Dr. Death and Mr. Howard

DOCTOR DEATH, SEEKER OF SOULS-1973-Fred Sanders (Barry Coe) tries to find a way to bring his wife Laura (Jo Morrow) back from the dead. After consulting a phony medium and meeting a bug eyed old man and the society of the dead, he meets a woman named Tana (QUEEN OF BLOOD'S Florence Marley) who takes him to see Dr. Death (John Considine) who she says can bring back the dead. During a demonstration the doctor he and his assistant Thor (Leon Askin) saw a scarred woman in half (like a magic act) then bring her soul back in another body. Sanders remains unconvinced but after seeing his wife’s apparition and hearing her voice, he agrees to have the doctor bring her back. The doctor then relates how he got the power (in sepia flashback) 1,000 years before (I think his voice changes too). He decides to kill Tana and use her soul but when he attempts the soul transfer it doesn't work. Sanders’ wife refuses it and Sanders decides it's better that way but the doctor has other plans. He and Thor go around killing innocent women, trying to transfer their souls into Mrs. Sanders body. To no avail. Meanwhile Sanders romances his secretary Sandy (Cheryl Miller). When the doctor is stabbed his blood gushes out and disintegrates his attacker. After deciding that the secretary has the strong soul he needs, doc decides to bleed her to death!  The predictable ending has the doctor's soul in Mrs. Sanders body and plotting revenge. 

This movie is very boring in spots and very stupid in others. Considine is ok in the over the top main role spouting a lot of platitudes about singular soul transfer but the rest of the cast isn’t very good. The real reason to see this is for the appearance of Moe Howard as a member of the doctor’s audience! He seems to flub one of his lines. 

This was director Eddie Saeta only full length film however he was assistant director on many films going back to the late 1930's. Former actor Sal Ponti wrote the screenplay. Co-star Barry Coe was in lots of TV show episodes and LOVE ME TENDER (with Elvis). A year after this John Considine made another low budget horror film THE THIRSTY DEAD. His father John W. Considine Jr. was a producer in the 1930's and '40's. His most famous was MAD LOVE in 1935.

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Amicus Anthology

TORTURE GARDEN-1967-Five people visit Dr. Diablo's Torture Garden at a carnival. After Diablo (Burgess Meridith) shows them a recreation of an electric chair execution he introduces them to a statue of Atropus, the goddess of destiny. Then he invites each of them to stare at the statue and a tale featuring them is conveyed.

In “Enoch” a neer do well (Michael Bryant) kills his old uncle (Maurice Denham) to get his hidden money but instead he comes under the supernatural influence of a cat named Bathaza! It makes him kill people so it can it their brains! He winds up beheaded in a jail cell. Niall McManus (CURSE OF THE DEMON) plays his doctor.

“Terror Over Hollywood” takes place in Tinseltown where actress Clara Hayes (Beverly Adams) becomes involved with a former matinee idol Bruce Benton (Robert Hutton) who is literally an 'immortal” star thanks to a weird surgeon who in the end makes Clara a “living doll”.

In “Mr. Steinway” a woman (Ursula Howells) falls in love with a brilliant but lonely pianist named Leo (John Standing) who's piano seems to be possessed by his dead mother. When the two become lovers the piano pushes her out a window!

In “The Man Who Collected Poe”, an American book collector Ronald Wyatt (Jack Palance) wants a rare Edgar Allan Poe book owned by English Poe collector Kanning (Peter Cushing). Kanning has quite a collection. In fact the real Poe is alive in his basement after making a deal with the devil! This has a weird “huh?” ending.

The framing sequence also has a nice twist ending involving a another patron (Michael Ripper) where after Diablo reveals his real identity (can ya guess?) to the viewing audience.

TORTURE GARDEN was the first of a series of anthology films Robert Bloch wrote for Amicus, the main rival to Hammer in the 1960's (he'd already done THE PSYCHOPATH and THE DEADLY BEES for them). The stories themselves aren't that great but they are weird enough (a cat that eats brains, a killer piano, Poe still alive). Director Freddie Francis (who worked on several other Amicus anthologies written by Bloch) keeps things moving but the acting makes up for any plot faults.

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