The Vault of Horror (1973)
Cast: Terry-Thomas, Dawn Addams, Denholm Elliott, Curt Jurgens, Tom Baker, Michael Craig, Terence Alexander, Glynis Johns, Mike Pratt, Robin Nedwell, Geoffrey Davies, Daniel Massey and Anna Massey
Director: Roy Ward Baker
Nutshell:  More typical Amicus style comic book inspired tales of the macabre – more miss than hit this time around.
Reviewed by Omar Khan

 

Following the enormous success of the superb Tales from the Crypt, Amicus Films returned to the familiar EC Comics format with The Vault of Horror, another anthology of macabre tales linked together by a framing story. On its own merits, it is a perfectly watchable compendium of horror shorts. Unfortunately, it has the misfortune of following one of the greatest anthology films ever made, and the comparison is not a flattering one.

Where Tales from the Crypt offered stories that were imaginative, atmospheric, genuinely chilling and often morally satisfying, The Vault of Horror settles for tales that feel considerably lighter and far more superficial. The stories rarely linger in the memory and lack both the craftsmanship and the wicked sting that made its predecessor so enjoyable.

The film boasts a respectable cast, but the individual segments never quite rise to the occasion. Neither particularly frightening nor especially thought-provoking, they simply drift by without ever generating much suspense or atmosphere.

The opening story begins promisingly enough, following a greedy opportunist determined to inherit his father's fortune by any means necessary. It hints at an entertaining morality tale but soon descends into increasingly silly territory, abandoning its potential for an abrupt and rather unsatisfying conclusion.

The second segment, featuring Terry-Thomas, is considerably more entertaining. He plays an obsessively regimented control freak whose poor wife is subjected to his endless rituals, rigid routines and impossible demands. Inevitably she reaches breaking point, and while the build-up is enjoyable, the eventual payoff feels disappointingly rushed and lacks the delicious irony one expects from an EC-style story.

The third tale concerns a magician and his wife searching India for fresh inspiration. They stumble across the famous Indian rope trick and promptly decide to steal it for their own act. The sequence also contains one of those embarrassingly familiar examples of British cinema from the period, with an English actress attempting an Indian accent in a manner that now feels hopelessly dated. It immediately recalls Peter Sellers' broad caricature in The Party, a reminder of attitudes that were regrettably commonplace in British film and television throughout the 1960s and 1970s.

Unfortunately, the story itself is no better.

The famous rope trick should have provided one of the anthology's visual highlights, yet the supporting wires are so blatantly visible that the illusion collapses completely. One has to make allowances for the limitations of early-1970s special effects, but even by the standards of the day the effect looks remarkably amateurish. The entire episode feels lightweight, childish and ultimately rather pointless.

The remaining stories fare slightly better, but none possesses the imagination, atmosphere or memorable sting found throughout Tales from the Crypt. They simply come and go without leaving much of an impression.

That, ultimately, is The Vault of Horror's greatest failing.

It isn't a bad film.

It simply lacks the resonance, wit, pathos and style of its remarkable predecessor. There isn't a single segment here that approaches the quality of the best stories from Tales from the Crypt, nor is there one that remains with you once the closing credits have rolled.

Viewed in isolation, The Vault of Horror is an agreeable enough seventy-odd minutes of vintage Amicus entertainment.

Viewed alongside Tales from the Crypt...

it is a considerable disappointment.

A significant step down from the standards its predecessor had set.