From Beyond the Grave (1974)

Four stories, each revolving around haunted items purchased from a curio shop run by an old man (Peter Cushing).

Story one concerns a haunted mirror that needs to be fed blood. The second is about a man with a shrewish wife who purchases stolen valor to impress a street vendor and his creepy daughter. In the third a man is haunted by an invisible ‘elemental’, and in the last one a man purchases a fancy door he uses for his office supplies closet.

The creepy daughter of the street peddler (Donald Plesence) was played by Pleasence’s actual daughter. Buxom Diana Dors was the shrewish wife. Something of a British Marilyn, she was featured in a successful run of films I have never seen. She would appear in soft core sex comedies at the tail end of her career before cancer would take her.

I didn’t get the ending of ‘The Elemental’. I think it was implying something more than was on screen. It was the weakest of the four, although I did find the Madame Orloff character quite amusing. I'm not sure what my favorite was. The haunted item only plays directly into two of the four stories.

A good thing about anthology movies (I bristle at the term ‘portmanteau’) is that I can start them late at night knowing I'll have good stopping points for the night. I took advantage of this. From Beyond the Grave has some creepy scenes but none of the stories would have survived a longer treatment. But it is good for what it is. AMRU 3.