From Beyond the Grave **** (1974, Peter Cushing, David Warner, Ian Bannen, Diana Dors, Margaret Leighton, Ian Carmichael, Donald Pleasence, Angela Pleasence, Nyree Dawn Porter, Ian Ogilvy) – Classic Movie Review 3,987

Peter Cushing stars as the antiques shop proprietor of Temptations Ltd, in the 1974 British film From Beyond the Grave, the last of the Amicus anthology horror movies.

Amicus Productions’ 1974 British anthology horror film From Beyond the Grave is directed by Kevin Connor, produced by Milton Subotsky, and based on short stories by R Chetwynd-Hayes.

Director Kevin Connor’s spooky, lively and satisfying 1974 Amicus Productions British horror anthology movie of chilling stories, From Beyond the Grave, is set round a London antiques and objets d’art shop called Temptations Limited.

There. its mysterious owner, The Proprietor (Peter Cushing), puts his customers through hellishly horrific hoops, especially those who try to cheat or steal from him. The antiques shop’s motto is Offers You Cannot Resist.

A surprisingly classy Seventies cast does well by the material, giving involving performances, while an effectively gruesome tone pervades the four nimble and nifty short stories, and Kevin Connor directs imaginatively.

Star Donald Pleasence finds a role for his daughter Angela Pleasence as Emily Underwood in Segment 2: ‘An Act of Kindness’, and also in the cast are David Warner, Ian Bannen, Diana Dors, Margaret Leighton, Ian Carmichael, Nyree Dawn Porter, Ian Ogilvy, Lesley Anne-Down, Jack Watson and Rosalind Ayres.

David Warner stars as Edward Charlton who frees an evil entity from an antique mirror in segment 1 The Gate Crasher, with Wendy Allnutt as Pamela, Rosalind Ayres as a prostitute, Tommy Godfrey as Mr Jeffries, and Marcel Steiner as the Mirror Demon.

Donald Pleasence as Jim Underwood, Ian Bannen as Christopher Lowe, Diana Dors as Mabel Lowe and Angela Pleasence as Emily Underwood star in segment 2 An Act of Kindness, with John O’Farrell as Stephen Lowe.

Margaret Leighton as Madam Orloff, Ian Carmichael as Reggie Warren and Nyree Dawn Porter as Susan Warren star in segment 3 The Elemental.

And Ian Ogilvy as William Seaton, Lesley Anne-Down as Rosemary Seaton and Jack Watson as Sir Michael Sinclair star in segment 4 The Door.

Ben Howard appears as Burglar in the Epilogue.

The screenplay by Robin Clarke and Raymond Christodoulou is based on short stories by R Chetwynd-Hayes: The Elemental and Other Stories (1974), Cold Terror 1973) and The Unbidden (1971).

It is the last in the series of anthology films from Amicus. See also Torture Garden (1967), Dr Terror’s House of Horrors (1965), The House That Dripped Blood (1971), Asylum (1972), The Vault of Horror (1973), Tales That Witness Madness (1973), and Tales from the Crypt (1972).

The one-time X certificate is now a PG.

Kevin Connor recalled that producer Milton Subotsky read some scripts he had adapted with some friends. Subotsky agreed on four of them and offered Connor the job as director. Connor told him he had never directed a film before, but Subotsky said film editors made the best directors. Connor added that the budget was minuscule.

Angela Pleasence (17 September 1941 – April 2026)

Angela Pleasence (Donald Pleasence’s daughter) died in April 2026 at the age of 84.

She is noted for her roles in horror films of the 1970s, including From Beyond the Grave, Symptoms and The Godsend, and appeared as the Ghost of Christmas Past in the 1984 film A Christmas Carol, and as Sister Cecilia in Stealing Heaven (1988).

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