Wow, Victoria, that was a fabulous review. I've never read the novel, so I appreciated your references to that.
Literate storytelling really isn't in vogue, is it? I have to admit that what you write of the cast makes me salivate. I just watched the 1965 film, Dr. Terror's House of Horrors--Donald Sutherland was incredibly sharp (and gorgeous to look at) with very limited material in that.
G.