The Vault of Horror 1973

Five strangers descend in a quiet, increasingly claustrophobic ride, stepping into a shadowy sub-basement of a modern London block. The elevator seals them into a lavish, almost club-like room with no obvious way out or back to the world above. They pass the time with drinks, silence, and the uneasy sense that they’ve been led to a place where time itself seems to fold. As they settle in, the group trades stories about recurring nightmares, turning their fear into a shared, eerie puzzle that binds them together even as the walls close in around them.

Midnight Mess

Harold Rogers begins a deadly path after hiring a private detective Clive to shadow his sister, Donna Rogers, to a strange town. Harold murders Clive, then kills Donna to lay claim to the family inheritance. The aftermath unfolds in a dinner at a local restaurant where the town seems suddenly touched by a dark, impossible magic; in a chilling twist, Donna is not as dead as Harold believes, and he himself becomes the centerpiece of a gruesome ritual, his life drained as if poured from a jug. The stark, vampiric reveal hints at a fate far more ancient than greed. In some versions, the final reversal is cut from the U.S. release, leaving the moment’s bite off-screen for audiences there.

The Neat Job

In a different mood of dread, Arthur Critchit is obsessively neat and suffocatingly precise, even in his marriage to Eleanor Critchit. His relentless demand for cleanliness and order drives a wedge between them, and the pressure finally erupts in a brutal act—an act that shatters the illusion of control. The grim consequences unfold in a ritual of jars and orders, as the quiet domestic life he sought collapses into a terrifying, precise chaos. The moment when he shouts, “Can’t you do anything neatly? Can’t you?” lands as a stark turning point in their relationship. > “Can’t you do anything neatly? Can’t you?”

This Trick’ll Kill You

Sebastian is a magician on holiday in India with his wife, Inez, chasing a new trick. A local rope trick excites their curiosity, and a girl with a flute seemingly conjures a real marvel. The couple murders the girl to steal the enchanted rope, hoping to harness genuine magic for their act. Sebastian handles the flute while the rope rises in the air, and a trail of violence follows—soon Inez tests the rope, climbs it, and vanishes with a scream. A bloody mark appears on the ceiling as the rope tightens around Sebastian’s neck, while the victim reappears alive in the bazaar, leaving the couple to confront a power far beyond their control.

Bargain in Death

Maitland is buried alive as part of an insurance scam with a colleague named Alex. The pair’s plan unravels when Tom and Jerry, two trainee doctors, bribe a gravedigger to dig up a corpse for their studies. When Maitland’s coffin is finally opened, he stumbles into a hazardous escape that ends with a car crash and a violent confrontation. The gravedigger apologizes for the head-related damage as Maitland’s fate is sealed in a grim procession of deceit and mortality, exposing how greed can manufacture a death that’s almost as lethal to the living as to the dead.

Drawn and Quartered

Moore is an impoverished painter in Haiti whose fortunes shift after a voodoo priest grants his painting hand the power to ruin its subjects. Upon returning to London, Moore paints portraits of the men who swindled him—Diltant and Gaskill—and then mutilates the canvases to exact his revenge. The magic culminates in a final, self-portrait exchange that threatens to seize control of his own fate as the dangerous power turns back on him. The tale threads together themes of artistry, betrayal, and the price of vengeance, all tinged with the ominous atmosphere of voodoo’s shadowy force.

Finale

When the last tale’s tale is told, the five dreamers confront the meaning of their nightmares. The lift door opens to reveal a graveyard beyond, and one by one Harold Rogers, Arthur Critchit, Maitland, and Moore step into the night and vanish. Sebastian remains in the room and explains that they are all damned souls, compelled to recount the deeds they committed for all eternity. He then fades back into the mausoleum-rooms, which seal shut behind him with a final, quiet shut of the door.