‘An orgy of the damned!’
Tales that Witness Insanity is a 1973 horror anthology movie produced by Norman Priggen, directed by veteran horror director Freddie Francis, and written by actress Jennifer Jayne as Witness Insanity. Though it’s generally mistaken for an Amicus manufacturing, it was really produced by World Movie Companies.
Jack Hawkins died shortly after his scenes had been filmed. Hawkins had had his larynx eliminated in an operation in 1966, and right here his voice was dubbed by Charles Grey (The Legacy; The Rocky Horror Image Present; The Satan Rides Out) in post-production.
Kim Novak broke a four-year hiatus from movies along with her look in Tales. She changed Rita Hayworth shortly after manufacturing began.
The film stars Donald Pleasence, Joan Collins (Darkish Locations; Tales from the Crypt; Concern within the Night time), Kim Novak (Bell, E-book and Candle), Jack Hawkins (Theatre of Blood), Donald Houston (A Research in Terror), Georgia Brown (Nothing However the Night time; A Research in Terror), Peter McEnery (Witchcraft TV collection; Hammer Home of Horror; The Cat and the Canary), Suzy Kendall (Torso; Spasmo; Assault), Michael Jayston (Dominique; Craze), Michael Petrovich (Turkey Shoot; Neither the Sea, Nor the Sand), Mary Tamm (Doghouse; Twisted Tales), Leon Lissek (Bloodmoon; Journey to the Unknown), Frank Forsyth (Craze; The Vault of Horror; Asylum), Zohra Sehgal.
Plot [spoilers]:
Within the ‘Clinic’ hyperlink episodes, Physician Tremayne (Donald Pleasence), a psychiatrist in a contemporary psychological asylum, reveals to colleague Physician Nicholas (Jack Hawkins) that he has solved 4 particular circumstances. Tremayne explains the case histories of sufferers Paul, Timothy, Brian, and Auriol, presenting every in flip to Nicholas:
In ‘Mr. Tiger’, Paul (Russell Lewis) is the delicate and introverted younger son of regularly bickering mother and father Sam (Donald Houston) and Fay Patterson (Georgia Brown). Amid the sad home scenario he befriends an “imaginary” tiger.
In ‘Penny Farthing’, vintage retailer proprietor Timothy (Peter McEnery) shares an odd portrait of “Uncle Albert” (Frank Forsyth) and a penny farthing bicycle he has inherited from his aunt.
In a collection of episodes, Uncle Albert compels Timothy to mount the bicycle, and he’s transported to an earlier period the place he courts Beatrice (Suzy Kendall), who was younger Albert’s love curiosity. These travels place Timothy’s girlfriend Ann (additionally Suzy Kendall) in peril.
In ‘Mel’, Brian Thompson (Michael Jayston) brings residence an outdated useless tree, which he lovingly calls Mel, mounting it in his trendy residence as a weird piece of discovered object artwork. He more and more reveals uncommon consideration to Mel, angering his jealous spouse Bella (Joan Collins).
In ‘Luau’, an bold literary agent, Auriol Pageant (Kim Novak), lasciviously courts new consumer Kimo (Michael Petrovich); he reveals extra curiosity in her stunning younger daughter Ginny (Mary Tamm). Auriol plans a luxurious luau for him; when the plans fall by way of, Kimo’s affiliate Keoki (Leon Lissek) takes over.
The luau, as organised by Keoki, is definitely a ceremony to guarantee Kimo’s dying mom Malia (Zohra Sehgal) passage to “heaven” by appeasing a Hawaiian god, and a requirement is that he devour the flesh of a virgin: Ginny.
Within the ‘Epilogue’, Tremayne watches as manifestations of the sufferers’ histories materialise. Nicholas can not see the manifestations and has Tremayne declared insane, apparently for believing the sufferers’ weird accounts. Nicholas enters the affected person holding space, and is killed by “Mr. Tiger”.
Evaluations:
” …avoids farce and develops a properly deadpan type of humour which is ably sustained by the superb solid during which solely Novak seems unable to hit the fitting word.” The Aurum Movie Encyclopedia: Horror
” …there’s a level of campy enjoyable operating by way of this piece which exonerates it from a few of its in-built weaknesses. Any movie that has Alexis Carrington Colby duking it out with a tree actually has one thing very particular to supply a sure class of discriminating viewer.” Jeffrey Kauffman, Blu-ray.com
“…not as unhealthy as you may bear in mind it – the tree section is bloody terrible (though surprisingly entertaining), however regardless of the ridiculous notion of a haunted bicycle, Uncle Albert’s story is kind of nicely performed, and Mr Tiger has a gory sufficient ending to make it worthwhile sitting by way of. The main downside is the voodoo story – it’s painfully apparent what’s going to occur…” British Horror Movies
“Completists will most likely get extra out of Tales that Witness Insanity than the informal viewer, however even with its trendy advances like occasional splatter and a pair bits of nudity, it’s fairly C-list materials at finest, and Francis made a lot better movies than this one…” Mark Tinta, Good Environment friendly Butchery
“Tales that Witness Insanity virtually finds a thematic and tonal unity in its off-kilter, black humored have a look at the refined viciousness of the trendy milieu, however the “Penny Farthing” episode disrupts this a bit. The movie finally ends up being a type of anthologies that by no means has an actual, sustained breakthrough because of its peaks and valleys of high quality.” Oh, the Horror!
“The third story can also be an enthralling little bit of WTF-ery, involving a person who finds a peculiar tree and decides to place it up in his lounge, a lot to the chagrin of his spouse (a smoking sizzling – and hopefully not associated – Joan Collins). As time goes on he turns into fixated on the tree, at one level opting to brush it as an alternative of becoming a member of Collins in mattress regardless of her advances.” Horror Film a Day
“Tales that Witness Insanity presents fairly simple path from Freddie Francis, who actually solely lets his inventive aspect present throughout a dream sequence in “Mel” the place Joan Collins is whipped by a tree’s slithering limbs, whereas multicoloured lights intensify the nightmare…” George R. Reis, DVD Drive-In
“Although it comes up brief infrequently, even the weakest entry in Tales that Witness Insanity boasts an fascinating premise, and whereas the movie actually received’t set your world on hearth, it’ll, undoubtedly, preserve you entertained.” DVD Infatuation
“Even with a maestro equivalent to Francis behind the digicam, that is an especially blended bag of unusual little b-movies. Nonetheless, it’s not totally with out benefit. It’s camp, and persistently humorous (whether or not intentional or not) and this makes it very watchable.” John Parker, Leisure Focus
“Regardless of nice premises, the tales typically undergo from the flat-minded literalness that beset lots of the lesser Amicus entries. That is notably so with the final two segments, which fail to carry as much as their preliminary conceptual inventiveness and taboo-daring.” Richard Scheib, Moria
” …the film is much less concerned about theories than in grotesque results, a few of that are comedian with out being particularly humorous.” Vincent Canby, The New York Occasions, November 1, 1973
“The gradual crawl in direction of the predictable finale, and the shortage of any actual twist in any of the tales, highlights simply how threadbare Jayne’s script really was, a predicament not helped by some lackadaisical path which stubbornly refuses to inject any vitality into the movie.” John Hamilton, X-Cert 2: The British Impartial Horror Movie: 1971 – 1983
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“[Jennifer Jayne’s] concepts ranged from the truthful sufficient, nothing spectacular to the downright weird, however with a feminine perspective on what was as much as that time largely a male protect, so there have been sturdy female characters considerations right here, not that it made her oddest premises any the much less outré.” Graeme Clark, The Spinning Picture
“The pleasing vignettes profit from some strong performances: the Luau section might be probably the most enjoyable with Novak’s broad flip midst the cannibal workings.” The Terror Lure
“Extra like “Tales That Witness Yawning”. Typically uninspired and poor anthology horror has a set-up just like the earlier years Asylum that has physician Donald Pleasence (who’s utterly wasted right here) telling the 4 tales inside.” The Video Graveyard
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