MamaGravity
good back-story, and good acting
Claysaba
Excellent, Without a doubt!!
ThrillMessage
There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.
Stevieboy666
Five strangers sharing a tower block lift in London find themselves in a sub-basement. They all have one thing in common and that is they all find themselves dying in peculiar dreams, so one by one they recount them. So we have five stories with a wrap around.
As is the norm with anthologies there will be segments that are stronger than others but here, with the exception of the weaker fourth (Bargain in Death), I thought they were all equally good. Greed appears to be a common theme. There is a smattering of dark humour added to the horror. Great cast. It's hardly taxing on the mind but this does make great late night viewing.
gridoon2018
As in any anthology in any genre, every viewer will have his/her own favorites. For me, the weakest (and most predictable) story is the first, while the outstanding one is the last, with Tom Baker (cleverest touch: Baker suffocates along with his self-portrait, which is locked up in a vault!). The common recurring theme is evil and/or corrupt people getting their just desserts by means either natural or supernatural, but there is sufficient diversity in the neatly plotted stories, and the ending succeeds in bringing it all together. The all-star cast helps. **1/2 out of 4.
Scott LeBrun
"The Vault of Horror" is not one of the best horror anthologies to come from Amicus. The main problem is that the stories just don't have that much kick to them. The execution is reasonable, and there are a few creepy moments as well as some very funny ones. The most valuable asset that the movie can boast is a sterling group of actors who make the most out of so-so material, taken from the old E.C. comics published by William M. Gaines.A quintet of men are taking the elevator in a big hotel ALL the way down. They end up in a sub basement that they weren't aware existed. With no way out of the place (which looks like a club of sorts), they decide to hang around. Soon, they're regaling each other with the nightmares that are plaguing them.In "Midnight Mess", Rogers (Daniel Massey) tracks down his sister Donna (Anna Massey) to a rather strange community where it's not advisable to be out and about after dark.Terry-Thomas plays Mr. Critchit in "The Neat Job". A fussy anal retentive, he drives his new bride Eleanor (Glynis Johns) right up the wall, until she can't take it any longer."This Trick'll Kill You" stars Curd Jurgens as Sebastian, a magician who finds a young woman performing a trick that fascinates him. In fact, he's willing to kill to be able to use this trick.In "Bargain in Death", author Maitland (Michael Craig) thinks he's arranged for the perfect insurance scam, only for his plans to be derailed by some desperate medical students.Appropriately enough, we end with the best segment, "Drawn and Quartered". Tom Baker plays a painter named Moore. Eager to get revenge on those who exploited him, he makes a deal with a voodoo master, and acquires the ability to destroy people and objects by painting pictures of them, then altering the pictures.Erik Chitty, Dawn Addams, Edward Judd, and Denholm Elliott are also among this superior British cast. There's a little bit of gore, including one ingenious image in "Midnight Mess". A hysterical comic gag involves Mr. Terry-Thomas. In-jokes add to the fun, with Craig seen reading the novelization for "Tales from the Crypt". In fact, Craig has the best line in the movie when he says, "There's no money in horror."We fans of the genre know differently. Overall, this is fun. Nothing great at all, but it has its pleasures.Seven out of 10.
sol
***SPOILERS*** From the famous "Vault of Horror" 1950's horror magazines we have an anthology of five horror stories that have to do with persons who committed their crimes, with the exception of Arthur Critchit played by Terry-Thomas, and ended up paying for them. Arthur's only crime was being and wanting his abused wife Elenore, Glynis Jones, to be a little too neat for her and his own good. In trying to satisfy her very demanding husband Elenore ended up neatly pickling every organ,including his teeth, in his body. All five men, including Arthur, magician Sabastian, Curt Jurgens, insurance fraud shyster Maitland, Michael Criag, murderer for profit Harold Rogers, Daniel Massey, and frustrated artist and voodoo practitioner Moore, Tom Baker, end up not only paying for their crimes but reliving them over and over every day until the end of eternity!It's not a pretty sight in what happens to those who find themselves locked in the sub-basement, or Hell for short, in this London high-rise with them all getting everything that they deserved and getting it with interest compounded. But for what they did to their victims back in the world of the living it's the least that they could have expected which is about as extreme as it could be by them being punished 365 days a year until times or the calendar runs out! What's even worse is that every day of torture and suffering that they go through is a whole new day in that it's always a new experience for them! In that they forget what happened to them the day before!What the film "Vault of Horrors" shows is that crime doesn't pay not only here in the real world but the world hereafter for those who think that they got away with the crimes that they committed. Not by just getting away with their crimes in not getting caught and punished for them here on earth but what's to face them on the other side where they, unlike here in the world of the living, face final and eternal, with no time limit like a life sentence or final execution date, Justice!
