After launching their particular brand of Hammer-alternative horror films with Dr. Terror’s House Of Horrors, Amicus honchos Milton Subotsky and Max Rosenberg decided that sticking with the anthology format might be a good way to carve a distinctive niche. Thus, after the sight of a sinister, German accented Peter Cushing reading doomed futures from a pack of tarot cards, director Freddie Francis next gave us Burgess Meredith’s fiendish carny, Dr. Diablo.
Once again, we have five unwitting souls who all find out they all have bizarre fates awaiting them and once again, we have a disparate – but showy – cast to guide us through their fantastical, final moments – but this time all the terrible tales were scribbled up by Psycho author Robert Bloch based upon his own story stories. However, while this new succession of shocking twists and unbelievable happenstances includes everything from demonic cats and haunted pianos to obsessive collectors and the haunting secret of Hollywood’s elite, there’s a sense that Torture Garden might be playing things way too subtle.
As per usual, an assorted group of strangers all converge on a single place by chance only to be confronted by some sort of oddball that allows them to see into their incredibly bleak futures with a fair amount of razzle dazzle; but this time, the setting is a fairground and the story teller is flamboyant showman, Dr. Diablo. After reeling him his quintet of rubes with a presentation of executions, he shows them through to another area which contains at wax effigy of the female deity Atropos, the shears waving, Greek goddess of fate and insists that they all see their futures that will be reflected in her snippy implements.
First to take the plunge is avaricious playboy, Colin Williams, who is hoping to snag a sizable Inheritance from his ailing uncle, but after helping off into the afterlife while questioning him about where he got his wealth from, the ruthless nephew gets more than he bargained for when he comes face to feline face with Balthazar, a witch’s familiar that has a particularly gruesome diet. Second is the equally cold-blooded Carla Hayes who has no qualms about screwing over her own roommate if it means she’s can get within arms reach of the rich and famous. However, her dreams of stardom soon leads to her discovering the terrible secret of a leading man’s longevity.
Her companion doesn’t fare much better after staring into Atropos’ shears to see a future where she manages to get her controlling hooks into a famous pianist, but when she finds that his Bechstein piano has been possessed by the spirit named Euteroe, Dorothy Endicott is in danger of bring played off stage for good.
Finally, we come to the weirdly silent Ronald Wyatt, an impassioned enthusiast of Edgar Allan Poe who meets his match in the form of Lancelot Canning, an obsessive Poe collector whose expansive collection has possibly the greatest exhibit of all…
Once again we find the Amicus portmanteau blueprint still in a state of flux as it heads into its second incarnation and while the basics are all present and correct (gaggle of thespians; doomsaying ringleader; appearance of Peter Cushing), this time Freddie Francis seems to be going for a way more subtle approach – which seems to be a curious approach considering Burgess Meredith is in this film playing a man named Dr. Diablo. While Dr. Terror’s House Of Horrors also took a more gentlemanly approach to the notion of being gaslit into finding out your impending, supernatural demise, it was something of a lighter affair that tackled its terrors with a campy touch. However, under Bloch’s pen, Torture Garden proves to be more of a slow burn approach that gives us four stories instead of five in order to let them breathe; but while the author obviously thinks that classy is the way to go, the refined storytelling butts up strangely with some of the more outlandish plots on show here.
One story gives us Michael Bryant finding himself under the thrall of an undead, mind controlling, cat that has an appetite for eating heads, while Beverly Adams discovered that an actor’s youthful visage is due to a conspiracy involving androids and brain transplants. Elsewhere, Barbara Ewing finds herself competing for her man with a haunted piano who wants to bump her off and the legendary Jack Palance finds that Peter Cushing’s Edgar Allen Poe collection contains the resurrected author himself who is cursed to scribble yet more stories from a subterranean dungeon and you’d think that the director would be falling over himself to stick the movie’s tongue into its cheek the first chance he gets.
Confoundingly, Francis seems to think that this ridiculous parade of concepts (yes, even the piano one) demands to be played deathly straight and while it’s admirable that the filmmakers want to treat the notion of a head eating cat with the respect it apparently deserves, for the most part, Torture Garden is a little too dry and classy for my tastes.
That’s not to say there isn’t gold here. While the stories are rather slow, deliberate and features more than its fair share of gloomy drawing rooms, there’s some prime scene chewing at play here courtesy of the frenzied, breathy line readings of Messrs Palance and Meredith. Never mind talking about Francis’ restrained nature, I don’t know whose restraint should be commended more, the usually garrulous Jack Palance for not uttering a single world until an hour and eighteen minutes into the movie, or Burgess Meredith for not cackling “wah-wah-wah!” at the end of every sentence, but the presence of both actors adds some much needed pep in Torture Garden’s step. Furthermore, the segment that concerns Palance extravagantly gushing over Peter Cushing’s Poe assemblage proves to be the clear winner in this strange quartet of tales and even can claim none other than Martin Scorsese as a fan.
However, Torture Garden tends to suffer from an overabundance of maturity and if each story were a little shorter and a lot sillier, the movie could have been a camp riot – still, credit has to be given to anyone who endeavors to tell a serious story about a killer piano and the sheer acting fireworks provided by Meredith and Palance make sure that Torture Garden is one that’s still worth tending – even if it’s noticeably overgrown.
🌟🌟🌟
We Have Issues 