Tales From the Crypt 1972

 Before there was an series on HBO during the 1990's there was EC Comics who published a comic titled Tales From the Crypt.  Between the comic and the book was the movie which was released in 1972.  Directed by Freddie Francis (who would later go on to direct the Civil War epic Glory).  Milton Subotsky and Max Rosenberg produced, the two were co-founders of the production company Amicus, who were responsible for several horror anthologies.  Subotsky also did the screenplay.  The film starred Joan Collins, Peter Cushing, Roy Dotrice (who some may recognize his voice from the audio version of A Song of Ice and Fire, the Game of Thrones books written by George R.R. Martin), Patrick Magee who was also in A Clockwork Orange and Dementia 13, and Ralph Richardson playing The Crypt Keeper.

 This anthology is made up of five short stories (with only two actually coming from the comics) with a wrap around story so at 92 minutes total the stories seem to flow so quickly that there is little time to waste.  The five stories are:

...And All Through the House concerns a woman who hides in her house from a psychotic Santa who is on a murder spree.  Unfortunately for her she can't call the police as that would give away a terrible secret of her own.

 Reflections of Death presents us with a man who abandons his family to be with his mistress only to be involved in a terrible car accident shortly thereafter.  As he stumbles around trying to get help the reality of how bad the accident really was begins to set in.

 Poetic Justice tells the story of a man and his son who decide to be the ruin of their next door neighbor who is loved by all the children in town.  Their plan comes to a horrible ending but a year later their neighbor comes back to seek revenge.

 Wish You Were Here is a take on W.W. Jacobs' famous short story The Monkey's Paw.  A woman finds a figurine that is supposed to grant her three wishes.  One should be careful what they wish for because sometimes the worst thing that can happen is those wishes coming true.

Blind Alleys is the final story and it involves a man who is the director of a home for the blind.  After he ignores the residents requests and treats them horribly they decide they have had enough.  The residents concoct an elaborate plan that forces the director to see life through their eyes.

As I've said before horror anthologies or portmanteaus as the fancyfied folk call them are my favorite genre of horror movie.  For Tales From the Crypt there isn't a bad story in the bunch.  Blood and gore you won't find here but the stories are all chilling classics with three of them (Blind Alleys, Wish You Were Here, and All Though the Night) later being redone for the HBO series.  For anthologies this one is near the top and probably the best of the Amicus collections.  For the record Blind Alleys is my favorite story of the bunch with Wish You Were Here a close second.  4 and a half Crypt Keepers out of 5 and that comes from both The Horror Honey Denise and myself.