I'm a fan of the Amicus horror anthologies, but Torture Garden, despite a promising title, was pretty weak. Most of the stories, despite being written by Psycho scribe Robert Bloch, are on the level of really lame episodes of The Twilight Zone.
The only stand-out is the Poe story, and Jack Palance's hammy creepy performance; this is one of my most favorite things the character actor has ever done, and it completely goes against "type," creating a hysterical, utterly nutty character of the stripe Vincent Price usually plays. Cushing is also good in this story, but he's playing straight man to Palance so he doesn't have a whole lot to do other than be foreboding and "Cushingly." The Poe segment was really on the level of the AIP Poe anthologies, and would have fit right in.
Mention should also be made of Burgess Meredith as "Dr. Diablo," who gleefully exudes evil and chews the scenery while wearing a top-hat and smoking from a long cigarette-holder (not unlike the Penguin character he was playing at the same time on the Batman TV series). However, Meredith's cackling ham isn't enough to recommend this film for anything other than the Poe segment. And as far as the Amicus end-of-movie twists go, the one in this movie is pretty lame. My advice is to fast-forward to Poe, then fast-forward towards the end framing-sequence which briefly picks up the Poe thread once again.
The only stand-out is the Poe story, and Jack Palance's hammy creepy performance; this is one of my most favorite things the character actor has ever done, and it completely goes against "type," creating a hysterical, utterly nutty character of the stripe Vincent Price usually plays. Cushing is also good in this story, but he's playing straight man to Palance so he doesn't have a whole lot to do other than be foreboding and "Cushingly." The Poe segment was really on the level of the AIP Poe anthologies, and would have fit right in.
Mention should also be made of Burgess Meredith as "Dr. Diablo," who gleefully exudes evil and chews the scenery while wearing a top-hat and smoking from a long cigarette-holder (not unlike the Penguin character he was playing at the same time on the Batman TV series). However, Meredith's cackling ham isn't enough to recommend this film for anything other than the Poe segment. And as far as the Amicus end-of-movie twists go, the one in this movie is pretty lame. My advice is to fast-forward to Poe, then fast-forward towards the end framing-sequence which briefly picks up the Poe thread once again.