As is typical with EC, the strikes are simple consisting of a setup, in which someone behaves badly, and a payoff, where they get their just deserts. I never understood why parents groups got upset with these comics; they are little morality plays where no bad deed goes unpunished.
The framing story here is about 4 men who get stranded, by way of a broken elevator, in a private club in a sub-basement. For some reason, conversation turns to nightmares, and it just so happens that each Manu has a nightmare that 'feels real' in which they die.
In 'Midnight Mess', a man tracks down his long lost sister to a strange village, where everyone is in by dark, because of 'them'.
In 'The Neat Job' an obsessive compulsive neat freak marries a trophy wife who he hopes will be his maid. She isn't quite the cleaning machine he hopers for, and his constant criticism driver her slowly mad.
In 'This Trick'll kill You' an arrogant and unscrupulous magician travels to India in the hope of finding his next big trick, but gets more than he bargained for when he resides to get a young woman's take on the rope trick at any cost.
In 'Bargain to Death' a man fakes his death as part of an insurance scam and is buried alive, but plans go awry in a way he would never nab guessed.
Finally, in 'Drawn and Quartered', the clear highlight of the bunch, Tom Baker (squee) plays a painter who gets himself blessed with the power of voodoo in order to take revenge on 3 men who have ripped him off, and soon discovers that a painter has no need for dolls.
How much you'll enjoy this depends entirely of how you feel about 'Tales From The Crypt' style morality plays, as there is little else to recommend the film, personally I do like them, so gave the lack of all but the most take of violence (and the worst vampire teeth you will ever see) a free pass.
If you're a parent, and want to introduce your kids to horror, you could do a lot worse - this is totally Hammeresque; I was weaned on that stuff, and I turned out alright!
That said, I do run 2 horror blogs, and plan to spend tomorrow night dressed as a scarecrow, frightening small children with a cardboard scyth...
The Movie is colour, for some reason, the Trailer is Black and White...
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