88) Vault of Horror (1973)

88) Vault of Horror (1973) Dir: Roy Ward Baker Date Released: March 1973 Date Seen: March 28^th, 2009 Rating: 3/5

As both a follow-up to Tales from the Crypt (1972), the first of two films scripted by Amicus Productions’ founder Milton Subotsky based on EC Comics and an adaptation in general, Vault of Horror (1973) is a bit of a disappointment, especially considering the tacked-on epilogue. The epilogue repositions the act of storytelling in the film—five strangers regale each other with macabre recurring dreams of theirs—into punishment. They are doomed to retell their stories to each other every night. Consequently, you’d think that Subotsky’s script would try to cherrypick stories that aren’t just the same types of stories that his Tales From the Crypt adaptation was made up of—magical wishes as double-edged sword, punishment of the pre-Thatcherite mentality and the punishment of greed. Though there may not be that much more variety in the original comics, I had hoped that Subotsky would try to adapt stories that were more visually demanding instead of this lackluster collection of humdrum backstories.