#365Days365Movies
#Hooptober8

💀 NUMBER TWENTY SIX 💀
💀 SIX COUNTRIES (UK) 💀

"Asylum" (1972)
* dir: Roy Ward Baker
* Horror / Anthology / An Evening With Robert Bloch
[ ★★★★ / ★★★★★ ]

I chose this one for my SIX COUNTRIES lineup strictly because I wanted an excuse to sneak some more Amicus stuff into my October viewing schedule. I must say, I've become quite the fan of the output from this studio in the past year or so. And I don't think I've even begun to crack into the varied filmography of projects that they made in those short few years of existence. I just keep getting drawn to the anthologies!

- "Wraparound" [3.5/5]
Quite the fun little premise to hang your collection of horror stories on, even if it is extremely obvious where the whole thing is headed if you've ever seen one of these films before (although I do admire the way it eventually dovetails into the fourth segment by the end). Robert Powell (who I mainly know from "Tommy") is a bit stiff and unremarkable as our lead, but he actually does thaw considerably and becomes more likeably human as the stories unfold. And speaking of thaw...

- "Frozen Fear" [3.5/5]
Just a simple, classic EC Comic style "fuck around and find out" style revenge narrative with some above-average direction and a fairly unnecessary "african witch doctor" angle that, thankfully, never becomes too obtrusive. There's even some neat, nightmarish body horror imagery that lands surprisingly well. It's a little bit silly, for sure, but in a charming way more than anything else. Talk about an anticlimactic ending, though.

- "The Weird Tailor" [4/5]
Boy, I've been watching a lot of Peter Cushing stuff lately, especially during the whole Hooptober project this month. Definitely no complaints here, just saying! Two minutes in and this is already more interesting and engaging on just a basic premise level compared to the first segment, and both of the two main performances are wonderful. There's also a genuinely cool effect with the magic fabric constantly shifting between colors and shades right before your eyes, and an ending that takes a hard turn into the fantastical with excellent results.

- "Lucy Comes To Stay" [4/5]
Some solid paranoid psychodrama business that's lit like a hazy 1970s perfume ad and features my favorite performance of the whole film: the effervescent Britt Ekland as Lucy, a sort of manic pixie dream maniac with a culturally ambiguous accent and scheme after murderous scheme. This one definitely feels the most modern of any of the shorts here, diving into some real warped familial bond territory that feels downright De Palma-esque at times...but, you know, considerably less seedy. The score is doing a lot of heavy lifting as well, which I havent even mentioned yet, but is consistently grand and moody throughout the entire film.

- "Mannequins Of Horror" [5/5]
This is essentially a horror anthology short about the Paul Rust character from the Halloween episodes of Comedy Bang! Bang! who only talks/whines incessantly about HIS CREEEEPIES. Five stars.