“The boundaries which divide life
from death are best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends and the
other begins?”- Edgar Allan Poe
Perhaps no other director
explored the bizarre, grotesque and terrifying tales of Edgar Allan Poe than
the Master of American low budget horror, Roger Corman. Beginning with ‘House
of Usher’, this is Corman’s last of ‘Poe’ adaptation series, starring the
legendary and irreplaceable evil Vincent Price. The film manages to bring the solid
macabre and gothic horror environment to screen like Mario Bava’s some of
brilliant films. There’s so much diversion and liberty taken to Poe’s original
story, which is overall an idolatrous passionate romance of dead wife and alive
longing husband than just usual horror. The addition of other characters,
framing the countenance of Price with the pair of completely eye covering dark
glasses, use of black cat as spirit in disguise and conflagration showdown at the
climax is all product of screenplay writer Robert Towne and Paul Mayersberg.
However they manage to implicate the idea of Poe’s tale to suit Corman’s low
budget shocker.
But above all like many of well
made Corman-Poe cycle, the film strongly delivers compelling sense of grotesque atmosphere with brilliant
gothic setting of ruined abbey surrounded by cemetery, arresting use of colours,
camera movements and above all the screen presence of Vincent Price at centre. The bizarre phantasmagoria and that hypnotism
scene is just awesome highlight of the film! Recommended to all freak fanatics!
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