#2 - Tales from the Crypt (1972)
(dir. Freddie Francis)
Amicus Productions is often compared to Hammer Films, mostly because I think they were very clearly trying to copy Hammer's style and success. They are best remembered today for the series of seven anthology horror films they put out between 1965 and 1974, including films with fantastic names like "The House That Dripped Blood", "From Beyond the Grave", and most famously this one, "Tales from the Crypt".
The wraparound story is just about as bare-bones as possible - five strangers get lost while touring an ancient crypt, and encounter a mysterious hooded man who tells them the stories of how they died. The best story, "Poetic Justice", features Peter Cushing as an eccentric but kindly old man who is cruelly harassed by his neighbours, culminating in a very memorable Valentine's Day. Another highlight is the "Blind Alley" segment, where the abused members of a home for the blind take revenge on their ruthless supervisor. There are a couple of stinkers though, like the completely incompetent woman who kills her husband for insurance money, and is then killed herself by a psychotic Santa Claus (not nearly as good as it sounds).
If you like anthology horror, this one is definitely a classic and worth checking out. It does have a couple of lame segments, but "Poetic Justice" and "Blind Alley" are classics. Somewhat disappointingly, the decomposing puppet Crypt Keeper is nowhere to be seen here - a few of his awful puns would've added a lot to this film.
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