Cinemassacre revisits Roger Corman’s Edgar Allan Poe film series (1960–1964), praising its Gothic atmosphere, production efficiency, and Vincent Price’s performances across eight features, while noting variations in quality and the series’ eventual fatigue.
- Overview of the eight Poe films produced by Corman (1960–1964)
- Discussion of each film: House of Usher, Pit and the Pendulum, Premature Burial, Tales of Terror, The Raven, The Haunted Palace, The MasK of the Red Death, Tomb of Ligeia
- Emphasis on production constraints, color Cinemascope, and set design ingenuity
Transcript
[Music] it's cin massacres Monster Madness a tribute to Roger Corman when it comes to
Roger Corman horror films there's nothing that stands out more than the PO series it was a
series of films based on the stories of Edgar Allen Poe in total there were eight of them
made between 1960 and 1964 and there were nine if you count the terror I've already kind
of sort of reviewed the post Series in the first Monster Madness back in 2007 but it was
only a short installment in a 31p part history of horror I barely said much about them so I
knew this year doing a tribute to Corman of course I was going to review one of these
movies in depth but the question was which one all of them have a place in my heart as I
absolutely love Gothic horror I couldn't single out one without talking about the rest so [ __ ]
it I'm doing the whole thing I've rewatched them all right before writing this review and
forgot just how much I love them you get First Rate performances from Vincent Price and
other horror actors from the classic era you get a certain degree of humor mixed with the
maab you get these wonderful haunted set designs with candles archways and old portraits
on the walls you get this spooky photography with foggy cemeteries and handcrafted mat
paintings and you are told the stories of Po in a digestible entertaining way while PO is a
household name in horror and his stories are such well-known Staples they can be quite
awkward to read the wording is very old timey and the stories can be vague having a
dreamlike logic that in cinema can only be interpreted as a nightmare come to life in
corman's book he mentions that he was reading a lot about fraan psychoanalysis at the
time and was very interested in the inner workings of the psych he decided he wanted to
use Freud's theories to interpret PO he also had sessions with a psychiatrist who helped
him learn to analyze the connection between humor and horror so I'd say the Corman post
Series has something for every kind of horror fanatic morbid but with comedy lavish but
psychological Gothic and Atmospheric like the black and white Universal Classics but in
color it's also worth noting that the cinematography in most of the series was by Floyd
Crosby who was the father of David Crosby of Crosby Stills Nash and Young also notable
is that Richard mat who wrote I Am Legend and a number of Twilight Zone episodes was
the screenwriter on half the Corman Poe films but now let's get into the films it all kicks off
with House of Usher and this is the one that needs to get discussed the most because it
sets all the rest in motion if you've read the story fall the House of Usher you'll notice that
the film takes some Liberties but overall is a pretty straightforward adaptation probably the
closest and most faithful of all the PO films it's about a guy Phillip who shows up at an old
isolated Mansion he's played by Mark Damon who I just happen to find out like Corman
passed away this very year he was 91 and died on May 12th so this video can be in
remembrance of him too Philip's reason for arriving at the house is to meet up with his
fiance meline we get the impression he's been away for a long time so why he suddenly
shows up out of the blue who knows but mine's Brother rodk played by Vincent Price wants
to stop them from marrying his reason is because he's dying of a rare disease that makes
him Ultra sensitive to light sounds and all Sensations the problem is that the disease is
hereditary so Roderick is afraid that meline would pass it on to Future children 34 of my
family have fallen into madness so to him his family is doomed and must have no lineage
to the point where he knowingly buries mateline alive and this is where some of the morbid
humor comes in because I do not believe that for the ushers there is peace here after the
character is so hopelessly miserable so full of Doom and Gloom and negativity all the time
that eventually you have to laugh is there no end to your Horrors none whatever quite a
downer isn't he we never know for sure if his disease is real or it's psychosomatic but the
details and facts don't matter as much as the atmosphere and the overall experience at
times the film even slips into these surreal nightmare scenes it's really a [Music] trip and
this is where the Freudian aspect comes in as Corman Wanted the movie to work on a
subconscious plane as it depicts the final decline of rodick sanity this was aip's first big
production of this kind instead of two lowbudget black and white films they decided to
combine the budget and make a big color cinemascope production Corman says in his
book that the budget was $270,000 though it most likely went over at 300,000 it was a
gamble for the company and Corman at the time was known for making monster movies
Sam arof of AIP asked Corman where's the monster and he replied the house is the
monster in corman's book he says in order to get the film made made he had to add a line
in there the house itself is evil now and sure enough the house does feel like it has a mind
of its own it has this big crevice running through it from the foundation getting wider and
wider like a giant mouth getting ready to swallow the last of the Usher family it is the house
that takes them down in the end there was no other way no other way the film turned out to
be a huge success and took Corman to all new heights it's not only a great success story
it's also a lesson in economy film making with only 15 days to shoot they made the most of
it they chose to adapt a simple story they used few locations minimal sets minimal actors
and very little effects art director Daniel Hower bought stock sets from Universal for $2,500
so all the columns arches and windows were reconfigured and recycled for film they would
buy more while still using the old ones so this would keep increasing the look of the
production design it's kind of like if you buy some Halloween decorations you keep them for
next year but then you buy some more and each year it keeps getting better and better
during production Corman heard on the radio that there was a forest fire in the Hollywood
Hills which is always a very awful and unfortunate situation however it came at the benefit
of the movie because after the fire had been put out it left the ground gray with Ash and all
the trees were charred black so all they had to do was bring in some fog machines and
they got a good spooky Forest out of it and it played into the whole story how the house
has this Aura of death all around it for the final scene when the house burns and collapses
they found an old barn that was about to be demolished Corman offered the owner $50 to
burn it down as opposed to just knocking it down and to burn it at night with two cameras
rolling he got so much footage out of it he was able to not only use it in House of Usher but
subsequent po films as well he says in his book he didn't know anybody would ever notice
it was the same footage being recycled until VHS came along and people could compare
for any of the scenes with interior fires they would lather the walls in flammable Gunk which
would keep it from destroying the walls but it would still burn the paint so if they needed a
second take somebody would have to repaint it while they would go shoot something else
because there was no time to waste the production of House of Usher has a great
message behind it it's a testament to what you can do Under the limits of schedule and
budget when creativity prevails the follow-up pit in the pendulum had all the markings of a
cash grab it could have easily been a pale imitator but it manages to surprise the
production design is even better it's fun to let your eyes explore and get immersed in that
scenery there's many long stretches where he's going through cobwebs and [ __ ] this is
classic Horror in a nutshell the plot was largely invented for the film because if you've read
pit in the pendulum you'll know it's just a guy locked in a cell and who's eventually strapped
down underneath a swinging blade that keeps coming closer and closer the movie uses the
post story as its final Act but leading up to it they had to invent new stuff which feels like a
repeat of House of Usher a guy is wandering along the shore when he comes to a mat
painting of a castle that mat painting ended up being recycled in a lot of films but that
closer shot of the castle that one that's the famous shot that ended up being recycled in the
premature burial The Raven the terror and even death stalker 2 death Stalker 3 and
probably a bunch of other films as far as I know pit in the pendulum must be the first
appearance of what I call the Corman Castle I seem to be the only person who ever talks
about it or cares so anyway this guy shows up to the castle looking for his missing sister
when he meets her husband played by Vincent Price who are you you can see why I think
these films are so similar it's all just knock knock who's there Vincent Price he claims the
sister died of a disease and he has the same type of sobbing monologue while looking at
portraits on the wall and speaking of how the whole place has this atmosphere of death
breathing this infernal air absorbing the miasma of barbarity which permeates these walls
it's the same type of formula though Vincent Price approaches it with a different angle
which is a great Testament to his acting abilities even though it's written in that same grief
stricken way as rodick Usher his delivery keeps it fresh and doesn't come off like he's
playing the same character as before in the Castle's dungeon there's a bunch of leftover
old torture devices there's a backstory about how his father was an agent in the Spanish
Inquisition which ties it to the post Story the facts become blurred as the convoluted past
comes to light it starts to become apparent that he killed his wife and even thinks that she
is coming back to haunt him I must accept whatever Vengeance Elizabeth chooses to inflict
upon me as we hurdle towards the Final Act Vincent Price's performance really shines and
goes through many changes at times he's very subdued almost catatonic but soon he will
be exploding with energy after a long stretch where he's exploring the tomb he encounters
what he thinks to be his dead wife and after falling down some stairs he starts laughing
uncontrollably his sanity has been completely destroyed it's the moment when price wins
over the entire movie but it only gets better it turns out he was a victim of an elaborate ploy
to drive him insane and when he learns that he goes full [ __ ] psycho oh man this is when [
__ ] gets good he turns the tables and becomes the vengeful Maniac that his father was I
thought the two of you would enjoy the novelty of it you are about to enter hell Bal help he
uses the pendulum to torture in this elaborate matte painted dungeon with disturbing wall
murals the over-the-top villainous acting the wicked monologues the camera angles and
editing make this one of the greatest horror sequences of the 60s I first thought this was
just a pale imitator of how of Usher but this Final Act changed my mind completely I think it
may even surpass it though whether it surpasses Baya lugosi's performance in the 1935
version of The Raven is Up For [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Laughter] Debate third in the
series was the premature burial Corman made this one outside of AIP because of a dispute
and because Vincent Price was locked into an exclusive contract with them he couldn't be
in this one it's very unfortunate because if price was in this one it could have been one of
the [Music] best oddly enough it later became an AIP film as they bought the distribution
rights the plot once again has the theme of being buried alive and that's because there are
so many post stories that have this theme the film sticks close enough to the original story
about a man who has an irrational fear of being buried alive his fear leads to a condition
where he randomly falls into a narcoleptic sleep that resembles death his worry is that
somebody will bury him before he wakes up the rigid Embrace of the coffin the Blackness
of absolute night and the silence so he creates this elaborate tomb with all these
Contraptions that he can survive off of or to call for help or to ingest a poison in case it all
doesn't work out um it's a pretty terrible thought the Highlight for me is all the cemetery sets
I am a sucker for a good foggy cemetery and there is plenty of it to look at you almost feel
like you can breathe in the night air I can't get enough of this [ __ ] when it comes to
Atmosphere this film has it what it doesn't have is Vincent Price and there's plenty times
where the character is giving a monologue and I just can't help but imagine Vincent Price's
voice and face on top of his still though he does a good job the actor is Ray Milland he's
one of those actors whose filmography is so massive that if you look him up you'll get his
bio but then the filmography will be its own separate page broken into eras TV film Etc he's
best known for the Lost weekend 1945 in which he won the Academy Award for best actor
but I know him best as the main character in Hitchcock's dim for murder that was a good
one overall premature burial might be kind of forgettable compared to some of the others
but it still has that cozy classic [Music] Vibe fourth in the series is Tales of Terror if you ever
decide to watch these movies in a row like I just did and you're feeling any po fatigue by
the time you get to number four rest assured this one will rejuvenate your interest it's an
anthology film made up of three short segments which seems like it would have been the
best approach all along since po typically wrote short stories and poems the first segment
is Mel which feels like the same old Playbook but the great acting and awesome set design
keep it appealing and the short format probably helps too Vincent Price once again is living
alone in some secluded Mansion or Castle when somebody comes knocking on the door in
this case it's his daughter Lenora who is not welcome he hates her because his wife died
while giving birth to her and he blames her for it which is absurd he treats her like [ __ ] for
no reason I went into your nursery and I took you out of your cradle and I almost hurled you
out of the window there is so much conviction in is acting that it almost becomes comedic
like what is his problem uh this father is an [ __ ] and why does she stick around he even
keeps the mother's corpse on a bed I mean that's not [Music] normal and it reaches the
same kind of horrific Crescendo as House of Usher even reusing the burning Barn footage
but for some reason nothing feels stale I guess they went with the mentality of if it isn't
broke don't fix it the second segment is the Black Cat holy hot damn this is the Pinnacle
even though it Strays from the post story I'd say there is no doubt this is the best segment
and one of the highlights of the whole Corman po series I give all the credit to horror
veteran Peter Lori the moment he enters it takes the series into a new Uncharted Territory
keep that Beast away from me he plays Mont treasure an angry bitter alcoholic who is very
cruel to his wife and her cat night after night he takes her money to go to the local bar to
get plastered how dare you throw me out but the scene that makes the whole movie is
when he crashes a high class wine tasting party at the head of it is Vincent Price it's
another Testament to his versatility that he can play three characters in the same movie
and it never feels like the same guy here rather than being a depressed reuse he's a jolly
social well-established and sophisticated Champion wine taster named fortunado P
burgundy if you've noticed their names come from another post story Cas of monato well
there's a reason but first mon treasure challenges fortunado to a wine tasting competition
which at first seems like a joke you coward you poser I say call the police but Mont
treasure surprises everybody with his knowledge the two come from such different walks of
life fortunado takes small sips and he sucks the air and makes all these silly faces while
mon treasure just chugs everything that's handed to him burgundy B 1832 and regardless
of his method he knows his wine and fortunado is impressed after all said and done they
respect each other they walk out out the bar Drunk Together as equals it's kind of charming
to see them become friends it's a really great scene and it's probably the best competitive
drinking scene since Vincent Price and basil wrab drunk it out in Tower of London in
[Laughter] 1939 but things take a turn when Mont treasure finds out that fortunado has
been banging his wife so he lures him with some good wine and Bricks him up behind the
wall the love of God M yes for the love of God so it sort of combines the black cat with
Casco monato I mean po was so obsessed with characters being inomed in a wall or under
a floor or buried alive in a coffin that it just seemed natural to combine them the third and
final segment the case of M valdemar I think is the weakest though it does reunite basil
wrath bone with Vincent Price price as valdemar is dying of a painful illness and enlists the
help of a hypnotist wrath bone to put him into a trance to escape the pain I will let you go
when I am finished but instead the hypnotist traps his soul and tries to move in on his wife
well now you shall be my wife I shall not ask I shall take what I desire but in the end
valdemar's decaying body rises from the bed to get his revenge this is the most memorable
scene from the segment when price under goes all that makeup it was said to be very
uncomfortable as it was made from hot glue and corn starch so of all the segments it's
probably safe to say this one was the worst experience for Vincent Price overall tailes of
Terror is a mixed bag but Peter Lor's phenomenal acting in the black cat segment is the
absolute highlight and the reason why it's one of my favorites of the whole series next up
the fifth installment The Raven now of course the Raven was only a poem there's not a
whole lot you can do with it so they basically use the Raven as a launching Point into an
entirely unrelated story it starts with Vincent Price narrating the original poem he plays a
wizard named Dr Craven who's mourning the death of his wife Lenor when a raven shows
up like in the poem but once the poem runs out we find in this version The Raven is a
human Dr bedo who's been turned into a raven by a sorcerer's magic spell he begs Dr
Craven to turn him back which means he has to go into this classic Dusty Alchemist lab full
of potions and animal bones and cobwebs so once he turns bedo back into himself guess
who it is Peter Lori the movie just got good Dr Craven but it gets even better they travel to
the evil sorcerer's Castle Dr Dr scarabus with bedo seeking revenge and Craven
investigating the possibility of his wife still being alive and inhabiting the castle they're
joined by Craven's daughter Estelle and bed's son Rexford who's played by a young Jack
Nicholson who says in corman's book that the Raven kept [ __ ] on his shoulder there is
very little indication that this unassuming young actor would become one of the all-time
juggernauts it's a simple part played straight but there is one moment where he's under a
spell and he goes into psychotic Jack [Music] mode it may not be full shining but it's [Music]
something and if you thought this cast couldn't get any more star studded well then look
who we have [Music] here the main villain scarabus is played by none other than Boris [ __
] carof afraid my dear there's nothing to be afraid of I can't think of any other film that
transcends so many generations of horror just think it spans Frankenstein all the way to
The Shining not to mention carof was in the 1935 version of The Raven when you've been
around long enough to be in both versions that's something at this point carof was not in
the best of health but he was a trooper and his performance performance is A+ with that
sneering two-faced [ __ ] eating grin The Gift of Magic by uh gesture I have my humble
means the plot takes many twists and turns but never mind that once all these actors are
together this is when the movie gets really good you and I of the occult education know
only too well the deceptiveness of what appears to be the scene with price Lori and carof at
the dinner table is fantastic Dr bedo is boiling over with rage and wants to challenge
scarabus to a duel I challenge you but scarabus keeps trying to diffuse the situation while
hiding his true intentions and Dr Craven is just caught in the middle of it the dynamic
between these actors is incredible it's been said that Lori would go off script and adli a lot it
goes to show because of how natural he comes off but apparently carof wanted to stick to
the script and he would get annoyed when Lori would throw him off track so his reactions
are genuine yes you are afraid you miserable coward father in the name of shut your
mouth Yes afraid Peter Lori might have had a method to legitimately get under Carlo's skin
and bring out the best performance you pityful Old Goat enough you scarabus easily
defeats bedo and in the end it's Craven who has to step up that final battle between Craven
and scarabus is another highlight the special effects are super cheap and are nothing
compared to what you can do on your computer or even your phone nowadays imagine
explaining that to somebody back then like hey you can do that [ __ ] on your phone
special effects on a telephone how does that work anyway I was never bothered by how
cheap the scene looks because the idea behind it is what counts who doesn't love a
Wizard's duel some say this film went too far with the comedy but I say it's super fun for me
it's all about the actors and it especially can't be understated how good carof is for this
reason alone I'd say it's another one of my favorites maybe even my favorite of the entire
series next would be the terror however it's not based on a specific post story rather it's
done in a post style it fits right in with the others but it's not generally considered to be part
of the series also I've reviewed it already I've even done a featurelength commentary so I'd
be fine to pass on it but the circumstances surrounding How It Was Made is such a great
tale it's worth repeating basically as soon as Corman wrapped up on the Raven he decided
to film two extra days with carof for a new movie which he didn't even have a full script for it
was a generic idea to utilize carof and the Raven sets before they were torn down so he
filmed two days with carof and Jack Nicholson and then they had to figure out the rest later
well that turned into 9 months and five other directors to finish it up including Francis Ford
Copa and even Jack Nicholson directing part of it each director added their own twist to the
story so in the end it made no sense whatsoever the baron did return that night to find Eric
with the baroness and he did kill her but there was a struggle and in the fight it was not Eric
who died but the baron they had to do some re-shoot to clear it up there's a monologue
where Dick Miller attempts to explain the entire plot while in closeup because the set was
torn down by then in fact he's in front of the set of the next po film The Haunted Palace and
also the 20 minutes of carof in this film was recycled to make yet another movie while
shooting 20 additional minutes of caroff and that movie became targets so it's just a really
funny story how it all went down I love the terror it's ridiculous it's the only film that I defy
anybody cuz there is there's no story actually arrived at to this day no one knows the plot of
the terror but let's get to the haunted Palace the official number six in the series but here's
the weird thing about the haunted Palace the poe story was nothing more than a short
poem shorter than the raven so there's even less of a connection to Poe this makes any
claim that the terror counts even more credible the haunted Palace actually derives its
story from HP lovecrafts the case of Charles Dexter Ward the setting is New England's
colonial times in the fictional town of Arkham from Lovecraft lore Vincent Price plays a man
who's accused of being a warlock and is burned alive then we fast forward 100 10 years
when his great great grandson who is also played by Vincent Price inherits the old Palace
he stops by the local bar to ask directions but the town's people are fearful and try to force
them away they won't even tell them where the palace is but all he has to do is look and it's
clearly visible from the bar it definitely plays into the old Universal tropes especially the
Frankenstein sequels the castle is always abandoned somebody always shows up and
wants to go to it and the town's people are always fearful and there's mostly always a bar
full of dead serious patrons and if this didn't already feel like a color remake of a universal
film when they arrive at the palace guess who they meet law Cheney Jr good evening he
plays the creepy old caretaker who is secretly carrying out orders to resurrect his master
they don't give Cheney much to do all he does is sneak up and accidentally scare people
all all the time Cheney was past his prime here but it's still nice to see him in a nutshell it's
a story of possession the ancestor inhabits the body of The Descendant that sort of thing
but it's all style over story like I said it follows all the universal tropes right down to the
villagers carrying torches and storming the castle and of course everything burns down in
the end the atmosphere is Stellar there is a copious amount of fog which you know I love
foggy streets foggy forests foggy cemeteries hell the fog even comes inside this is one
where the visual aspect keeps it interesting though it does feel like the PO theme has run
its course especially if they had to give up on it and go Lovecraft instead seventh in the
franchise is mask of the Red Death this one seemed like a sh winner because the original
story is one of Po best it's a good one to read out loud it has a lot of great visual
descriptions especially when they go through all the different colored rooms ending up in
the forboding black room with the red Windows it makes you wonder why they didn't adapt
this into a film earlier but Corman says the reason was that he didn't want it to be
compared to the seventh seal 1957 that film also involved a plague and a hooded robed
figure known as death so Corman decided to wait a little red death is said in medieval
times Vincent Price plays Prince Prospero who's depicted as a cruel devil worshipper while
a plague is wiping out the countryside he Retreats into his castle and hosts a lavish party
also there's a subplot taken from another post story hop frog though here they call the
character hop toad he and Esmeralda are entertainers who are mistreated by one of
Prospero guests Alfredo and just like in the post story hoptoad enacts his revenge but it's
kind of strange how it plays out on film hoptoad convinces Alfredo to show up at the
masked ball in an ape suit I mean he hardly questions it he just decides to go along with it
and then all hoptoad has to do is tie him up to a chandelier douse him with alcohol and
then set him a blaze nobody stops him nobody does a thing they all just watch this man
burn to death it's incredibly awkward but maybe that's part of the charm also the famous
finale Where The Red Dead death crashes the party and makes everybody dead is very
surreal he just makes their skin turn bloody red and they continue dancing it's really bizarre
overall you have Vincent Price in a devilishly Sinister role you have great set designs
creepy visuals it has all the Necessities but there's something about this installment that
separates it from the others in the series I could never put my finger on it but it might have
something to do with the fact that it was filmed in England rather than Hollywood wood
some of the castle sets were left over from Becket a historical drama and also a fun fact
The Beatles were just starting to get big at the time Corman wasn't really aware but he was
introduced to some important guy who showed up at the set so Corman gave him a tour
and it turned out the guy was Paul McCartney yeah Paul McCartney was on the set of
mask of the Red Death let me see your [Music] face I'm not sure where red death ranks in
the Corman post series I used to think it was one of the best but after watching them all in
a row I'm starting to think it's actually one of the weaker ones uh maybe it's just fatigue
maybe it's that I've been uh spoiled with Peter Lori and Boris carof but even Vincent Price
is better in the earlier ones the atmosphere and visuals are better in the others too so
overall I still think it's a good film but compared with some of the others it doesn't really
stand out but the final film number eight in the series might be the most forgettable
however it's Loosely based on one of the most interesting post stories tomb of liia or just
liia as the original story is called it deals with death and reincarnation a woman dies and
comes back in the body of another woman which is a fundamental type of story that's been
retold one way or another in countless films from The Mummy to vertigo the film follows the
same basic premise Vincent Price plays veran the reason he wears those weird
sunglasses is because he has an eye condition making him extra sensitive to light almost a
throwback to his rodick Usher character his wife liia dies he feels her spirit never went to
rest he marries another woman and then lia's Spirit comes back although in the film she is
more vengeful and he has to fight against her they also feel the need to throw in a black cat
because we never had that before it's impli that her spirit is in the cat and it attacks verin
and in the end guess what happens just take a wild guess everything burns down man it
seems Vincent Price was always in a burning building even going back to House of Wax It
must have felt like business as usual got to act in the [ __ ] fire again one thing that stands
out with tomb of liia is that they use a lot of real locations the main Castle is called Acra
prior located in England there's many daytime scenes where you can see all the stone and
Rubble so while it's nice to see indoor sets it's also cool to see real life places they even
have a short scene at Stonehenge no we're not going to [ __ ] do Stonehenge in conclusion
the formula may have worn thin but after eight movies it still has a lot of appeal some count
The Oblong Box as the final entance in the PO films because it has Vincent Price and it's
an AIP film but it wasn't directed by Roger Corman or had anything to do with it if you want
to talk about any po adaptation to have Vincent Price we'll check out an evening of Edgar
Allen Poe it's just Vincent Price all by himself performing post stories in these giant
theatrical monologues if you want to see Vincent Price at full power check out The Telltale
Heart segment I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed
him yeah if you want to know how good of an actor Vincent Price really is an evening with
Edgar alen Poe I highly recommend it God what could I do I phoned I raved I swore I
swung the chair upon which I had been sitting well that was a marathon remember when
Monster Madness videos used to be only 2 minutes long well I gave you a big bonus here
anyway I hope you enjoyed this retrospective of corman's post series if you've seen them
already or if you're thinking to check them out I hope I helped guide you on the right path
