Under the title "Alien Zone", this sci-fi anthology seems a misnomer, the film concerning an adulterer on a business trip (Ericson) who takes refuge from a storm in a dilapidated building where he's shown an odd hospitality from undertaker (Francis) who introduces him to his most recent corpses and tells of their last moments.Ericson and Francis essentially introduce each vignette, the first concerning a teacher (Novgrod) who despises her occupation and is taunted by an alien presence in her house, Burr DeBenning stars in the second story as a psychopathic peeping tom who invites single women to his home and films them being murdered, Charles Aidman and Bernard Fox are a pair of super detectives seeking to outdo one another in the third instalment, and Richard Gates plays a self-centred businessman who is dealt a lesson in humility by an unknown force when he's held captive in a derelict building.The strands are neatly woven together by Francis, who alludes to Ericson's own atonement for his infidelity, which fittingly becomes the fifth and final chapter. Aidman and Fox have the most material with which to work and probably come off best with their witty dialogue contests, but the other stories are equally compelling if only too brief to resonate. While the title might be somewhat misleading, the stories display a concise, consistent narrative that is entertaining and the film is generally better than one might expect.

I do like anthology films. I mean they aren't usually too great but the important thing is that they are very rarely ever boring. The format ensures that if one story isn't working another one will be coming along soon enough to take us in another direction. Which brings us to The House of the Dead. This low budget portmanteau film displays all the usual pluses and minuses of this sub-genre. Its framing story has a man wind up at a mortician's house in the middle of a stormy night. The embalmer shows him some recently dead bodies left in his care and tells the morbid stories that led them to him.Story 1 – Tells the story of a school teacher who dislikes children. One night she is terrorised by an unseen presence in her house. It turns out to ultimately be a group of children in Halloween masks. Although not ordinary children, these are mini monsters. The finale to this one is pretty good and unexpected. The kids make for quite sinister villains.Story 2 – This one is about a photographer who surreptitiously films young women in his studio who he then kills. This segment is the poorest of the four. Its subject has potential interest but it's just so badly put together with a total lack of suspense and no pay off. You are left wondering why they bothered with this one.Story 3 – This tale has two arrogant criminologists mentally jousting with each other to see who is the greater of the two. This is the strongest episode with two decent performances and a compelling – if predictable – plot line.Story 4 – This story has an unfeeling businessman being trapped in a room in an abandoned building where he is tortured mentally. The idea of this one is interesting but the brief running time effects how much could be done with it. It's quite odd and mysterious though.The framing story is good and bad. The good concerns the mortician and his house of the dead. The bad concerns the adultery angle which is not done with much effort and could have been better thought out to round off the story in a more satisfying way.Overall, this is a film that is a fun little anthology. Oh and the original title Alien Zone is incredibly stupid.

I put this movie in with my 12 year old cousin..and we were both blown away!! We expected it to be horrible acting and a hard to follow story. But yah..after i watched it i was speechless!! I loved how original all the stories were in the funeral home. The most boring one would have to be the guy who lures girls to his house and kills them!! haha. But this movie is worth seeing for anyone that likes good stories. I even had my friend watch it with me and he gave it a 9 out of 10!! Definitely one of my favorite old movies that was never popular!! If anyone has any suggestions as to some other good old movies...tell me some!!!

John Ericson ventures out in the rain after having been left off by a cab at the wrong street. Soon he finds refuge in an old building with a friendly mortician that gives him tea and shows him some of his "clients." There are some easy clues early in the wrap-around story for this anthology to tell you where that story is going, especially after having just seen the man prior to getting in the cab have an adulterous pleasure period with someone else's wife. But the frame story is really just a means to allow mortician Ivor Francis to tell his stories about his clients. I always liked Francis for his calm presence and subtle humour, yet here he is given some really bad dialog but does manage to put some life into this otherwise drab little film. The problem with this, also known for some inexplicable reason as Alien Zone(I saw House of the Dead copy), is that the budget here is really minuscule and the stories, what special effects there are, and acting quality are all directly affected. Nothing is shown. I was shocked that we never even got to see the faces of the dead corpses in the coffins - now that is low budget! The first story deals with a teacher who it seems dislikes children - based on one scene of her walking from her car scowling. She then goes home and the supernatural effects of red tinting children wearing masks and wearing what appear as shark teeth begins. Truly terrifying. (Yawn.) The second story has some real bad actor lure women into his apartment so he can film them being killed. It's done in an almost comedic fashion and has virtually no substance at all. Then there is the one story that I did really like and does have a bit of budget and real actors. The third story has Charles Aidman and Bernard Fox as two great detectives out to outwit the other and become the leading criminologist in the world. This episode has some humor and clever dialog and of course both Aidman and especially Fox have acting ability. You get an idea where it is going but should enjoy it nonetheless. It ends way too abruptly though. The last story is pretty decent too as we see a man who seems to be a person that doesn't care about the society around him get locked into an abandoned building and fed on booze until he becomes a boozer like the one he snubbed earlier. Despite its ridiculous story, the effects of despair are not all that bad. Then of course there is the obvious conclusion to the frame story. This movie was cheaply made and has that real cheap feel to it, but it isn't that bad and a couple of the stories are relatively interesting and none so bad as they are not watchable.