With its great cast (which includes Jack Palance, Burgess Meredith and Peter Cushing), a script by Robert 'Psycho' Bloch, and direction from Freddie Francis, one would expect this horror anthology from Amicus to be something really special. Unfortunately, the film completely fails to capitalise on the talent involved, and ends up as one of the company's lesser efforts.
Meredith plays the owner of a carnival sideshow, who promises to reveal to a handful of customers brief glimpses of their future, warning, however, that what they discover may not be to their liking.
Customer number one is the sponging work-shy nephew of a rich old man who discovers the terrible secret behind his uncle's wealth. Next up is beautiful aspiring actress Carla Hayes (Beverly Adams) who gets to see exactly what lengths she will go to in order to achieve success. Third to take a look at what the future holds is a young woman who becomes romantically involved with a pianist, only to find that his piano objects to their relationship. The final tale has Palance as a fanatical admirer of Edgar Allen Poe who turns to murder when he is introduced to a kindred spirit, Lancelot Canning (Peter Cushing), who owns the ultimate Poe collection.
A silly finalé wraps up proceedings by revealing that Meredith's character is none other than the devil himself (which really comes as no surprise, given that his stage name is Dr. Diablo!).
Torture Garden is a rather unimpressive collection of macabre tales that, at best, will just about hold the attention of fans of the genre, but is most likely to illicit laughter (the jealous killer piano certainly had me giggling) or just bore.
Amicus would attempt the horror anthology format several times later during their existence with varying degrees of success, the best of the bunch being 1972's Tales from the Crypt which saw Cushing as a vengeful zombie and Joan Collins being attacked by an escaped lunatic dressed as Santa Claus.
Meredith plays the owner of a carnival sideshow, who promises to reveal to a handful of customers brief glimpses of their future, warning, however, that what they discover may not be to their liking.
Customer number one is the sponging work-shy nephew of a rich old man who discovers the terrible secret behind his uncle's wealth. Next up is beautiful aspiring actress Carla Hayes (Beverly Adams) who gets to see exactly what lengths she will go to in order to achieve success. Third to take a look at what the future holds is a young woman who becomes romantically involved with a pianist, only to find that his piano objects to their relationship. The final tale has Palance as a fanatical admirer of Edgar Allen Poe who turns to murder when he is introduced to a kindred spirit, Lancelot Canning (Peter Cushing), who owns the ultimate Poe collection.
A silly finalé wraps up proceedings by revealing that Meredith's character is none other than the devil himself (which really comes as no surprise, given that his stage name is Dr. Diablo!).
Torture Garden is a rather unimpressive collection of macabre tales that, at best, will just about hold the attention of fans of the genre, but is most likely to illicit laughter (the jealous killer piano certainly had me giggling) or just bore.
Amicus would attempt the horror anthology format several times later during their existence with varying degrees of success, the best of the bunch being 1972's Tales from the Crypt which saw Cushing as a vengeful zombie and Joan Collins being attacked by an escaped lunatic dressed as Santa Claus.