USA, UK, 1972
97m
35mm film, Technicolor
mono, English
A British anthology horror film directed by Kevin Connor.
Plot Summary
The proprietor of the London antiques shop Temptations Ltd the macabre stories of four customers who try to cheat him or steal from him. In The Gatecrasher, a man who buys an antique mirror at a knockdown price and is soon possessed by a strange figure reflected in it; An Act of Kindness finds a man stealing a military medal in order to impress a match-seller. But when he meets the match-seller's strange daughter, he lives just long enough to regret both his crime and the mis-treatment of his young son; The Elemental is the supernatural creature that's pursuing a man who cons the antique shop owner into selling a snuff box at a lower price; and in The Door, a writer who buys an antique door finds that it opens into a 17th century room where an evil sorceror has achieved immortality through human sacrifice. At the climax, the antique dealer confronts an armed robber.
Credits
Crew
Directed by: Kevin Connor
© MCMLXXIII [1973] by Warner Bros. Inc.
An Amicus production
Produced by: Max J. Rosenberg and Milton Subotsky
Screenplay by: Robin Clarke and Raymond Christodoulou
Based on Stories by: R. Chetwynd-Hayes
Director of Photography: Alan Hume
Editor: John Ireland
Music Composed and Conducted by: Douglas Gamley
Sound Mixer: Peter Handford
Wardrobe Supervisor: John Hilling
Chief Make-Up: Neville Smallwood
Chief Hairdresser: Mibs Parker
Production Designer: Maurice Carter
Cast
Ian Bannen (Christopher Lowe)
Ian Carmichael (Reggie Warren)
Peter Cushing (the proprietor)
Diana Dors (Mabel Lowe)
Margaret Leighton (Madame Orloff)
Donald Pleasence ([Jim] Underwood)
Nyree Dawn Porter (Susan Warren)
David Warner (Edward Charlton)
Ian Ogilvy (William Seaton)
Lesley Anne Down (Rosemary Seaton)
Jack Watson (Sir Michael Sinclair)
Angela Pleasence (Emily)
Wendy Allnutt (Pamela)
Rosalind Ayres (prostitute)
Tommy Godfrey [Mr Jeffries]
Ben Howard [thief]
John O'Farrell [Stephen Lowe]
Marcel Steiner [face in the mirror]
Alternative Titles
La bottega che vendeva la morte – Italian title
Creatures – US reissue title
Creatures from Beyond the Grave
Frissons d'outre-tombe – French title
Tales from Beyond the Grave
Tales from the Beyond
Die Tür ins Jenseits – German title
The Undead
Links
The film was reviewed in the 26 February 1974 of the BBC's Film '74.
Press
1974
Cinema TV Today no.10072 (2 March 1974) pp.22-23
Adapted from better source material than its immediate Amicus predecessors, with scripts that are tinged with wit, and with a first rate cast none of whom (with one very honourable exception) is a horror hokum regular. The first story is a shambles, literally and metaphorically, with continuity that goes as berserk as the girl-slashing Edward. But the second and third stories are excellent; the fourth is adequately eerie; and the linking material is relevant to the whole and brings the film to a neat and amusing conclusion. Two wins, two draws and one lost puts From Beyond the Grave at the top of the Second Division – from a review by Marjorie Bilbow
Monthly Film Bulletin vol.41 no.483 (April 1974) p.72
[T]he stale repetition of trite supernatural themes demonstrates the limitations of Amicus' basic approach, and the reasons why – despite so many attempts – they have yet to come up with anything as good as Ealing's Dead of Night. A uniquely feeble link-story hinges together a script in which no attention at all is paid to character, exposition or dialogue, with the result that everything is dependent on the limited visual suspense of the material. […] If Amicus would only worry less about cramming an endless number of distinguished corpses into their material (here David Warner, Ian Bannen, Diana Dors, Ian Carmichael and Nyree Dawn Porter are among the victims), and concentrate instead on establishing good atmospheric settings, their films would improve out of all recognition. From his handling of the second episode it would seem that Kevin Connor, here making his first film, deserves more promising feature material. – from a review by David Pirie
References
Periodicals
Castle of Frankenstein no.23 p.47
Cinefantastique vol.4 no.4 (Winter 1976) pp.25, 26 – illustrated credits, review (by Frederick S. Clarke)
CinemaTV Today no.10024 (24 March 1973) p.22 – note (More films from six-feet under)
CinemaTV Today no.10037 (23 June 1973) p.36 – credits
CinemaTV Today no.10072 (2 March 1974) pp.22-23 – review (by Marjorie Bilbow)
Film Review Digest vol.1 no.4 (Summer 1976) pp.379-380 – review
Filmfacts vol.19 no.1 (1976) pp.19-21 – reprinted review
Flesh and Blood no.3 (1994) p.34 – credits, review (1973)
The Hollywood Reporter vol.226 no.8 (June 1973) p.12 – credits
Monthly Film Bulletin vol.41 no.483 (April 1974) p.72 – credits, synopsis, review (by David Pirie)
Shivers no.36 pp.27-28 – illustrated review
Books
Amicus: The Studio That Dripped Blood pp.126-137 – illustrated credits, review, production notes
The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror by Phil Hardy (ed.) p.276
Comedy-Horror Films: A Chronological History, 1914-2008 by Bruce G. Hallenbeck pp.216-217 – credits
English Gothic: A Century of Horror Cinema by Jonathan Rigby pp.165, 249, 249-50, 320
Euro Gothic: Classics of Continental Horror Cinema by Jonathan Rigby p.17
Hoffman's Guide to SF, Horror and Fantasy 1991-1992 p.146 – credits, review
Horror and Science Fiction Films II by Donald C. Willis p.144 – credits
Horror Films of the 1970s by John Kenneth Muir pp.272-274 – credits, synopsis, review
Peter Cushing: The Gentle Man of Horror and His 91 Films by Deborah Del Vecchio and Tom Johnson pp.335-341
Reference Guide to Fantastic Films by Walt Lee p.473 – credits
Uneasy Dreams: The Golden Age of British Horror Films, 1956-1976 by Gary A. Smith pp.110-111
