FILM REVIEW - TORTURE GARDEN (1967) - 11/02/08

Region 2 DVD cover for Torture Garden.

*This review contains plot spoilers*

Four people visit a fairground attraction called The Torture Garden presided over by the sinister Dr Diabolo (Burgess Meredith) who offers each of them glimpses into the future by means of an ancient mystical figurine called Atropos (Clytie Jessop) who holds the Shears of Fate. The first, is a man called Colin Williams (Michael Bryant) who thinks that the world owes him a living so he kills his eccentric Uncle Roger for his money only to fall victim to his cat, which hypnotises him to kill people to satisfy its taste for human heads in return for gold. The second person is a wannabe actress called Carla Hayes (Beverley Adams) who has a relationship with matinee idol Bruce Benton (Robert Hutton) in order to advance her career in the film business. When she accidentally discovers that Bruce is a robot created by the sinister Dr Heim (Bernard Kay) to ensure his screen immortality, she finds herself being turned into one of the mad doctor's automations to keep her mouth shut thus she achieves her dreams of movie stardom but at a macabre price! The third person is a young journalist called Dorothy Endicott (Barbara Ewing) who falls madly in love with Leo (John Standing), a world famous concert pianist. But his grand piano is possessed by the spirit of his wildly possessive dead mother who cannot bear to see his career in music ruined by any girl so the piano finally drives Dorothy to her death by pushing her out of a top floor window. The fourth and final person to encounter Atropos is a fanatical collector of Edgar Allan Poe memoribillia called Ronald Wyatt (Jack Palance) who is invited to the home of fellow Poe fanatic, Lancelot Canning (Peter Cushing). But Wyatt discovers that Canning's father was a bodysnatcher who opened Poe's grave and collected his mortal remains and by using his knowledge of the occult, Canning has brought Poe back to life to write new stories. In shock Wyatt kills Canning and finds the author locked in the cellar and begs him to release his soul, which he does by setting fire to the cellar. However, as the flames engulf the room Poe tells Wyatt that because he has liberated the soul of a man who has made a pact with the Devil, his soul will have to replace his meaning that Wyatt is doomed to serve Satan forever.

Torture Garden was the second of Amicus' portmanteau horror films made to follow up the success of Dr Terror's House Of Horrors (1965: reviewed on this blog). It also stands as one of the best featuring a largely excellent script from Robert Bloch, the author of Psycho who selected four of his macabre short stories to bring to the screen, which as one would normally expect of anthologies vary in quality. The best segments are without doubt the second with Beverley Adams as the aspiring young actress longing for eternal fame and fortune, which she achieves but at a macabre price. "To become one of us you must have a certain hunger" Benton tells her after she has discovered his terrifying secret. "You have to have a hunger for stardom, fame and fortune and you can't eat, drink or make love" he adds. "I think I'd rather die" replies a shocked Carla but it is too late as Dr Heim arrives on the scene preparing her to become one of the immortals. In a way this story reveals that fame and fortune isn't always as wonderful as it seems, which has quite often revealed itself to be true in real life as our fledging young actress learns and becomes trapped for all eternity for being over ambitious and not caring who she upsets to get what she wants. Obviously this tale is pure fantasy but I really liked the way Bloch took a realistic aspect of life and spun a terrifying macabre yarn out of it. The Man Who Collected Poe episode is also a standout because it boasts dreamlike sets designed by the ever reliable Bill Constable and camerawork from Norman Warwick. Jack Palance is on top form here as the fanatical Poe collector who finally becomes unstuck in his quest for forbidden knowledge and as they say, "curiosity killed the cat" as he gets Canning drunk at his home to loosen his tongue and reveal more than he would have liked to have done. The killer cat and piano segments are the weakest in terms of story but they are effective thanks to Freddie Francis' inventive direction whose visual style is evident throughout the movie . For instance, in the killer piano story couldn't be more absurd in its basic plot but John Standing offers a captivating performance as the tortured musician under pressure from the spirit of his mother and his demanding manager in the form of Ursula Howels to concentrate solely on his music but he longs to break away and be with the girl he loves but ultimately cannot. Francis heightens the emotional and tragic aspect of the story by having a romantic yet melancholic piano forte play over the soundtrack as Dorothy falls to her doom and afterwards as crowds gather around her body, Leo is sitting at the piano playing in a trance and totally unaware of the tragedy which has just occured. Burgess Meredith does excellent work as Dr Diablo who convincingly plies his trade as a fairground charleton before revealing himself to be somebody far more sinister in the excellent twist ending.

Overall, Torture Garden emerges as a mixture of strong and weak stories but Francis' inventive direction succeeds in papering over some of the more absurd aspects of the plot aided by some excellent performances, art direction, music and camerawork lending it more intelligence than one may expect of what essentially is a low budget production.