Production company Amicus is known for its slew of horror anthology flicks in the late 60's and early 70's and this one is probably their best known (although until Lions Gate's 2003 DVD release it wasn't exactly easy to find). As with 1972's Asylum; this takes a series of stories by Psycho author Robert Bloch and brings them to the screen as this ties together four different stories to an omnious house that falls under the gaze of a Scotland Yard inspector who's looking for a missing actor.

The first story has a horror novelist and his wife renting the house only for our writer (who's just started writing again after suffering from writer's block) to start getting haunted by the killer in his new work. Soon he's driven batty but there's more twists to it than that. This is the best story here and I like how the story has multiple red herrings to it; plus it's also interesting in that it pre-dates Stephen King's The Dark Half by a handful of years.

Secondly is a tale that has Peter Cushing as a retired stockbroker who rents the house for relaxation time only to be drawn to a wax museum (and mostly a figure that resembles a women he lusted after in the past) only for things to go wrong. This one is only so-so and is fairly under-developed with a closing scare that's given away on the box.

Fellow horror legend Christopher Lee shows up for the third story; a little ditty about Lee's odd little daughter who's brought out of her shell by her new teacher/nanny only for all sorts of voodoo madness to follow. Like the second tale this is a quiet story but it manages to work alright and is the second best effort here. Plus there's some nice mood to it also.

Last up is the weakest story as a famous horror actor moves into the house only to find a cloak he's bought for his latest vampire movie from an antiques store actually has the power to turn him into a true life bloodsucker. This causes all sorts of problems especially when co-actor (and, I guess, off-and-on girlfriend) Ingrid Pitt reveals a secret. Attempting for humour, this is a completely silly entry and should've been left out as it's too dopey to gell with the rest of the film and Pitt proves she's only good for showing off her cleavage (she can't act, that's for sure).

Overall this is a watchable time and while it isn't quite as good as Asylum it proves that Bloch's work makes for a decent batch of stories (save the last one), gives us two horror icons in small roles and plays better than a good share of the anthology flicks of the time (such as Tales That Witness Madness).

Directed By: Peter Duffell.
Written By: Robert Bloch.

Starring: Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Nyree Dawn Porter, Denholm Elliott.

Picture Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen.

Picture Quality: Considering the films age this has solid colours and good clarity despite being littered throughout with lots of film dirt and grain.

Extras: Considering there's people out there who were waiting for this on DVD this doesn't have tons of extras but there's an interesting interview with co-producer Max Rosenberg, a trailer and trailers for other Lions Gate releases (House Of 1000 Corpses, Cabin Fever and Beyond Re-Animator).