Best Horror Anthology Segments?, Not the overall movies, the best parts

I'm limiting it to one story per movie, and I'm including TV movies in this (but not TV shows, arbitrarily). I'd nominate:

The ventriloquist segment from DEAD OF NIGHT

"A Drop of Water" from BLACK SABBATH/THREE FACES OF FEAR

"Toby Dammit" from SPIRITS OF THE DEAD

The Peter Cushing story from Amicus's TALES FROM THE CRYPT

"The Cloak" from THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD -- I figured there should be at least one funny one, and this strikes me as the most entertaining for horror (and particularly Hammer) fans. Plus, you know, Ingrid.

The Zuni Fetish Doll segment from TRILOGY OF TERROR

"Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" from THE TWILIGHT ZONE

Any other suggestions? I've never seen TALES OF TERROR, TORTURE GARDEN, ASYLUM, TALES THAT WITNESS MADNESS or VAULT OF HORROR.

This post has been edited by Ian McDowell on Jul 25 2012, 07:53 PM

Ya know, I really like “The Benediction” from NIGHTMARES, which finds fallen priest Lance Henriksen in the desert battling a murderous truck with no driver a la DUEL. I like all of NIGHTMARES really, as silly as it mostly is. The action stuff in "The Benediction" is handled well, and Henriksen's performance is strong. NIGHTMARES' final segment, “Night of the Rat," would be better if its visual effects weren't so cheap.

The tough call is CREEPSHOW - "Father's Day" is so ur-EC (even to the *gasp* *choke* non-ending) it's right on the money, then "Something To Tide You Over" repeats (much like EC did) the same formula but substitutes the standard EC B plot (murder revenged by just desserts) and adds in inventive details (the beach, the cameras) and some really fun acting. Skipping the detour into WEIRD SCIENCE-FANTASY of "Jordy Verrill", you've got "The Crate" which is pure nasty EC monster story and then "They're Creeping Up On You" with another great acting job, great character, great scenario and all around bug-creepiness. It really is hard to chose but for me it probably comes down to "Tide" and "Crate".

CREEPSHOW II pretty much blows but "The Raft" is a great story just waiting for a better adaptation...

I'd pimp for "Luau" from TALES THAT WITNESS MADNESS out of sheer perversity if it was about half as long as it is. "Mel" - with Joan Collins versus the dead tree, is kind of fun.

DR. TERROR'S HOUSE OF HORRORS comes down to the disembodied hand story or the vampire story, with the hand having the upper... hand

TORTURE GARDEN - The Man Who Collected Poe" def.

don't remember TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE: THE MOVIE too well but "Lot 249 stands out a bit more than the other two.

VAULT OF HORROR - "Midnight Mess" (is this available anywhere with the final moments really intact?)

DEAD OF NIGHT - "Bobby", natch

NIGHT GALLERY pilot - "The Cemetery" ("Portifoy!!!!")

SCREAMTIME - I really liked the second segment in this (woman moves into house and starts seeing ghosts) - the idea may be trite but something about the execution really worked for me.

TALES OF TERROR - hard call, I've never been a big fan of the comedy Black Cat segment but the other two don't really rate either (okay, there is great caramel-esque goop makeup in "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar")

FEAR(S) OF THE DARK (Peur(s) Du Noir) - enjoyed it all very much but the Charles Burns and white-out/blizzard/abandoned house story really stood out.

THE MONSTER CLUB - comes down to "The Shadmock" and that "Loughville" story.

KWAIDAN - been awhile but the 2cnd and 3rd stories stand out for me.

never seen FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE, TWICE TOLD TALES, THE UNCANNY or SCREAMS OF A WINTER NIGHT. Never was a fan of TWO EVIL EYES (do two stories even count?), NECRONOMICON, TERROR TRACT or TRAPPED ASHES (still think that's a sucky title).

Don't remember anything from BODY BAGS or GRIM PRAIRIE TALES, I kind of liked the last story (about prison rehab) from TALES FROM THE HOOD and the last story (town of children) from FROM A WHISPER TO A SCREAM.

This post has been edited by Shawn Garrett on Jul 25 2012, 10:36 PM

Dammit, I should have remembered KWAIDAN. "The Woman of the Snows," certainly.

Do we actually get a decent look at the melting caramel Vincent Price in TALES OF TERROR? I vaguely remember seeing just the final moments of the segment on late night TV as a kid and being disappointed that the image was distorted or filtered or had some kind of effect superimposed on it, as with the Thing in the Pit in THE HAUNTED PALACE (where the effect is disguising that you're seeing a static model that looks like an Aurora Creature with extra arms).

Marty, I saw NIGHTMARES in the theater but found it unmemorable. I should watch that segment again for Lance.

I'm not that big a fan of CREEPSHOW, even though Tom did the play DEATHRAP with my father at the Fayetteville Little Theater after it had come out and let everybody play with some of his props (which included a, ahem, bust of Adrienne Barbeau) at a cast party. I guess the roaches one has a decent gross-out ending.

I remember "Bobby" from a late TV broadcast of DEAD OF NIGHT. It freaked me out. Is that the only time the Bloch (or is it Matheson?) story has been adapted?

This story was legitimately expanded (the end credits cite Michael Armstrong with a story credit for "Dream House") in the godawful PSYCHOSIS which stretched everything painfully and threw in a bunch of clutter.

While I love the Cushing segment in TALES FROM THE CRYPT that was already mentioned, I think the old folks home one with Patrick Magee is the best one in that.

Amicus' ASYLUM has a great segment "Frozen Fear." The punchline in the one always freaked me out as a kid.

"The Elemental" in FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE is pretty good from what I can recall.

If you want something entirely out there, check out the Xmas themed segment in Earl Owensby's regional anthology TALES FROM THE THIRD DIMENSION. Totally insane.

My fear of heights made "The Ledge" in CAT'S EYE pretty nerve racking.

I barely remember the film, but I thought "All Night Operator" from the Wheat brothers film AFTER MIDNIGHT was good.

I also thought the adaptation of Stephen King's "Battleground" was really good for the NIGHTMARES & DREAMSCAPES TV anthology.

"Bobby" was done again for TRILOGY OF TERROR II in 1996.

Which of those Amicus EC anthologies has the story about the walls lined with razor blades? Is that the Magee one in TALES FROM THE CRYPT, Will? That's a good one.

Yeah, that's it.

As much as I liked THE WOMAN OF THE SNOW in KWAIDAN, I think HOICHI THE EARLESS was even better.

The VIPCO DVD (UK R2) is the full version, with all the gore that was cut out for the US release. Its just not "Midnight Mess" that suffered, but pretty much the rest of the film.

The VIPCO disc is full-frame, but the picture quality ain't too hot (like watching a soft VHS copy).

In my anime class, I had the students read the original story (by Lafcadio Hearn) and then showed them part of the KWAIDAN segment, followed by a complete half-hour animated version of the story (from ANIMATED CLASSICS OF JAPANESE LITERATURE).

@McDowell

Co-sign on the tales from SPIRITS OF THE DEAD,TALES OF TERROR,NIGHT GALLERY, the TZ episode---(the first one was unique and creepy, the last 3 actually scared the hell out of me when I was a kid) as well as DEAD OF NIGHT, which I believe was based on a tale in an Alfred Hitchcock anthology I used to have called THE METRONOME--forgot the author's name.

A five-tale Bollywood horror anthology called DARNA MANA HAI (2003) had one in particular that stood out for me---can't remember the name of it, but it features Bollywood stars Vivek Oberoi and Nana Patekar as two men driving down a dark road late one night after one gives the other a ride. Worth watching though to the ending, which is genuinely creepy. In fact, I just remembered another tale from this same anthology about a couple also driving down a dark road late one night and what happens after their car stops dead on them, which is also creepy as heck.

Oh yeah------forgot to mention that tale form KWAIDAN--the one called A CUP OF TEA WAS very unnerving but creepy in a quiet way.

This post has been edited by Kim Greene on Jul 28 2012, 01:58 PM

Kim Newman looks at the new anthology V/H/S.

And speaking of EC, rights owner Russ Cochran sells reprints of the old comics, which are great fun reading. I have all of the EC Annuals, which collect 5 issues per comic and sell for a low $7.50 each, shipping included. And who wouldn't want all 4 issues of "Psychoanalysis"??

I am currently rereading my Russ Cochran COMPLETE TALES FROM THE CRYPT 5-volume hardcover box set (which reprints the original run in glorious black and white from the original artwork) which I bought back in 1983 for $100 - and having great fun! When I'm done, and posted my enormous review on Goodreads, I'll provide a link. Then I may start in on my similar 3-volume COMPLETE SHOCK SUSPENSE STORIES.

(PSYCHOANALYSIS rocks, btw)