Tales That Witness Madness

This was actually the first UK portmanteau chiller of the 1970s I saw (on late night TV in the early 1980s). It hooked me into the genre and afterwards I loved seeing Asylum, The House that Dripped Blood, Vault of Horror, etc.

This one is cool and elegant. The tales are all fun and suspenseful, and the excellent framing story (featuring Donald Pleasence acting kind of loopy) lifts things.

The actors are great and seem to be having a ball. The story 'Mel' works especially well, and Joan Collins is great in it. Kim Novak and Mary Tamm are fun in 'Luau' too.

This is not one of those Amicus anthologies which present unexpected twists: three out of the four stories are utterly predictable from their initial set up. But then it's like one of those fairground rides - you see what you're going to get (eg a 25 foot vertical drop), but if you're into that sort of thing you can still get a thrill out of the ride (the last story in particular is quite unpleasant - watching it is like watching an unavoidable car accident in slow motion). While none of the acting is quite on the level that you get from Peter Cushing in particular in anthologies like 'The House that Dripped Blood' or 'Tales from the Crypt', it is consistently good (Joan Collins actually being more believable than in the silly story she appears in for 'Tales from the Crypt'), and Freddie Francis directs these with a good sense of atmosphere and character. One I wouldn't mind seeing again.

This stylish horror anthology, made by the same guy who directed the equally effective TALES FROM THE CRYPT a year before, packs a real punch. Each of the four stories are ghoulish and chillingly memorable. The first, MR. TIGER, concerns a little boy who introduces his feuding parents to his "imaginary" tiger. The second, PENNY FARTHING, is about an old-fashioned bicycle which sends its new owner back in time to unveil a sinister crime. The third, MEL(My favorite), has the beautiful and sexy Joan Collins struggling to keep her husband's wandering eyes on her and her alone. The twist is her competition is a tree!!!!! The fourth and final segment, LUAU, is a grisly tale of murder and voodoo rites. Truthfully, the last segment, even though it's the goriest, is probably the weakest, and is notable mainly for the presence of the lovely and talented Kim Novak(VERTIGO) whose first film this was in four years. But each tale is worth viewing, and good fun!

Creepy British movie has four scary tales about an invisible man eating tiger, a picture that comes alive, a tree that is alive and the last and worst one is about voodoo. Joan Collins is great as a woman fighting for her husband's affection over a tree! The tiger and the picture episodes are good too. Altogether a good creepy movie .

Dr. Nicholas (Jack Hawkins) arrives at the insane asylum run by the eminent Prof. Tremayne (Donald Pleasence) to hear his absolutely bizarre theories as to how four of his patients ended up there.

The first is young Paul (Russell Lewis), who lived with quarrelling parents Sam and Fay (Donald Houston, Georgia Brown), and who had concocted an imaginary friend dubbed Mr. Tiger. Or is he imaginary?

Next is Timothy (Peter McEnery), whose newly acquired penny farthing - it's a sort of bicycle - is able to transport him back in time, all while a leering portrait of his uncle Albert (Frank Forsyth) watches over him.

Then we meet Brian (Michael Jayston), who frustrates his wife Bella (Joan Collins) by bringing home - and falling in love with (I kid you not) - a tree. A creepy looking tree that seems to be named Mel.

Finally, in the tale that takes up most of the movies' running time, the story of Auriol (Kim Novak) is told. She's having to deal with a rebellious daughter, Ginny (Mary Tamm) while entertaining a writer named Kimo (Michael Petrovitch).

Only the fourth tale, "Luau", has any real kick to it. And it's an appreciably twisted tale indeed. But overall, the segments of "Tales That Witness Madness" are bland and lack style. A shame, given that director / cinematographer Freddie Francis *could* do solid work in this format. Things get a little too silly a little too often, especially in the sequence with Brian and Bella, and the endings are rather predictable. Certainly this excellent cast of familiar faces does some good work; Pleasence is a pleasure to watch as always. And the movies' final moments come complete with yet another twist before the end credits start rolling.

However, if you're looking for a good horror anthology from this period, check out "Asylum" or "Tales from the Crypt" instead.

Five out of 10.