Five young men on a train are suddenly greeted by an elderly tarot card reader (horror legend Peter Cushing) who convinces four of them that their perspective futures can be told through the cards, and in some cases, that future can be altered. Only obnoxious art critic Christopher Lee holds doubt, his reluctance forceful and aggressive. But three of the others listen to their possible futures (all macabre and eerie) before Cushing reads Lee's. By the time of the finale, it's very apparent that the warnings are real, and that the future isn't something you can't avoid.
This colorful but somewhat slow moving anthology horror compilation is mainly enjoyable with predictable elements in a few of the segments and a few delightful surprises in the others. The first segment, involving a buried death mask, ends up predictably with the next segment (vine style plants gone wild) is very creepy. The West Indies set third installment has a bit of humor to guide it, and Lee's segment (featuring Michael Gough as an artist Lee despises) is very intense. Then there's the seemingly disbelieving Donald Sutherland involving a young boy and a possible vampre, rather tenuous and confusing.
Each segment has quite a different style and speed, and that builds up to each one to suddenly end, going back to these six strangers on a train and preparing for the five follow-ups with not all of them ending happily or satisfactorily. It's a nice beginning to a series of similar like films from the same production company. Fortunately, the print I got ahold of is much clearer in picture than the old VHS copy I saw of this 30 years ago. These films deserve to be seen at their sharpest for the ultimate viewing quality.
This colorful but somewhat slow moving anthology horror compilation is mainly enjoyable with predictable elements in a few of the segments and a few delightful surprises in the others. The first segment, involving a buried death mask, ends up predictably with the next segment (vine style plants gone wild) is very creepy. The West Indies set third installment has a bit of humor to guide it, and Lee's segment (featuring Michael Gough as an artist Lee despises) is very intense. Then there's the seemingly disbelieving Donald Sutherland involving a young boy and a possible vampre, rather tenuous and confusing.
Each segment has quite a different style and speed, and that builds up to each one to suddenly end, going back to these six strangers on a train and preparing for the five follow-ups with not all of them ending happily or satisfactorily. It's a nice beginning to a series of similar like films from the same production company. Fortunately, the print I got ahold of is much clearer in picture than the old VHS copy I saw of this 30 years ago. These films deserve to be seen at their sharpest for the ultimate viewing quality.