing") created the Earth and populated it with Humans (the Ningen), Demons (the Majin) and the man-beasts (the Juujin - the man-beasts did not feature in the original manga, there were only humans, demons and hybrids). After some time passed, the Chojin realised that the three races could not co-exist peacfully, nor could they fully evolve into higher beings while they were too busy fighting amongst themselves over matters as trivial as sexual conquests, some of which had produced many bizarre, horrible and/or powerful hybrid offspring, so, to allow the three races to develop along their own paths, the Chojin decided that it would create realms existing simultainiously but kept completely seperate from the rest for each race, so thus was created the realm of man (the Ningenkai) the realm of demons (the makai) and the relam of man-beasts (the juujinkai).
The Chojin then decided that the three races would be allowed to develop without its guidance or interference, and thus the legend of the Overfiend was born.
The legend stated, or so it was believed at the beginning of the first episode of the OVA, that in 3000 years time, the Chojin would return and reunite the three realms into a single realm of peace and plenty for all, and, as the OVA begins, the man-beast Amano Jyaku (the "wandering kid" as alluded to in the translated title) nears the end of his 300 year search for the reborn Chojin, whom he swears to defend so that it can return and bring about the utopia it promised.
The unedited original japanese version of the Urotsukidoji OVA has NEVER been released anywhere in europe, however the closest it came to being released was the Anime 18 "perfect edition" DVD release, which still had ot make some edits in order to be granted a certificate for release, however this version comes in with a run time of 2 hours and 35 minutes, retaining some footage that was originally considered to be "too shocking" for an animated film, but still having to make some use of the newly created footage, along with some on screen blurring/distortion to remove some of the more "risque" elements from scenes which are otherwise perfectly useable (e.g - huge throbbing demon penis-tentacles, close up scenes of multiple penetrations and anal rape, ejaculation, forced sex acts etc.).
All in all, as a standalone movie/OVA, "Urotsukidoji - Legend of the Overfiend" is a fairly good, if somewhat disturbing story, and makes for a good first chapter in the whole saga, which manages to blend horror, fantasy and adult oriented sex drama into an enjoyable enough animated romp, so to speak.
I give it 7 tentacles up!
Wednesday, 20 March 2013
Amicus Horror Anthologies - From Beyond The Grave (1974)
During the 60s and 70s, British film makers Amicus productions made a
series of films containing several short horror stories, linked by a
framing story.
Starring many big names (for the time), these low/medium budget films told several stories mainly concerning ghosts and the supernatural in a typically British way, and usually featured some sort of twist ending.
From Beyond the Grave was the penultimate film in this series, which was release din late 1974.
Framing Story
"Temptations Ltd" is a poky little backstreet curiosity shop in which the owner, Peter Cushing ,claims to make customers "Offers they cannot resist".....
Story #1 "The Gatecrasher"
Eddie Charlton (David Warner ) enters the shop and spies an antique mirror that tickles his fancy. The owner says the price for it is £250, but Eddie lies and says that he is an antiques dealer and can recognise a modern reproduction when he sees one, and offers £25, which the owner reluctantly accepts.
Eddie hangs the new mirror in pride of place in his home, and loudly boasts to his friends about swindling the old man. One of his friends suggests that the mirror looks like it belongs in a mediums parlour, and the should hold a seance, which Eddie says ia a marvellous idea.
During the seance, a couple of weird things happen, like the candle on the table begins shooting out a long blue flame, but nothing really horrible happens, except to Eddie, who experiences a vision of a bearded man wearing very old style clothing attacking him with a knife in a wood, Eddie comes round screaming as the lights are switched on.
That night, while Eddie is alone, a ghostly voice calls him to the mirror, and when he looks into it, a face appears and demands that he feed it, entranced, Eddie goes out and hires a prostitute, who he brings back to his flat. As she is having a drink, the mirror commands him to kill her, which he does.
Eddie wakes up with a start, thinking it was all just a dream, but then he finds that his clothes and the sofa are covered in blood.
The following night, the mirror demands to be fed again, Eddie tries to refuse, but the mirror uses its power to try and compel him to kill one of his friends, he refuses to do this and silently agrees to kill someone else. He asks it how many more it wants dead, and it simply answers that it will keep asking until it is "fulfilled".
Eddie picks up a woman in a bar and kills her in front of the mirror, he demands to know why the mirror wants him to kill, and it tells him that long ago he gave his sacrifices, and now it is his turn to give his. Eddie wakes up again and finds himself covered in blood, but this time he is looking very ill. as the mirror is telling him it will soon be time for him to stop the killing, he smashes it. His telephone rings and his frind asks him if he is ok, he says he is, but then when he looks up, he sees that the mirror has repaired itself, and it demands that he kill his friend again, this time, Eddie is in no shape to resist, so he invites her over.
When she comes, Eddie refuses to answer the door, but the mirror commands him to, he tries to refuse, as he likes this girl, so the mirror tells him to find someone else for him. Eddie tells her to go home.
Downstairs, Eddies neighbour, Mr. Jefferies, is reading a bedtime story to his cat when blood starts dripping from the ceiling. He goes upstairs and complains about the noise and the mess Eddie has been making over the past few days, but Eddie slams the door in his face and checks the bodies he has hidden under the floorboards. Mr. Jefferies hammers on the door so Eddie lets him in, then kills him.
The ghost in the mirror manifests itself in physical form, and explain that now it has been fed enough, but one more sacrifice must be made so he can be truly free to join the other immortals. He takes Eddies knife, and asks him to throw himself on it, which Eddie does without hesitation, killing himself in the process.
Years pass and the mirror sits on the wall while the flat has many different tenants, until one day, a young couple are having a party, and one young woman suggests that the mirror looks like it belongs in a mediums parlour and that they should hold a seance, the male host says that is a marvellous idea, and a seance is held, during which, Eddies ghostly face appears in the mirror.....
The owner of the shop shakes his head as he watches Eddie walk away with his new mirror, while outside, a shifty looking man hangs around in the street as though he is waiting for something.
Christopher Lowe (Ian Bannen ) walks up and starts looking at some medals the owner has on display, which causes the shifty man to walk off....
Story #2 "An act of Kindness"
Christopher Lowe is a boring man with a boring life. He is stuck in a middle management admin job that he hates, and his wife (Diana Dors ) is constantly nagging at him and belittling him in front of their young son, who also gives him no respect. One day while on his way home from work, he buys a pair of shoelaces from a peddler (Donald Pleasence ) after seeing him displaying a sign saying he is an ex-serviceman who fought in World War 2. Over dinner, his wife gives him a taste of her sharp tongue, saying that when she first met him he was a Sergeant in the army pay corps with a soft job and a civilian future, but now he is a boring little man with a crap job who doesnt earn much money. This causes Lowe to storm out childishly.
The next day, he strikes up a conversation with the peddler, and lies and tells him he was an officer in an infantry regiment, he even goes back to Temptations ltd and steals a distinguished service cross in order to impress the peddler, when the owner notices the medal missing, he simply tuts and says "naughty naughty!" The peddler, being suitably impressed, invites him to his home for a meal and a chat, which he happily accepts just so he can get away from his wife for a while.
At the peddlers home, he introduces himself as "Jim" and his daughter as "Emily" (played by Pleasences real life daughter Angela), and they sit down to have a nice, but somewhat awkward chat, where Emily recites passages from books she has memorised, albeit some rather strange and out of context passages of no relevance to the conversation.
Weeks pass, and Lowe spends more and more time round at Jims house, lying and saying he is working overtime whenever she asks where he has got to. He gives Emily a gift of a fake gold watch, which pleases her immensely, and admits that he is unhappy with his wife, as she spends most of her time playing bingo and gossiping with her friends instead of doing her wifely duties.
some time later, Emily appears in Lowe and his wifes bedroom as they are sleeping, and, while wearing a black veil, she produces a knife and makes as though she is going to stab the wife, but she wakes up screaming and says she has had abad dream, Emily is nowhere to be seen.
Lowe is having dinner with Jim and emily one night when Jim apologises and says he must leave early as he is meeting up with some old friends for a drink, and that Emily should be more than able to entertain him. Lowe is happy at this news as he has secretly fallen for Emilys rather strange beauty and creepy charms. As he eats the meal she has prepared for him, Emily walks around the flat, singing a very strange and discordant song, when he enquires about the song, she begins telling him he is a lonely man, and that his wife is not a wife to him, and that she wishes to serve him, and will do anything he commands her to.
Lowe wakes up in bed after having sex with Emily, he quickly dresses and follows her through to the lounge, where she lights a candle and produces a wax effigy of his wife, made using hair clippings and blood she had secretly gathered from his wife. She holds a knife to the effigies throat and asks Lowe if he wants her to finish it, when he refuses, she explains that every day they are still married his life will become more miserable, as she will not improve with age. Thinking its all just a bit of a game, he orders her to do whatever she wants, so she stabs the figure, causing blood to drip from the figures mouth.
Lowe is horrified and rushes home, to find that his wife is indeed dead, stabbed in the throat by a woman dressed in black. The doorbell rings, and Jim and Emily enter uninvited dressed in wedding garments, Jim salutes Lowe, and a wedding march begins playing.
Emily and Lowe marry, and on their wedding day, they celebrate with champagne, Lowe tells Emily to cut the wedding cake, and she asks if that is an order, to which he jokingly says, yes, she then asks Jim and Lowes son if they order it too, and they both say yes, so she takes a knife, but instead of cutting the cake, she chops down on the groom effigies head. Lowe collapses on to the table, blood gushing from a severe and fatal head wound.
Jim then says to Lowes son that they always answer childrens prayers, in one way or another....
The shop owner stands looking out of his shop window, and notices the shifty man still hanging around outside. The shifty man makes to enter the shop, but turns away as Reggie Warren comes walking down the street and enters the shop.
Story #3 "The Elemental"
Reggie Warren is a somewhat pompous businessman, when he enters the shop and finds it seemingly deserted, he opens one of the cabinets and looks at an antique silver snuff box, quickly replacing it when he sees the price tag of £40. He looks at another that has a price tag of £5, and quickly swaps the two tags over. the shop owner appears and asks if he can help him, to which Warren replies that he is looking for a snuff box, and he has his eye on one in particular (the £40 one). The owner gets the box out of the cabinet and checks the price, which now says £5, so warren agrees to buy it, even managing to get the owner to drop the price to £4. Pleased with his purchase, Warren bids the shop owner good day, and the shop owner says he hopes Warren enjoys snuffing it.
On the train home, Warren is set about by a dotty old woman who tells him he has a nasty looking elemental sat on his shoulder, this particular one is unusual because although it is sexually frustrated and greedy like most elementals, this one is willing to kill to get what it wants. Warren doesnt believe such rubbish, but the woman, who introduces herself as Madam Orloff, "Clarvoyant Extrraordinaire!", insists that he takes her card, as he will more than likely have need of her services soon.
At home, Warren notices that all of a sudden his dog becomes hostile towards him, and, while talking with his wife, she suddenly shouts at him for hitting her, even though he was nowhere near her.
that night in bed, his wife complains that he is holding her hand too tight, and that he needs to cut his nails, even though he isnt touching her, she then begins to choke, as though something is strangling her, which she assumes was him.
Realising they have a serious problem, Warren calls Madam Orloff, and she comes straight away.
Seeing that the elemental has grown, and intends to take over Warrens body, Madam Orloff says they will need to exorsize the beast immediately, so, to wit, she gets Warren to sit in a chair and begins chanting various ridiculous verses, which she says may seem unusual but they help her to focus her psychic powers.
As the exorsism goes on, the house erupts into chaos, with winds randomly blowing through the doors and windows and things moving and exploding all around them. Mid way through the exorsism, Madam Orloff requests a glass of whisky, and while his wife fetches it, she gives him a warning that his wife is the sort of person who will attract evil spirits like a magnet. The exorsism is eventually successful and the elemental leaves Warrens body, so madam Orloff leaves after being in the house for less than 10 minutes and demanding an enormous fee for it, but nontheless Warren says he feels much better.
After tidying the house up, and the dog returning to them, Warren and his wife settle down for a celebratory drink, but are disturbed by an ominous banging sound from upstairs, which puts the willies up both of them.
As he goes to investigate the sounds, a strange wind knocks Reggie down the stairs, causing him to black out.
When he comes to, he finds his wife standing over him glaring, he asks if she is alright, and she says, in a deep and other worldly sounding voice that he "denied her life", before she beats him to death with the fire poker and then leaves the house laughing.
The shop owner lights his pipe, and notices the shifty man still hanging around outside, this time, the man is looking extra fidgety, and fiddles with an iron bar that he has tucked up his sleeve. As he crosses the road to enter the shop, he bumps into Will Seaton (Ian Ogilvy ) as he too makes his way into the shop. The shifty man quickly runs away....
Story #4 "The Door"
Will tells the shop owner he has his eye on an antique door that he has in, and the owner explains that it is a very old antique that he rescued form an old house that was being demolished. He tells him the price for the door is £50, but Will says all he can afford is £40, the shop owner agrees to sell it him and takes his name and address, before putting the money in the till, which he leaves open, displaying that it is full of cash, while he goes through the back to get Bill a receipt. As Will leaves the store, The owner begins to slowly count the money in the till.
The door is delivered to Wills house, where he tells his wife he intends to redecorate his study and replace the door to the stationary cupboard with the antique one he bought, his wife wonders what such a grand old thing would have been the door to, which she eventually speculates that it was a big old fashioned room, which was all painted blue.
The door is put in place, and while admiring it, Will notices that the door appears to have blood stains on it, but it soon comes off when he cleans it.
That night, Will feels the sudden urge to walk up and open the door, which when he does, is surprised to see that instead of being his stationary cupboard beyond it, there is a grand old fashioned blue room.
He enters and explores the room, finding firstly a painting on the wall depicting a man wearing what appears to be a civil war era cavalier costume, and secondly what appears to be a large leather bound journal of some kind. He is about to read from the book, when he is scared off by the sound of approaching footsteps from one of the rooms internal doors. He leaves quickly and slams the door behind him, but then when he reopens it, he finds his stationary cupboard has reappeared.
His wife says he is mad when he tells her about it, but that night while Will is working, the door opens by itself, once again leading to the blue room, this time, he makes straight for the book and begins reading.
The book is entitled "An experiment in darkness" by "Sir Michael Sinclair".
From reading the book, Will finds that the room was created using evil magic by Sir Michael Sinclair in 1683, a time when if anyone of the lower classes was caught using or even speaking about magic, they would be burned at the stake for witchcraft, but he, as a nobleman and friend of the king, was immune to such punishment. The book goes on to explain that the room, and thus Sinclair himself, will exist forever, so long as the spell which keeps the room in existence is maintained by offering a blood sacrifice every so often to the door, which Sinclair prefers to be a woman, as their life essence is more potent.
Will flees when he hears Sinclair approach, but runs into his wife, who has come to see what is going on. Sinclair himself emerges from the doorway and grabs the woman, challenging Will to follow him, as "two souls are better than one". Will grabs an axe and begins smashing the door with it, each stroke causing Sinclair pain and the room to be damaged in some way. When Sinclair appears incapacitated, Will rushes in to rescue his wife, but Sinclair stops him and wrestles him to the ground. Will tells his wife to use the axe to break the door, which she does, eventually causing Sinclair himself to collapse. Will grabs the axe and smashes the door off its hinges, which causes the room beyond to totally collapse, and Sinclair to rot away to dust.
At the shop, the owner finishes counting the money in the till, and is happy that Will didnt steal any after all.
The shifty man finally enters the shop, closing the door queity as he does, and he finds the owner loading a pair of flintlock pistols with live ammunition. The owner asks him to hold one of the pistols while he loads the other, but once it is loaded, the shifty man grabs it and demands the owner hand over all of his money. The owner refuses to co operate and begins advancing on the would be robber meanacingly, so he opens fire, but none of his shots cause the owner any harm. Backing off in terror, the shifty man falls into an iron maiden which closes in on top of him. the shop owner then sits down on top of it and calmly lights his pipe and says 2the love of money is the root of all evil". The shop door opens, and the owner welcomes the new customers, saying that he has something for everyone, but, theres a free novelty surprise with every purchase........
Starring many big names (for the time), these low/medium budget films told several stories mainly concerning ghosts and the supernatural in a typically British way, and usually featured some sort of twist ending.
From Beyond the Grave was the penultimate film in this series, which was release din late 1974.
Framing Story
"Temptations Ltd" is a poky little backstreet curiosity shop in which the owner, Peter Cushing ,claims to make customers "Offers they cannot resist".....
Story #1 "The Gatecrasher"
Eddie Charlton (David Warner ) enters the shop and spies an antique mirror that tickles his fancy. The owner says the price for it is £250, but Eddie lies and says that he is an antiques dealer and can recognise a modern reproduction when he sees one, and offers £25, which the owner reluctantly accepts.
Eddie hangs the new mirror in pride of place in his home, and loudly boasts to his friends about swindling the old man. One of his friends suggests that the mirror looks like it belongs in a mediums parlour, and the should hold a seance, which Eddie says ia a marvellous idea.
During the seance, a couple of weird things happen, like the candle on the table begins shooting out a long blue flame, but nothing really horrible happens, except to Eddie, who experiences a vision of a bearded man wearing very old style clothing attacking him with a knife in a wood, Eddie comes round screaming as the lights are switched on.
That night, while Eddie is alone, a ghostly voice calls him to the mirror, and when he looks into it, a face appears and demands that he feed it, entranced, Eddie goes out and hires a prostitute, who he brings back to his flat. As she is having a drink, the mirror commands him to kill her, which he does.
Eddie wakes up with a start, thinking it was all just a dream, but then he finds that his clothes and the sofa are covered in blood.
The following night, the mirror demands to be fed again, Eddie tries to refuse, but the mirror uses its power to try and compel him to kill one of his friends, he refuses to do this and silently agrees to kill someone else. He asks it how many more it wants dead, and it simply answers that it will keep asking until it is "fulfilled".
Eddie picks up a woman in a bar and kills her in front of the mirror, he demands to know why the mirror wants him to kill, and it tells him that long ago he gave his sacrifices, and now it is his turn to give his. Eddie wakes up again and finds himself covered in blood, but this time he is looking very ill. as the mirror is telling him it will soon be time for him to stop the killing, he smashes it. His telephone rings and his frind asks him if he is ok, he says he is, but then when he looks up, he sees that the mirror has repaired itself, and it demands that he kill his friend again, this time, Eddie is in no shape to resist, so he invites her over.
When she comes, Eddie refuses to answer the door, but the mirror commands him to, he tries to refuse, as he likes this girl, so the mirror tells him to find someone else for him. Eddie tells her to go home.
Downstairs, Eddies neighbour, Mr. Jefferies, is reading a bedtime story to his cat when blood starts dripping from the ceiling. He goes upstairs and complains about the noise and the mess Eddie has been making over the past few days, but Eddie slams the door in his face and checks the bodies he has hidden under the floorboards. Mr. Jefferies hammers on the door so Eddie lets him in, then kills him.
The ghost in the mirror manifests itself in physical form, and explain that now it has been fed enough, but one more sacrifice must be made so he can be truly free to join the other immortals. He takes Eddies knife, and asks him to throw himself on it, which Eddie does without hesitation, killing himself in the process.
Years pass and the mirror sits on the wall while the flat has many different tenants, until one day, a young couple are having a party, and one young woman suggests that the mirror looks like it belongs in a mediums parlour and that they should hold a seance, the male host says that is a marvellous idea, and a seance is held, during which, Eddies ghostly face appears in the mirror.....
The owner of the shop shakes his head as he watches Eddie walk away with his new mirror, while outside, a shifty looking man hangs around in the street as though he is waiting for something.
Christopher Lowe (Ian Bannen ) walks up and starts looking at some medals the owner has on display, which causes the shifty man to walk off....
Story #2 "An act of Kindness"
Christopher Lowe is a boring man with a boring life. He is stuck in a middle management admin job that he hates, and his wife (Diana Dors ) is constantly nagging at him and belittling him in front of their young son, who also gives him no respect. One day while on his way home from work, he buys a pair of shoelaces from a peddler (Donald Pleasence ) after seeing him displaying a sign saying he is an ex-serviceman who fought in World War 2. Over dinner, his wife gives him a taste of her sharp tongue, saying that when she first met him he was a Sergeant in the army pay corps with a soft job and a civilian future, but now he is a boring little man with a crap job who doesnt earn much money. This causes Lowe to storm out childishly.
The next day, he strikes up a conversation with the peddler, and lies and tells him he was an officer in an infantry regiment, he even goes back to Temptations ltd and steals a distinguished service cross in order to impress the peddler, when the owner notices the medal missing, he simply tuts and says "naughty naughty!" The peddler, being suitably impressed, invites him to his home for a meal and a chat, which he happily accepts just so he can get away from his wife for a while.
At the peddlers home, he introduces himself as "Jim" and his daughter as "Emily" (played by Pleasences real life daughter Angela), and they sit down to have a nice, but somewhat awkward chat, where Emily recites passages from books she has memorised, albeit some rather strange and out of context passages of no relevance to the conversation.
Weeks pass, and Lowe spends more and more time round at Jims house, lying and saying he is working overtime whenever she asks where he has got to. He gives Emily a gift of a fake gold watch, which pleases her immensely, and admits that he is unhappy with his wife, as she spends most of her time playing bingo and gossiping with her friends instead of doing her wifely duties.
some time later, Emily appears in Lowe and his wifes bedroom as they are sleeping, and, while wearing a black veil, she produces a knife and makes as though she is going to stab the wife, but she wakes up screaming and says she has had abad dream, Emily is nowhere to be seen.
Lowe is having dinner with Jim and emily one night when Jim apologises and says he must leave early as he is meeting up with some old friends for a drink, and that Emily should be more than able to entertain him. Lowe is happy at this news as he has secretly fallen for Emilys rather strange beauty and creepy charms. As he eats the meal she has prepared for him, Emily walks around the flat, singing a very strange and discordant song, when he enquires about the song, she begins telling him he is a lonely man, and that his wife is not a wife to him, and that she wishes to serve him, and will do anything he commands her to.
Lowe wakes up in bed after having sex with Emily, he quickly dresses and follows her through to the lounge, where she lights a candle and produces a wax effigy of his wife, made using hair clippings and blood she had secretly gathered from his wife. She holds a knife to the effigies throat and asks Lowe if he wants her to finish it, when he refuses, she explains that every day they are still married his life will become more miserable, as she will not improve with age. Thinking its all just a bit of a game, he orders her to do whatever she wants, so she stabs the figure, causing blood to drip from the figures mouth.
Lowe is horrified and rushes home, to find that his wife is indeed dead, stabbed in the throat by a woman dressed in black. The doorbell rings, and Jim and Emily enter uninvited dressed in wedding garments, Jim salutes Lowe, and a wedding march begins playing.
Emily and Lowe marry, and on their wedding day, they celebrate with champagne, Lowe tells Emily to cut the wedding cake, and she asks if that is an order, to which he jokingly says, yes, she then asks Jim and Lowes son if they order it too, and they both say yes, so she takes a knife, but instead of cutting the cake, she chops down on the groom effigies head. Lowe collapses on to the table, blood gushing from a severe and fatal head wound.
Jim then says to Lowes son that they always answer childrens prayers, in one way or another....
The shop owner stands looking out of his shop window, and notices the shifty man still hanging around outside. The shifty man makes to enter the shop, but turns away as Reggie Warren comes walking down the street and enters the shop.
Story #3 "The Elemental"
Reggie Warren is a somewhat pompous businessman, when he enters the shop and finds it seemingly deserted, he opens one of the cabinets and looks at an antique silver snuff box, quickly replacing it when he sees the price tag of £40. He looks at another that has a price tag of £5, and quickly swaps the two tags over. the shop owner appears and asks if he can help him, to which Warren replies that he is looking for a snuff box, and he has his eye on one in particular (the £40 one). The owner gets the box out of the cabinet and checks the price, which now says £5, so warren agrees to buy it, even managing to get the owner to drop the price to £4. Pleased with his purchase, Warren bids the shop owner good day, and the shop owner says he hopes Warren enjoys snuffing it.
On the train home, Warren is set about by a dotty old woman who tells him he has a nasty looking elemental sat on his shoulder, this particular one is unusual because although it is sexually frustrated and greedy like most elementals, this one is willing to kill to get what it wants. Warren doesnt believe such rubbish, but the woman, who introduces herself as Madam Orloff, "Clarvoyant Extrraordinaire!", insists that he takes her card, as he will more than likely have need of her services soon.
At home, Warren notices that all of a sudden his dog becomes hostile towards him, and, while talking with his wife, she suddenly shouts at him for hitting her, even though he was nowhere near her.
that night in bed, his wife complains that he is holding her hand too tight, and that he needs to cut his nails, even though he isnt touching her, she then begins to choke, as though something is strangling her, which she assumes was him.
Realising they have a serious problem, Warren calls Madam Orloff, and she comes straight away.
Seeing that the elemental has grown, and intends to take over Warrens body, Madam Orloff says they will need to exorsize the beast immediately, so, to wit, she gets Warren to sit in a chair and begins chanting various ridiculous verses, which she says may seem unusual but they help her to focus her psychic powers.
As the exorsism goes on, the house erupts into chaos, with winds randomly blowing through the doors and windows and things moving and exploding all around them. Mid way through the exorsism, Madam Orloff requests a glass of whisky, and while his wife fetches it, she gives him a warning that his wife is the sort of person who will attract evil spirits like a magnet. The exorsism is eventually successful and the elemental leaves Warrens body, so madam Orloff leaves after being in the house for less than 10 minutes and demanding an enormous fee for it, but nontheless Warren says he feels much better.
After tidying the house up, and the dog returning to them, Warren and his wife settle down for a celebratory drink, but are disturbed by an ominous banging sound from upstairs, which puts the willies up both of them.
As he goes to investigate the sounds, a strange wind knocks Reggie down the stairs, causing him to black out.
When he comes to, he finds his wife standing over him glaring, he asks if she is alright, and she says, in a deep and other worldly sounding voice that he "denied her life", before she beats him to death with the fire poker and then leaves the house laughing.
The shop owner lights his pipe, and notices the shifty man still hanging around outside, this time, the man is looking extra fidgety, and fiddles with an iron bar that he has tucked up his sleeve. As he crosses the road to enter the shop, he bumps into Will Seaton (Ian Ogilvy ) as he too makes his way into the shop. The shifty man quickly runs away....
Story #4 "The Door"
Will tells the shop owner he has his eye on an antique door that he has in, and the owner explains that it is a very old antique that he rescued form an old house that was being demolished. He tells him the price for the door is £50, but Will says all he can afford is £40, the shop owner agrees to sell it him and takes his name and address, before putting the money in the till, which he leaves open, displaying that it is full of cash, while he goes through the back to get Bill a receipt. As Will leaves the store, The owner begins to slowly count the money in the till.
The door is delivered to Wills house, where he tells his wife he intends to redecorate his study and replace the door to the stationary cupboard with the antique one he bought, his wife wonders what such a grand old thing would have been the door to, which she eventually speculates that it was a big old fashioned room, which was all painted blue.
The door is put in place, and while admiring it, Will notices that the door appears to have blood stains on it, but it soon comes off when he cleans it.
That night, Will feels the sudden urge to walk up and open the door, which when he does, is surprised to see that instead of being his stationary cupboard beyond it, there is a grand old fashioned blue room.
He enters and explores the room, finding firstly a painting on the wall depicting a man wearing what appears to be a civil war era cavalier costume, and secondly what appears to be a large leather bound journal of some kind. He is about to read from the book, when he is scared off by the sound of approaching footsteps from one of the rooms internal doors. He leaves quickly and slams the door behind him, but then when he reopens it, he finds his stationary cupboard has reappeared.
His wife says he is mad when he tells her about it, but that night while Will is working, the door opens by itself, once again leading to the blue room, this time, he makes straight for the book and begins reading.
The book is entitled "An experiment in darkness" by "Sir Michael Sinclair".
From reading the book, Will finds that the room was created using evil magic by Sir Michael Sinclair in 1683, a time when if anyone of the lower classes was caught using or even speaking about magic, they would be burned at the stake for witchcraft, but he, as a nobleman and friend of the king, was immune to such punishment. The book goes on to explain that the room, and thus Sinclair himself, will exist forever, so long as the spell which keeps the room in existence is maintained by offering a blood sacrifice every so often to the door, which Sinclair prefers to be a woman, as their life essence is more potent.
Will flees when he hears Sinclair approach, but runs into his wife, who has come to see what is going on. Sinclair himself emerges from the doorway and grabs the woman, challenging Will to follow him, as "two souls are better than one". Will grabs an axe and begins smashing the door with it, each stroke causing Sinclair pain and the room to be damaged in some way. When Sinclair appears incapacitated, Will rushes in to rescue his wife, but Sinclair stops him and wrestles him to the ground. Will tells his wife to use the axe to break the door, which she does, eventually causing Sinclair himself to collapse. Will grabs the axe and smashes the door off its hinges, which causes the room beyond to totally collapse, and Sinclair to rot away to dust.
At the shop, the owner finishes counting the money in the till, and is happy that Will didnt steal any after all.
The shifty man finally enters the shop, closing the door queity as he does, and he finds the owner loading a pair of flintlock pistols with live ammunition. The owner asks him to hold one of the pistols while he loads the other, but once it is loaded, the shifty man grabs it and demands the owner hand over all of his money. The owner refuses to co operate and begins advancing on the would be robber meanacingly, so he opens fire, but none of his shots cause the owner any harm. Backing off in terror, the shifty man falls into an iron maiden which closes in on top of him. the shop owner then sits down on top of it and calmly lights his pipe and says 2the love of money is the root of all evil". The shop door opens, and the owner welcomes the new customers, saying that he has something for everyone, but, theres a free novelty surprise with every purchase........
Tuesday, 19 March 2013
Amicus Horror Anthologies - Vault Of Horror (1973)
During the 60s and 70s, British film makers Amicus productions made a
series of films containing several short horror stories, linked by a
framing story.
Starring many big names (for the time), these low/medium budget films told several stories mainly concerning ghosts and the supernatural in a typically British way, and usually featured some sort of twist ending.
The sixth of these films was 1974's "Vault of Horror", which contained a mix of stories from the "Tales from the crypt" and "Vault of Horror" comics.
Framing Story
Five men meet as they descend in a lift ( Daniel Massey , Terry-Thomas , Curd Jurgens , Michael Craig and Tom Baker ), which they are expecting to take them to the ground floor, however something goes wrong and they find themselves deposited in one of the buildings sub basements. Finding the room they end up in to be well furnished with chairs and drink, they assume that it is some sort of gentleman's club and make themselves at home while they wait for assistance to arrive. They begin talking to pass the time, and eventually the conversation comes around to the subject of dreams, horrible ones in particular. One by one, the men recount their tales....
Story #1 "Midnight Mess"
Harold Rodgers (Massey) has hired a shady private detective (Mike Pratt ) to find his sister Donna (played by Daniel Masseys real life sister Anna Massey ) . Upon handing over the information and demanding payment, the detective is killed by Rodgers.
Rodgers travels to meet with his sister, finding her living in an out of the way village, where as soon as he gets there, a local warns him to get inside as it will be dark soon. Rodgers ignores the friendly warning and goes to get something to eat in a local restaurant, which he finds almost deserted when he enters. He asks for the menu, but is told that the place is closing for the night, as "they come out in the dark".
Rodgers leaves in disgust and makes for his sisters address, she isnt pleased to see him but invites him in anyway. He explains that he has been searching for her for a long time, and says he just wants to see her. She says his intentions are nothing of the sort and all he is after is her money. He asks why she would hide away in a place like this where everyone is afraid of the dark, but she explains that thus far, 17 people have been found with all their blood drained from them. Donna asks once again for him to tell her his reasons for wanting to see her, and he explains that their father died four weeks ago and left everything to her in his will, and so long as she is alive, she is a rich woman. He then produces a knife and quickly kills her in a flurry of crazed stabs.
As he stands outside her house, laughing at his good fortune, he notices a group of people entering the restaurant that was closed only a few minutes ago, so, now hungrier than ever, he decides to try his luck there again, this time finding the place bustling with customers.
The waiter recommends the special of the day so he orders it, noticing that everyone around him seems to be enjoying their meals.
The waiter brings him an aperitif, which he believes is tomato juice, but he sends it back after not enjoying the taste, so he is presented with his soup course, which again he remarks to the waiter that its flavour is unusual. The waiter asks him how he would like his "roast clots", rare, medium or well done, he asks what the waiter means, and is told that he means roast blood clots. Rodgers suddenly realises that his "soup" is actually blood and tries to get up, but the waiter forces him to sit back down and pulls back a curtain which is hiding a large mirror. None of the restaurants customers or staff, except him, cast a reflection in it, because all the assembled people apart from himself are vampires.
Two of the vampires rush off to close the curtains and lock the doors, while the rest of them eye him up with evil grins on their faces, then Donna appears, holding the knife that only a few minutes earlier he had stabbed her to death with.
Rodgers cries out in fear off camera, and, after Donna has descended the stairs, two female vampires, now sporting fangs, talk about how "the fresh stuff" is much better than the "frozen stuff" as they sip blood from glasses. Donna asks for a glass too, and laughs as her brother is shown hanging upside down from a hook in the ceiling with a tap attached to his jugular vein from which the waiter fills the assembled grinning vampires glasses with fresh blood, literally "straight from the tap".
Rodgers says his dream is silly, but for some reason he has it all the time. When asked by Critchit if he really does have a sister, he looks at the floor and says a simple "no", before asking Critchit what his dreams are like....
Story #2 "The Neat Job"
Arthur Critchit (Thomas) is an obsessive neat freak. Over dinner with one of his friends, he announces that after amassing a large fortune with a good home filled with lots of stuff, he plans to marry, as he needs someone to keep house for him. The woman he marries is Eleanor, a much younger woman who, in spite of Critchits expectations, is very messy and inept.
His continual nagging and belittleing of her over the most inconsequencial matters of neatness causes some upset, and, she reveals to her friend, she only married him for his money.
The last straw for her occurs when Arthur comes home from work to find she has messed up his woodworking bench by emptying out all of his screws while looking for a nail to rehang a picture on the wall. He screams and nags at her, so, in response, she caves his skull in with a hammer.
Later, Eleanor explains to Arthur that she has done just as he asked, and "everything is in its place, and theres a place for everything" before bursting out laughing. The camera pulls back to show that she has dismembered his corpse and placed the various pieces into a series of neatly stacked and ordered jars.
Critchit explains to Moore (Baker) that he is no more neater than anyone else, but yet, his dream seems so real, Sebastian (Jurgens) says he knows the feeling...
Story #3 "This Trick'll Kill you!"
Sebastian and his wife are on holiday in India, while there they search for new tricks to use in Sebatstians day job as a magician. None of the tricks he sees performed by any of the street fakirs impresses him until he sees a woman using a flute to charm a piece of rope out of a basket so it stands solid and erect in the air, with no discernable way of holding it up there, he is even more astonished when she shimmys up it and hangs in mid air. He offers the woman a large sum of money if she will tell him how the trick works, but she refuses and says that there is no trickery involved, the rope itself is magic. He offers to buy the rope, but she refuses and says that the rope has been passed down from mother to daughter for centuries.
Angry that the woman will not tell him her secrets, he hatches a plan to get them. He approaches the woman and says that he will pay her if she comes to their hotel room and shows his wife the magic, however when the woman comes, she performs the trick, and Sebastian stabs her.
Try as they might, neither Sebastian or his wife can figure out how the rope works, but when Sebastian plays a few notes on the flute, the rope begins to rise. His wife climbs the rope and finds that it is solid enough to take her weight, but then she screams and vanishes into thin air, and blood begins to drip from the ceiling just above where the rope hangs. Sebastian tries to run away, but the rope prevents his every effort to leave by whipping around the room, eventually, it coils around his neck and strangles him.
In the market, the fakir that Sebastian humiliated earlier performs his "magic basket" trick, while his assistant, the woman Sebastian killed earlier, plays her flute....
The other men sit in silence as Sebastian finishes his tale by saying that he doesnt believe in ghosts, as they are just illusions created by magicians.
Maitland (Craig) says that he too has a similar experience to share...
Story #4 "Bargain in Death"
Maitland and his friend Alex have hatched a plot where Maitland will fake his own death in order to claim the payout on his life insurance. The plan goes that he will take a drug which will make him appear dead, and then after he is buried, Alex will dig him up and they will both be rich. The plan goes swimmingly, until Alex decides to double cross Maitland and leave him buried in a coffin. Meanwhile, two medical students pay a grave robber to steal a fresh corpse for them to dissect. The grave robber digs up Maitlands grave, and as he cracks open the coffin, Maitland bursts out gasping for air, which causes the medical students to run out of the graveyard into the road, where they cause Alexs car to crash as he passes to bid a sarcastic farewell to his "friend". The grave robber, eager to get paid for his work, approaches the two students and demands payment, apologising for the damage to the bodies head, then Maitland is shown still lying in his coffin, albeit now with a massive and fatal head wound.
Critchit denounces the tale as preposterous, and when Moore questions it, he is told to tell his tale...
Story #5 "Drawn and Quartered"
Moore (Baker) is a struggling artist living on the island of Haiti. Even though he produces a lot of work, he is told by his agent that his work is considered rubbish by one of Londons leading art critics. One day, one of Moores old friends turns up and during idle conversation reveals that Moores paintings, far from being worthless, are actually selling for large amounts of money back home.
Moor visits a witch doctor and asks if he can use Voodoo to get revenge on those who have wronged him, the witch doctor tells him to put the hand he paints with into his cooking pot. Moore sarcastically asks if he needs a little doll to stick pins into, but the witch doctor tells him he is an artist, so he doesnt need one, Moore pays the man but leaves thinking he has been ripped off.
Later, Moore does a sketch of a vase, which he messes up, as he tosses the paper in the bin, the vase breaks. He then makes a quick pencil sketch of a piece of bread, and when he rubs a corner off his drawing, a rat comes in and eats the corresponding corner of the bread. Finally, he makes a red mark on the face of a self portrait he painted earlier, and is surprised when nothing happens, but later, after a restless sleep, he awakes and finds that his face now bears a wound in exactly the same place as he made the mark.
Borrowing money from his friend, he flies back to London, taking the self portrait along with him.
Setting up an art studio in the home he lived in before he moved to Haiti, he locks the picture of himself inside a safe, so no harm can come to him while he sets about his task.
He then confronts the three men who swindled him, his agent, an art critic and a publisher, none of whom apologise for what they have done, and laugh him out of the office.
He paints portraits of the three men, all looking smug, and then, adressing the pictures in turn, as though they were real people, he outlines his revenge.
For Fenton the art critic, he states that because he saw his pictures and then lied about their value to the public, his punishment will be to never see another picture again, and he gouges out the pictures eyes...
....Fenton argues with his wife over whether he is having an affair or not, and more or less admits that he is, and intends to go on doing so, in response, his wife throws acid in his face, blinding him....
Gaskill, the art dealer, is told that because he used his hands to handle the paintings and sell them for a lot more than he had been told that they were worth, he will never handle anything again, and then he cuts the bottom of the picture, containing Gaskills hands, off...
....Gaskill belittles a young clerk who is having trouble using the guillotine to cut some card, and shows him how to do it. On his second demonstration, the guillotine drops down before Gaskill can get his hands out of the way, chopping them both off at the wrists....
His agent, Mr Diltant, is told that he can wait until tomorrow.
Diltant reads the news of his co-conspirators accidents in the paper, and gets a little worried. Moore turns up unannounced at his office and demands to speak with him, Dilitant tells his secretary to let him in, and then to go home. Moore enters carrying Dilitants portrait and, afte rplacing his watch on dilitants desk, he tells him he has precisely two minutes to live. Dilitant pulls a gun out of his pocket, but Moore tells him he just wants to show him something, and removes a red felt tip pen from his pocket, which he then uses to paint a red dot on the portraits forehead. dilitant looks puzzled at first, but then realises with horror that the hand he is holding the gun in is now aiming the gun at his own head, and Moore, sporting a cheeky grin, watches with delight as Dilitant shoots himself in the head.
Moore then struggles to breathe, and, remembering the safe he locked his self portrait in was airtight, he rushes home and lets air into the safe by opening its heavy door. Once he is alright again, he places his self portrait on an easel under the skylight in his art room, but then as he checks his watch, he remembers he left it behind in Dilitants office, and rushes out to try and get it back, as its very presence there could implicate him in Dilitants murder.
A workman who is painting a sign above the skylight gets a little careless and kicks a can of paint stripper off his platform, which falls and smashes through the skylight and douses the self portrait, destroying it. At the same moment, Moore is crushed under the wheels of a truck as he runs across the road to hail a taxi....
The men discuss how their dreams could be warnings of something that could happen, when all of a sudden, the lift they came down in pings, and the doors open. They enter the lift and instead find themselves standing in a graveyard.
One by one, all the men except Sebastian silently file towards their own graves, where they vanish. Sebastian explains that every night for all eternity, they are forced to tell their stories to each other as punishment for what they did when they were alive. Sebastian then makes his way to his own grave, and vanishes....
Starring many big names (for the time), these low/medium budget films told several stories mainly concerning ghosts and the supernatural in a typically British way, and usually featured some sort of twist ending.
The sixth of these films was 1974's "Vault of Horror", which contained a mix of stories from the "Tales from the crypt" and "Vault of Horror" comics.
Framing Story
Five men meet as they descend in a lift ( Daniel Massey , Terry-Thomas , Curd Jurgens , Michael Craig and Tom Baker ), which they are expecting to take them to the ground floor, however something goes wrong and they find themselves deposited in one of the buildings sub basements. Finding the room they end up in to be well furnished with chairs and drink, they assume that it is some sort of gentleman's club and make themselves at home while they wait for assistance to arrive. They begin talking to pass the time, and eventually the conversation comes around to the subject of dreams, horrible ones in particular. One by one, the men recount their tales....
Story #1 "Midnight Mess"
Harold Rodgers (Massey) has hired a shady private detective (Mike Pratt ) to find his sister Donna (played by Daniel Masseys real life sister Anna Massey ) . Upon handing over the information and demanding payment, the detective is killed by Rodgers.
Rodgers travels to meet with his sister, finding her living in an out of the way village, where as soon as he gets there, a local warns him to get inside as it will be dark soon. Rodgers ignores the friendly warning and goes to get something to eat in a local restaurant, which he finds almost deserted when he enters. He asks for the menu, but is told that the place is closing for the night, as "they come out in the dark".
Rodgers leaves in disgust and makes for his sisters address, she isnt pleased to see him but invites him in anyway. He explains that he has been searching for her for a long time, and says he just wants to see her. She says his intentions are nothing of the sort and all he is after is her money. He asks why she would hide away in a place like this where everyone is afraid of the dark, but she explains that thus far, 17 people have been found with all their blood drained from them. Donna asks once again for him to tell her his reasons for wanting to see her, and he explains that their father died four weeks ago and left everything to her in his will, and so long as she is alive, she is a rich woman. He then produces a knife and quickly kills her in a flurry of crazed stabs.
As he stands outside her house, laughing at his good fortune, he notices a group of people entering the restaurant that was closed only a few minutes ago, so, now hungrier than ever, he decides to try his luck there again, this time finding the place bustling with customers.
The waiter recommends the special of the day so he orders it, noticing that everyone around him seems to be enjoying their meals.
The waiter brings him an aperitif, which he believes is tomato juice, but he sends it back after not enjoying the taste, so he is presented with his soup course, which again he remarks to the waiter that its flavour is unusual. The waiter asks him how he would like his "roast clots", rare, medium or well done, he asks what the waiter means, and is told that he means roast blood clots. Rodgers suddenly realises that his "soup" is actually blood and tries to get up, but the waiter forces him to sit back down and pulls back a curtain which is hiding a large mirror. None of the restaurants customers or staff, except him, cast a reflection in it, because all the assembled people apart from himself are vampires.
Two of the vampires rush off to close the curtains and lock the doors, while the rest of them eye him up with evil grins on their faces, then Donna appears, holding the knife that only a few minutes earlier he had stabbed her to death with.
Rodgers cries out in fear off camera, and, after Donna has descended the stairs, two female vampires, now sporting fangs, talk about how "the fresh stuff" is much better than the "frozen stuff" as they sip blood from glasses. Donna asks for a glass too, and laughs as her brother is shown hanging upside down from a hook in the ceiling with a tap attached to his jugular vein from which the waiter fills the assembled grinning vampires glasses with fresh blood, literally "straight from the tap".
Rodgers says his dream is silly, but for some reason he has it all the time. When asked by Critchit if he really does have a sister, he looks at the floor and says a simple "no", before asking Critchit what his dreams are like....
Story #2 "The Neat Job"
Arthur Critchit (Thomas) is an obsessive neat freak. Over dinner with one of his friends, he announces that after amassing a large fortune with a good home filled with lots of stuff, he plans to marry, as he needs someone to keep house for him. The woman he marries is Eleanor, a much younger woman who, in spite of Critchits expectations, is very messy and inept.
His continual nagging and belittleing of her over the most inconsequencial matters of neatness causes some upset, and, she reveals to her friend, she only married him for his money.
The last straw for her occurs when Arthur comes home from work to find she has messed up his woodworking bench by emptying out all of his screws while looking for a nail to rehang a picture on the wall. He screams and nags at her, so, in response, she caves his skull in with a hammer.
Later, Eleanor explains to Arthur that she has done just as he asked, and "everything is in its place, and theres a place for everything" before bursting out laughing. The camera pulls back to show that she has dismembered his corpse and placed the various pieces into a series of neatly stacked and ordered jars.
Critchit explains to Moore (Baker) that he is no more neater than anyone else, but yet, his dream seems so real, Sebastian (Jurgens) says he knows the feeling...
Story #3 "This Trick'll Kill you!"
Sebastian and his wife are on holiday in India, while there they search for new tricks to use in Sebatstians day job as a magician. None of the tricks he sees performed by any of the street fakirs impresses him until he sees a woman using a flute to charm a piece of rope out of a basket so it stands solid and erect in the air, with no discernable way of holding it up there, he is even more astonished when she shimmys up it and hangs in mid air. He offers the woman a large sum of money if she will tell him how the trick works, but she refuses and says that there is no trickery involved, the rope itself is magic. He offers to buy the rope, but she refuses and says that the rope has been passed down from mother to daughter for centuries.
Angry that the woman will not tell him her secrets, he hatches a plan to get them. He approaches the woman and says that he will pay her if she comes to their hotel room and shows his wife the magic, however when the woman comes, she performs the trick, and Sebastian stabs her.
Try as they might, neither Sebastian or his wife can figure out how the rope works, but when Sebastian plays a few notes on the flute, the rope begins to rise. His wife climbs the rope and finds that it is solid enough to take her weight, but then she screams and vanishes into thin air, and blood begins to drip from the ceiling just above where the rope hangs. Sebastian tries to run away, but the rope prevents his every effort to leave by whipping around the room, eventually, it coils around his neck and strangles him.
In the market, the fakir that Sebastian humiliated earlier performs his "magic basket" trick, while his assistant, the woman Sebastian killed earlier, plays her flute....
The other men sit in silence as Sebastian finishes his tale by saying that he doesnt believe in ghosts, as they are just illusions created by magicians.
Maitland (Craig) says that he too has a similar experience to share...
Story #4 "Bargain in Death"
Maitland and his friend Alex have hatched a plot where Maitland will fake his own death in order to claim the payout on his life insurance. The plan goes that he will take a drug which will make him appear dead, and then after he is buried, Alex will dig him up and they will both be rich. The plan goes swimmingly, until Alex decides to double cross Maitland and leave him buried in a coffin. Meanwhile, two medical students pay a grave robber to steal a fresh corpse for them to dissect. The grave robber digs up Maitlands grave, and as he cracks open the coffin, Maitland bursts out gasping for air, which causes the medical students to run out of the graveyard into the road, where they cause Alexs car to crash as he passes to bid a sarcastic farewell to his "friend". The grave robber, eager to get paid for his work, approaches the two students and demands payment, apologising for the damage to the bodies head, then Maitland is shown still lying in his coffin, albeit now with a massive and fatal head wound.
Critchit denounces the tale as preposterous, and when Moore questions it, he is told to tell his tale...
Story #5 "Drawn and Quartered"
Moore (Baker) is a struggling artist living on the island of Haiti. Even though he produces a lot of work, he is told by his agent that his work is considered rubbish by one of Londons leading art critics. One day, one of Moores old friends turns up and during idle conversation reveals that Moores paintings, far from being worthless, are actually selling for large amounts of money back home.
Moor visits a witch doctor and asks if he can use Voodoo to get revenge on those who have wronged him, the witch doctor tells him to put the hand he paints with into his cooking pot. Moore sarcastically asks if he needs a little doll to stick pins into, but the witch doctor tells him he is an artist, so he doesnt need one, Moore pays the man but leaves thinking he has been ripped off.
Later, Moore does a sketch of a vase, which he messes up, as he tosses the paper in the bin, the vase breaks. He then makes a quick pencil sketch of a piece of bread, and when he rubs a corner off his drawing, a rat comes in and eats the corresponding corner of the bread. Finally, he makes a red mark on the face of a self portrait he painted earlier, and is surprised when nothing happens, but later, after a restless sleep, he awakes and finds that his face now bears a wound in exactly the same place as he made the mark.
Borrowing money from his friend, he flies back to London, taking the self portrait along with him.
Setting up an art studio in the home he lived in before he moved to Haiti, he locks the picture of himself inside a safe, so no harm can come to him while he sets about his task.
He then confronts the three men who swindled him, his agent, an art critic and a publisher, none of whom apologise for what they have done, and laugh him out of the office.
He paints portraits of the three men, all looking smug, and then, adressing the pictures in turn, as though they were real people, he outlines his revenge.
For Fenton the art critic, he states that because he saw his pictures and then lied about their value to the public, his punishment will be to never see another picture again, and he gouges out the pictures eyes...
....Fenton argues with his wife over whether he is having an affair or not, and more or less admits that he is, and intends to go on doing so, in response, his wife throws acid in his face, blinding him....
Gaskill, the art dealer, is told that because he used his hands to handle the paintings and sell them for a lot more than he had been told that they were worth, he will never handle anything again, and then he cuts the bottom of the picture, containing Gaskills hands, off...
....Gaskill belittles a young clerk who is having trouble using the guillotine to cut some card, and shows him how to do it. On his second demonstration, the guillotine drops down before Gaskill can get his hands out of the way, chopping them both off at the wrists....
His agent, Mr Diltant, is told that he can wait until tomorrow.
Diltant reads the news of his co-conspirators accidents in the paper, and gets a little worried. Moore turns up unannounced at his office and demands to speak with him, Dilitant tells his secretary to let him in, and then to go home. Moore enters carrying Dilitants portrait and, afte rplacing his watch on dilitants desk, he tells him he has precisely two minutes to live. Dilitant pulls a gun out of his pocket, but Moore tells him he just wants to show him something, and removes a red felt tip pen from his pocket, which he then uses to paint a red dot on the portraits forehead. dilitant looks puzzled at first, but then realises with horror that the hand he is holding the gun in is now aiming the gun at his own head, and Moore, sporting a cheeky grin, watches with delight as Dilitant shoots himself in the head.
Moore then struggles to breathe, and, remembering the safe he locked his self portrait in was airtight, he rushes home and lets air into the safe by opening its heavy door. Once he is alright again, he places his self portrait on an easel under the skylight in his art room, but then as he checks his watch, he remembers he left it behind in Dilitants office, and rushes out to try and get it back, as its very presence there could implicate him in Dilitants murder.
A workman who is painting a sign above the skylight gets a little careless and kicks a can of paint stripper off his platform, which falls and smashes through the skylight and douses the self portrait, destroying it. At the same moment, Moore is crushed under the wheels of a truck as he runs across the road to hail a taxi....
The men discuss how their dreams could be warnings of something that could happen, when all of a sudden, the lift they came down in pings, and the doors open. They enter the lift and instead find themselves standing in a graveyard.
One by one, all the men except Sebastian silently file towards their own graves, where they vanish. Sebastian explains that every night for all eternity, they are forced to tell their stories to each other as punishment for what they did when they were alive. Sebastian then makes his way to his own grave, and vanishes....
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