Pete Cushing plays a sinister proprietor who sells cursed objects that wreck havoc on the customers lives'.Decent anthology horror movie that provides legitimate thrills and chills. First, "The Gate Crasher," and fourth, "The Door'" segment provide the best art direction, lighting, set decoration, and special effects. The second segment, "An Act of Kindness," is the creepiest. The third segment, "The Elemental," excels in humor. Donald Pleasance and Margaret Leighton give the best performances in this underrated horror movie.Don't go in expecting too much, it's only anthology horror. "The Gate Crasher" is a little sleazy (similar to "Hellraiser"). "An Act of Kindness" is low quality and a little offbeat for modern audiences. "The Elemental" is more goofy and silly. "The Door"has cheesy moments. In fact, all of the stories have cheesy moments.

Milton Subotsky, who first pitched the idea of remaking Frankenstein and Dracula to Hammer films, was the man behind Amicus productions, who became Hammer's main rivals during the 60's and 70's – occasionally eclipsing the success of the larger company.Amicus made many anthology films whereby three or four short stories would be cradled by a framing device. For 'Beyond the Grave' (one of the better portmanteau productions), Peter Cushing plays a curious accented seedy antique shop proprietor. Each item he sells or is stolen has a story of its own … The magnificent David Warner buys a mirror with demonic properties. The way his life is taken over by this magical object is very well conveyed, an inexorable slide into seediness and blood - plenty of blood.The next story features an incredible cast. Donald and daughter Angela Pleasance, Ian Bannen and Diana Dors conspire to create a weird, unworldly atmosphere about repression, hatred, failure and ultimately revenge.Story three is comedic and has Ian Carmichael as the victim of an 'Elemental' which he hopes will be banished by dotty witch Margaret Leighton.Finally, Ian Ogilvy buys a door that leads into another, horrific dimension. It bears too many similarities to the David Warner tale to provide a satisfying finale in its own right.Apart from story three, I would say that all tales are let down by their respective endings. Often, the carefully constructed build-up of atmosphere and dread is completely undone by the obligatory 'twist' which renders events ridiculous. The story featuring Donald Pleasance and his daughter as a truly sinister duo is trounced, for example, by the revelation, that they are professional problem solvers.The framing narrative comes to end with a prospective thief (Ben Howard) wishing he had picked another shop to rob when Cushing's unnamed proprietor causes his demise. Clearly, the shop owner is more than human.

"From Beyond the Grave" is a good and solid horror anthology from those fine folk at Amicus; they were masters of this format and this film represents typically engaging work. It's a collection of adaptations of stories by R. Chetwynd-Hayes, and as directed by Kevin Connor ("Motel Hell"), it's got the all-important fun factor needed for a diverting genre experience. The first and fourth segments are more or less straight-up horror, while the second is truly something different and worth seeing; the third contains the most outright comedy and is pretty damn funny. As is always the case for something such as this, it's the efforts of a superior British cast that really helps to sell the material.Peter Cushing is devilishly amusing as the proprietor of Temptations Limited, an antique shop. Visitors who purchase - or otherwise obtain - the various odds and ends in his shop succumb to a variety of fates.His first customer is Edward Charlton (David Warner), whose tale is told in "The Gate Crasher". Edward buys a mirror for his apartment, and after he and his friends hold a séance, the evil spirit trapped inside the mirror (Marcel Steiner, who's dubbed by Robert Rietty) appears to order Edward to kill in order to "feed" him. There's a rather predictable ending here, but Warner is excellent and there's some great horror imagery.Then along comes Christopher Lowe (Ian Bannen) in "An Act of Kindness", who finds that his simple good deed as he purchases from street peddler Jim Underwood (Donald Pleasence) has consequences that he does not anticipate. Unhappy in marriage (to Mabel, played by Diana Dors) and in life, he starts to spend more time with Underwood and his daughter Emily (who's played by Donalds' real-life daughter Angela). The denouement is a neat twist, and Pleasence is just wonderful.In "The Elemental", customer Reginald Warren (Ian Carmichael) meets a crazy old lady on a train (portrayed with memorable scene stealing gusto by Margaret Leighton) who tells him that he's got an "elemental" on his shoulder, an elemental being some sort of hostile spirit. Warren comes to believe this when his wife Susan (Nyree Dawn Porter) is assaulted by something unseen, so he brings in Leighton to work her magic. This segment is truly delightful, a combination of humour and excitement.Finally, in "The Door", William Seaton (Ian Ogilvy) buys an elaborate door for his abode, but when he sets it up, he finds that it's capable of transporting him to a different time and place, where an evil spectre (Jack Watson) is looking for sacrifices. The art direction & set decoration are superb in this portion of the film, and Watson makes for a suitably depraved villain.Things wrap up with Cushing having a surprise in store for a man (Ben Howard) who means to rob him.All in all, lovers of the omnibus horror format should have a fine time with this one.Seven out of 10.

Throughout the mid 60s and early 70s Amicus Productions churned out a series of wonderful little horror anthologies including: DR. TERROR'S HOUSE OF HORRORS (1965), THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD (1970), ASYLUM (1972), TALES FROM THE CRYPT (1972, which is my all-time favorite anthology), THE VAULT OF HORROR (1973, second best of the bunch), TORTURE GARDEN (1967), and FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE (1973).FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE features Peter Cushing and Donald Pleasence.The film begins in an antique shop with a rather low-key yet creepy proprietor (Peter Cushing.) This is an anthology, comprised of four stories plus a wraparound (the wraparound is the 'in-between' story that ties the rest together). I love anthologies; both for the hits and the misses… my general feeling is that about half of the stories work; and, the others not so well. This is one of the exceptions to that rule.In the first story, a man buys an antique mirror. At a dinner party, he conjures up a malevolent spirit that lives within the mirror. The spirit causes him to have to bring young ladies to his abode and kill them, in order to feed the inhabitant of the mirror.Next, a lonely man with an unhappy marriage befriends a street vendor with a unmarried daughter. She helps him get rid of his nagging wife. But there's a slight catch! In the third segment, a man on a train is discovered to have an "elemental" on his shoulder. He manages to transfer this to his wife when he comes home. The loony lady from the train then comes to their home to exorcise the thing. Apparently she doesn't do quite a good job.In the last tale, a man buys a strange ornate door at the antique shop. He installs it on his supply closet at home, only to find that it occasionally creates another room on the other side. The other side is inhabited by a very unsavory character.Amicus did produce a number of different films including horror and science fiction. But the production company's strength was the horror anthology.Overall the stories in FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE are a bit more horrific than other Amicus offerings; and, a couple are down-right shocking. I love the creepy atmosphere of the shop (and, outside the shop). The first and last stories are solid bookends to a well-compiled collection.