Vault of Horror

My previous review was for the culty Brit horror anthology, Tales from the Crypt. Here's part two of the AlleyCat Comics double feature, the 1973 sequel, Vault of Horror.

Vault of Horror is comprised of five more short stories lifted from the classic 1950's EC comics. This time, the five victims meet in a waiting room at the bottom of an elevator and each tell each other their stories. I miss the Cryptkeeper.

First off, a guy kills his sister for a big inheritance, he goes to a restaurant to celebrate and finds out that the diners are not what they seem...

Next, a guy with OCD is so organized, he has a place marked for everything in his house. After accidentally putting on her panties (?!?!) he starts freaking out at his wife for moving things around. After his tirade, she accidentally forgets to use a coaster, and nervously makes a huge mess trying to clean up a tiny one before he gets home. When he discovers what she's done, she snaps...

Then, a magician visiting India can't figure out how a street artist's rope climbing trick work, so he plots to figure it out and steal it. The question is, is it really a trick? ...Or is it real?

Then, a guy fakes his own death for the insurance (these people sure do a lot for insurance), right when two young medical students happen to need a corpse. They strike a deal with the gravedigger...

And finally, Tom Baker, pre-Doctor Who, is a starving artist who, upon a betrayal, goes to a Voodoo man for revenge. He is given the ability to affect reality with his painting hand. He then goes back to London and enacts his revenge with his paints.

As a whole, Vault of Horror is not as good as the first one, but it's even funnier in the unintentional way, so it's an even trade. Just like Tales from the Crypt, it could have done with one less story. The first of the stories is pretty forgettable, aside from some details in the ridiculous twist, so let's drop that one. The OCD guy in the second was pretty unstable, but did he really deserve to be condemned as much as the wife he drove to the brink? Why am I questioning logic in this?

My favorite of the five was the Tom Baker one. I haven't seen much old Doctor Who, but I intend to get to him eventually. I liked him a lot in this. Unfortunately for us at the screening, this was the end of the movie, because this was the point where the audience participation really kicked in. Maybe it was the late hour, but we all started freely wisecracking at this point. There were jokes from us earlier, but we went full-on Mystery Science Theater 3000 for the last 20 minutes. I'm hoping this jokey atmosphere will continue in further movie nights at Alley Cat.