|
 |
| DIRECTED BY |
| Cavalcanti
|
| Robert Hamer |
| Charles Crichton |
| Basil Dearden |
| STARRING |
| Mervyn Johns |
| Googie Withers |
| Verna Bloom |
| Frederick Valk |
| Michael Redgrave |
 |
The whole mood and ambience of the film is just about destroyed by the inclusion of H.S. Wells�s completely ridiculous �Golfing Story.� When the film does sustain the appropriate mood and ambience of creepiness, however, it�s a great example of the subtle and thoughtful way with which many horror films from the mid-20th Century were constructed. The stories written by John Baines (�The Haunted Mirror� and �The Ventriloquist�s Dummy�) and respectively directed by Robert Hamer and Cavalcanti are easily the best in the film, although it�s a shame that the three other tales have much of a lesser impact.
Unfortunately, the quality of acting here is low, with the possible exceptions of Ralph Michael as the confused husband in �The Haunted Mirror� and Michael Redgrave � looking like an earlier version of Norman Bates � as the psychologically afflicted Maxwell Frere in �The Ventriloquist�s Dummy.� The final sequence of the �Linking Narrative� also includes a pretty good dream sequence that David Lynch would probably appreciate. Overall, the film is quite creative and I�d rather watch an old horror like this over the �Thirteen Ghosts� and �House of 1000 Corpses� of today any time.
| | |
