I really don't go along with . . .

I totally agree. I've always thought the Christmas Party was very chilling and fit right in. But I used to think that the Golfing story was weak and a little annoying, but after paying it more attention (the Haunted Mirror is my favorite part, so sometimes when I'd watch this on tape, when the golfing story started I'd just let it run and get up to get a snack) I've come to realize that it's really well done, and also an important break from the tension which puts us off guard for the final story. I've noticed that in a lot of movies where the terror is most effect, there is a lull that comes before that I believe is there to get us to relax, so that the scary parts that follow are more effective. This is what I think the Golf story does in this film--it's silly, and not even true (since it's supposed to be a joke that Foley tells) so we relax and let our guard down, and then the doctor, of all people, tells the wildest story of all.

I like both segments myself and I'm glad that they were included in the movie.

No blah, blah, blah!

The "Christmas Party" segment had a slightly annoying ending (the I'm not scared I'm not scared! bit), and it would have fared better with something like a hint of the sister's presence in the young boy's room. But the corridor scenes, particularly the discovery of the hidden nursery, were good, and the ghostly boy was eerie in a very low-key manner, so I liked it anyway; I also liked the random costume party, and the fact that the girl dressed in a period costume should meet a ghost boy dressed in similar clothing because those were his normal clothes, and the whole thing was lively enough to compensate for the lack of serious gloominess.

As to the "Golf" segment, it was a sweetheart. Someone on this thread explains its point in the whole narrative, and I agree with that explanation. Frankly, the one segment that disappointed me a little was precisely the "Haunted Mirror", because I expected something much more sinister in the end, not just a mild case of possession by the soul of an annoyed human. But that doesn't mean anything - I totally loved the whole thing, the order of the stories was perfect, leaving the truly chilly one in the end, every story had at least a little something wonderful to offer, and the hallucinatory re-phrasal and combination of various bits from the stories in the end of the main narrative was fascinating (we get to hear the Hearse's line "Just room for one more, sir!" three times, in three different contexts, with three really different connotations!).

there's a highway that is curling up like smoke above his shoulder

I think the golf segment is great but doesn't quite fit well within the film. Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne are both totally brilliant (especially Naunton Wayne!) just as they are in The Lady Vanishes. There are some moments in this segment that are some real comedic gems. Humor in horror movies can be used to relieve tension or to make the scary moments even scarier in juxtaposition which seems to be this stories purpose here. The only problem here is that it is simply too much humor. The film takes a twenty-minute detour into straight comedy here and all of the great spooky atmosphere built up in the first half of the film is killed by this sequence. I think a segment that was a little more darker in tone fitting with the rest of the film that had a few funny moments for comedic relief would have worked better. Still though, it is great to watch Radford and Naunton really ham it up.

As for the Christmas party tale, I think it fits really well in the film. The scene where she talks with Francis Kent to be one of the creepiest moments in the movie especially since it was based on a real-life murder.

The "Christmas Party" segment was too rushed and had little payoff. A few more scenes with that guy she was hiding with and a more powerful aura of menace in the scenes with the ghost would certainly have kicked things up a couple of notches.

Standing there, on a road that leads to anywhere ...