"Torture Garden" (1967) is one of seven horror anthology pictures released by Hammer rival Amicus over an eight-year period. It had been preceded by "Dr. Terror's House of Horrors" and would soon be followed by "The House That Dripped Blood," "Asylum," "Tales From the Crypt," "Vault of Horror" and "From Beyond the Grave." Here, a carnival attraction, the eponymous Torture Garden, is run by the leering, taunting Dr. Diabolo, played with Penguin-like juiciness by Burgess Meredith. With the assistance of his waxworks dummy Atropos, the goddess of destiny, Diabolo shows four customers their possible futures, changeable only if they have the requisite strength of inner character (which is doubtful with this lot). In "Enoch," a bounder of a nephew kills his wealthy uncle and comes under the demonic possession of the house's resident black cat. This is a sinister, suspenseful tale, woefully underlit, that concludes with an appropriately grisly finish. In "Terror Over Hollywood," a young starlet (Beverly Adams) discovers the secret behind the success of so many of Tinseltown's most enduring talents. More sci-fi than horror, this section fails to scare but is fun nonetheless. In the film's weakest tale, "Mr. Steinway," a jealous piano takes vengeance on its composer's new lover. A tad silly, this segment still manages to elicit some shivers, when Euterpe the piano commences to play that funeral march. In "The Man Who Collected Poe," easily the best of the bunch here, Jack Palance eliminates Peter Cushing to possess himself of an incredible assortment of Poe memorabilia, and gets a lot more than he bargained for. Palance's over-the-top performance contrasts nicely here with Cushing's customary urbanity, and the segment is filled with all kinds of neat directorial touches from Freddie Francis. In all, four fun tales from the pen of Robert "Psycho" Bloch, if a touch off the mark as compared to some of those other Amicus anthology titles. The film's final moments will be a surprise to only the slowest of viewers, but still provide good devilish fun. "Do You Dare See What Dr. Diabolo Sees?" the film's poster asked back in 1967. My advice would be to go see....
Review of Torture Garden
