Rating: 3/5
Hooptober X | 17/34 | Amicus | Decade 4/8 | 60s
Dr. Diablo (Burgess Meredith) has a fairground sideshow called The Torture Garden. Within, he shows off different torture implements, one on a living human being. For a small fee, he will show you “real” torture. Five guests step through and experience visions.
Enoch
A man presses his dying uncle for a cut of his inheritance. The uncle dies, swearing he does not have one, but when the man finds a hidden basement with a coffin, he discovers a secret he would regret knowing.
Terror Over Hollywood
A duplicitous woman edges her way into a date that grants her access to a famous actor. She gets her wish, but her curiosity gets the best of her when one of her coworkers survives a gunshot wound to the head.
Mr. Steinway
A pianist’s playing suffers when he dates someone new. His girlfriend asks him to choose between his piano career and her, but the choice is not up to him.
The Man Who Collected Poe
A man who collects Poe meets a collector who has several first editions and even unpublished works of Poe. The two become friends, but the man cannot bear to only look at these prizes.
I would usually give each story a review, but they are all similarly dopey and fun. They play more like parables than horror stories, where the person experiencing the vision demands answers to dark secrets.
The film is a silly but consistent horror anthology, perfect for a hungover Saturday.