A Franco foul-up almost saved by unintentional comedy

Neurosis: The Fall of the House of Usher (aka "Revenge in the House of Usher" and "Zombie 5") (1982)
Starring: Howard Vernon, Robert Foster, Lina Romay, Jean Tolzac, Olivier Mathot, and Françoise Blanchard
Director: Jess Franco
Rating: Two of Ten Stars

Dr. Alan Hacker (Foster) travels to the castle of his old professor, Dr. Usher (Vernon) where he quickly learns that his old teacher has gone mad. Aside from claiming that he is 200 years old, Usher is obsessed with resurrecting his dead daughter by giving her blood transfusions from girls he’s kidnapped.

With "Neurosis" (as the film was called in the on-screen titles even though the DVD case told me I was going to see "Revenge in the House of Usher"), Jess Franco manages to make himself look worse than usual. Not only does he do a half-assed job of adapting the classic Poe story "Fall of the House of Usher" but he uses 15-20 minutes of footage from one of the few good movies he's made--"Awful Dr. Orlof"--as a flashback sequence so the viewer can compare what he did in 1964 with what he did in 1981. 1981 Jess Franco does NOT look good when compared with 1964 Jess Franco.

The fault in using the old footage is embodied first in the character of "Morpho", Dr. Usher's blind (one-eyed?) assistant who is more in love with Usher's semi-undead daughter than even Usher. Morpho's make-up in the 1981 footage is pathetic when compared with the 1962 footage... when it should have been the other way around, given the improvement in the art in the two decades that passed between the production of the two films. Secondly, the old footage is simply better over all cinematography-wise. The shots are better composed and framed, more interestingly lit, and just more dramatic over-all.

As for the film overall, there is no logic to the story and the scenes appear to be strung together almost as random, with characters dropping in and out--like the horny stable boy; or important characters being introduced out of the blue in the third act--like Usher's wife, who may or may not be a ghost. We never do find out what she is or how she managed to creep around the castle without Usher's loyal housekeeper and would-be lover Helen seeing her (if she wasn't a ghost).

Speaking of Helen... if someone can explain her character arc to me, I will bow down to you as the superior reviewer. She becomes a completely different character all of a sudden. I could chalk it up to delusions on the part of Usher, but Dr. Hacker was the one who was primarily involved with her inexplicable transformation.

While watching the film, I actually did wonder on more than one occasion whether it was a satire of gothic horror films that misfired rather than a serious attempt at making a horror movie. If viewed as such, it suddenly becomes a mediocre movie instead of a terrible one. Certainly, the bad acting on the part of the men dubbing Robert Foster (as Dr. Hacker) and Howard Vernon (as Dr. Usher) gives rise to much hilarity... and the people responsible for voicing Lina Romay and the rest of the cast are almost as effective with their comedic stylings.

But I doubt this was intended as a comedy, so the film ends up here, with the rest of the cinematic trash. There are actually a few well-done scenes of horror sprinkled here and there throughout the film, but overall it's another cheap-jack Jess Franco Failure, with another of his trademark botched endings. (Free advice to filmmakers: If you're going to adapt "The Fall of the House of Usher" and you're going to have a building collapse... for God's sake, budget some miniature shots or buy some stock footage, because the way Franco does it here is a textbook example of what NOT to do.)

That said, the bad voice, the incoherent storyline, and the outrageously random behavior on the part of the characters also make this movie the exact right kind of trash for those who enjoy riffing as bad movies unfold. With the right group of friends, this movie can be a lot of fun.

31 Nights of Halloween: Smoke

Today's film is a tribute to the psychological horror tales of Edgar Allan Poe. It's the story of a man who gets away with murder... almost. It's another excellent offering from Drew Daywalt.

Smoke (2008)
Starring: Paul Hungerford
Directors: Drew Daywalt and David Schneider
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

'The Tomb' could have stayed interred

The Tomb (aka "Ligeia") (2009)
Starring: Wes Bentley, Sofya Skya, Kaitlin Doubleday, and Michael Madsen
Director: Michael Staininger
Rating: Three of Ten Stars

A successful writer and college lecturer (Bentley) is drawn into the schemes of a strange Russian graduate student (Skya) who is trying to prevent her death from an inherited disease by trapping and draining energy from human souls.

I used to think that H.P. Lovecraft stories were the hardest horror genre pieces to adapt to film. Now, I'm starting to wonder if it might not be the works of Edgar Allan Poe that deserve that honor.

There seems to be two general category of Poe adaptations: Ones that have little in common with the source material except the title, and ones that mistake fatalistic romanticism with deadly dull. There is cross-over between the two categories, and every so often a Poe adaptation comes along that is faithful to the source without being boring, but they are few and far between.

"The Tomb", as the U.S. title might clue you into, draws its inspiration equally from the Roger Corman Poe adaptation "The Tomb of Ligeia" and the Poe story "Ligeia". However, it lacks the energy of Corman's film--everyone seems very, very bored to be making this picture, especially the leads--and the director mistakes cliched and overused horror film techniques with actual attempts to build suspense and dread. Can we PLEASE stop with the missing frames?! It was mildly annoying but nonetheless disconcerting when filmmakers started doing it. Now it's just obnoxious, especially here where its used for no discernable reason.

The best thing about the film is that the Eastern European setting made me want to watch films like "The Subspecies" series and even "Mandroid" that, because they feature the sane moody environments without being boring. Hell, even "Talisman" is more interesting than this film.

'Tales of Terror' is Roger Corman at his best

Tales of Terror (aka "Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Terror") (1962)
Starring: Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Basil Rathbone, Leona Gage, Maggie Pierce, Joyce Jameson, and Debra Paget
Director: Roger Corman
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

This is the film that convinced me that Roger Corman actually could make a good movie, when I first saw it. My first exposure to his work was "The Wasp Woman" and "The Terror", not exactly Corman at his best.

"Tales of Terror" is an anthology film that features three shorts loosely adapted from stories by Edgar Allan Poe, and further tied together by the fact that each star Vincent Price in a different role.

First up, we have the chilling and tragic tale "Morella", where a young woman (Pierce) returns to her childhood home in one last attempt to connect with the father who rejected her (Price) after the death of her mother. Moody throughout and downright terrifying at the end, this story is a excellent excursion into the dark corners of the human heart and a fabulous horror story.

Next, we have "The Black Cat", which folds the story of the same name and "A Cask of Amontillado" into one tale of dark comedy as a drunkard (Lorre) ends up in a hum-dinger of a drinking competition with a snooty wine-taster (Price) after he stumbles into an annual wine festival. When he later discovers that wine-taster has been having an affair with his wife, he decides to take drastic action. This tale is characterized by a taut balance between comedy and a brooding sense of dread, with the on-screen interplay between Lorre and Price being a fabulous bit of movie magic. (They're even better here than in "A Comedy of Terrors".)

Finally, we are presented with "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar", an exceedingly creepy tale of a greedy mesmerist (Rathbone) who uses hypnosis to trap the spirit of a dying man (Price) between this world and the next... with terrible consequences for everyone involved. This segment isn't as stunning visually as the first two, but it gets plenty skin-crawly as it builds toward its climax.

The ever-present cheapness in a Corman film is invisible here. I've no doubt that every dollar is present on the screen, but the crew working on this film built some great sets, they're beautifully lit, and the camera work and editing is excellent; the material here looks far better than what I still think of as "typical" Corman. Further, there's no obvious padding to dispel the mood of horror and dread in any of the three stories.

All the principal actors (and even some of the bit-players) give excellent performances. I would even venture that Price might not be the best in this film--Lorre's comedic performance is fabulous, as is Rathbone's turn as a blackhearted villain. (That's not to say that Price isn't great in all the three parts he plays.)

If you like classic horror movies, I'm sure you'll love "Tales of Terror." If you tend to sneer at Corman films, as I used to, maybe this one will show that he can be really, really good when working with the right cast, writers, crew... and when he takes more time than 48 hours to shoot a film.

'The Mummy Lives' but you'll wish it didn't

The Mummy Lives (1995)
Starring: Tony Curtis, Leslie Hardy, Greg Wrangler, Jack Cohen, and Moshe Igvy
Director: Gerry O'Hara
Rating: Three of Ten Stars

Entombed alive after getting frisky with a the God of Vengeance's favorite concubine, Aziru (Curtis) is restored to some semblance of life and given a chance to earn the god's forgiveness after the obnoxious media baron Lord Moxton (Cohen) breaks into and loots the temple that is his resting place in the name of archaeological science (and personal glory). All Aziru has to do is kill those who desecrated the temple and then sacrifice the reincarnated concubine (Hardy) to the gods and the stars.


"The Mummy Lives" claims to be based on Edgar Allan Poe's humorous tale "Some Words with a Mummy", but it plays out more like a rewrite of the classic 1932 film "The Mummy" by someone who missed the whole point of that story.

While we have a pair of lovers reunited across the ages--Tony Curtis as the revived ancient Egyptian priest who speaks with a pronounced New York accent while going on about how he's a true son of Egypt and so on, and Leslie Hardy as the current-day incarnation as the woman he loved and lost everything for--we don't have the love story that made "The Mummy" so engaging. Instead, we have an uninteresting plot about an unsympathetic villain stalking and killing a bunch of even less sympathetic characters, while preparing to sacrifice a young woman who's died and been reborn so many times that the god MUST have been able to reclaim his concubine at some point.

Not only does "The Mummy Lives" not have the engaging story of the 1932 version of "The Mummy", it also lacks the visual style of its forebearer. It also lacks the visual lushness of the 1959 "The Mummy", with which it also shares plot similarities. Finally, it features a lackluster cast of mediocre talent that can't hold a candle to the likes of Boris Karloff, Christopher Lee, Zita Johann, Yvonne Furneaux, David Manners and Peter Cushing--all of whom have played the parts featured in "The Mummy Lives" far better.

(The only actor who can't be described as mediocre is Tony Curtis, but he is as horribly miscast here as any role I've ever seen. And his performance is definately lazy... whould it have killed him to attempt SOME sort of accent? No one knows what a native speaker of ancient Egyptian who learns English through some strange magic would sound like... but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be like a butcher from Brooklyn.

If you're a fan of mummy movies who wants to see everything the horror subgenre has to offer, I suppose you should watch "The Mummy Lives"...it's not as bad as "Mummy Raider" or even "The Mummy's Curse". However, the rest of us probably want to stick with 1932 version of "The Mummy", or the one made in 1959.






To read some of Poe's stories, including the one upon which this movie was based, click here to visit a small on-line anthology at Steve Miller's Classic Fiction Archive.

Madness goeth before fall in the House of Usher

The Fall of the House of Usher (aka "House of Usher") (1960)
Starring: Mark Damon, Vincent Price, Myrna Fahey and Harry Ellerby
Director: Roger Corman
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

When Philip Winthrop (Damon) travels to an remote estate with the intent of bringing his fiancee Madeleine Usher (Fahey) back with him to Boston so they can be married, he learns from her brother Roderick (Price) that she and he both suffer from a degenerative disease that will eventually kill them. But things are not quite what they seem, and Withrop will come face to face with many horrors as he witnesses the fall of the House of Usher.


"The Fall of the House of Usher" was the first in a string of Edgar Allan Poe adaption from producer/director Roger Corman, many of which captured the spirit of Poe's tales but few of which were faithful to their source material. This one is not only fairly close to the original story, but it is quite possibly the best film that Roger Corman ever helmed.

Almost every director produces a masterpiece. This film may well have been Roger Corman's.

Not only is Corman at his best, but I don't think Vincent Price has ever been more successful at portraying a vile, quietly insane character as he does with Roderick Usher. Mark Damon provides a great foil as the handsome, heroic suitor, and, although her role is mostly that of a gorgeous damsel in distress--at least until the film's terrifying conclusion, Myrna Fahey's performance is of a caliber that makes it clear that her death from cancer at the age of 40 was a real loss to the art of movie making.

Featuring excellent pacing with a mounting tension that results in the final 30 minutes of the film being some of the most intense and scary horror footage ever recorded, great acting with just enough melodramatic touches to add a touch of gothic romance to the film's horror- and madness-soaked atmosphere.

If you're looking for a movie that will scare the heck out of you without resorting to gore and graphic violence, then you need look no further than this movie. The nearly fifty years that has passed since it was made has done nothing to dull its impact. It may be a little slow-building to be suitable Halloween party viewing, but it's a film that should be seen by anyone who appreciates well-done horror movies... and it's a must-see if you're a fan of the sort of gothic horror that was embodied in the Hammer films from the 1950s and 1960s, or in the Ravenloft dark fantasy world.

Where inmates run the asylum

The Mansion of Madness (aka Dr. Tarr's Torture Dungeon) (1972)
Starring: Claudio Brook, Arturo Hansel, David Silva, and Monica Serna
Director: Juan Lopez Moctezuma
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

Gaston (Hansel) visits a remote mental hospital and finds a bizarre place where the chief doctor (Brook) has instituted the very unusual approach to curing mental illnesses described in "The System of Dr. Tarr."


"The Mansion of Madness" is based on one of Edgar Allan Poe's creepiest stories, "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether", and unlike so many films supposedly based on Poe's works, the originating story is still at the heart of this film. However, "The Mansion of Madness" is far bigger than the story, and far creepier. The insanity that permeates the sprawling mental hospital--which seems to be the size of a small city--and the haunted woods that surrounds it, is felt in every second of the film... and along with that madness is an ever-growing sense of surreal horror and dread.

This is probably one of the creepiest and strangest movies I've ever seen. If you like offbeat, low-key horror movies, I think you'll enjoy this one. (It drags at a couple of places, and Gaston has got to be one of the densest people on the planet that he doesn't realize that something is wrong with the asylum AND his host, but the good far outweighs the bad here.)

'Nightmares from the Mind of Poe'is an excellent anthology film

Nightmares from the Mind of Poe (2006)
Starring: Ric White, Clayton Cheek, Carey Kotsionis, and Doug Moore
Director: Ric White
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

Most movies that claim to be based on the writings of Edgar Allan Poe can more accurately be described as "inspired by a story from Edgar Allan Poe" or "borrowing a title from Edgar Allan Poe". That is not the case with "Nightmares from the Mind of Poe", an anthology film that presents some of the most faithful Poe adaptations I've come across.

Even the very best of the films adapting Poe I've seen up to this point have only born a passing resemblance to the material they were based on. The Karloff/Lugosi-starring "The Black Cat" and "The Raven" bear no resemblance to the literary works that share their titles, and even the best of Roger Corman's Vincent Price-starring Poe projects--an anthology film titled "Tales of Terror"--feature segments that may capture Poe's themes but otherwise bear only passing resemblance to the stories adapted or jumble several tales together in one hodgepodge.

Ric White breaks 70+ years of cinematic tradition with "Nightmares from the Mind of Poe" by presenting four screen adaptations so faithful that they use Poe's text word for word. The film presents four stories--"Premature Burial", "The Tell-Tale Heart", "A Cask of Amontillado", and "The Raven", interspersed and framed with quotes from Poe intended to shed light on why he might have written the story in question. In addition to directing and writing the script, White also appears in the film as Poe and as the narrator/lead character in each of the four tales, taking on the same sort of acting task that Vincent Price did in "Tales of Terror" and measuring up quite nicely.


The first adaptation presented is one of "Premature Burial". It's also the longest and the one that strays the furthest from the source material. This is understandable, because it would be virtually impossible to do an adaptation of that story that would be interesting visually without making adjustments similar to those that are made here. The adaptation is nowhere near as far afield as is the norm in a Poe adaptation, and White kept the tone of the tale, including the upbeat ending. Mostly engaging, well-staged and well-acted, the overall high quality of this segment is broken by three bitplayers who are the only actors who give the only bad performances in the entire film. White appears in this segment as Charles, the man who is phobic of being buried alive, and he does an admirable job in portraying him. (If I were as annoying as this guy, I too would fear my wife might want to bury me alive.)

The second tale starts the precise, word-for-word, scene-for-scene adaptations of Poe stories. Here, White takes on one of Poe's most famous works, "The Tell-Tale Heart." The acting is good and White's reading of Poe's writing is even better. The way White emphasizes the mad man's obsession with the Old Man's strange eye is extremely well done, both through the reading and the film work. The adaptation doesn't quite manage to capture the terror of the ending, however. It almost seems to mute the impact. I think a heavier hand in the sound effects department might have done the trick, but it's hard to say. (On the other hand, I may be a bad judge of this piece. The memory of the Berni Wrightson-illustrated comic book adaptation of "The Tell-Tale Heart" is one that is seared into my mind, with the final panel beating even Poe's tale itself as far as impact goes. Perhaps I'm trying to make White's adaptation measure up to that, which is unfair.)

The third and best segment in the film is the adaptation of "A Cask of Amontillado". The script uses Poe's narration exactly as he wrote it in the story, and White chose to have the revenge-hungry narrator spend the first moments of the segment addressing the viewer as he addresses the reader as the story opens. A further interesting choice was made in having the narrator attending a party that the hated Fortunato was also attending. This choice helps underscore why the Montessor feels so angry at whatever insults it is that Fortunato has leveled against him as they seem to be of the same social circle. It also helps amplify the moment where we get to see one of those perceived insults--where Fortunato shows himself to be a Mason and Montessor clearly is not. (It's a little tenser here than I've ever considered it in Poe's story--where I always found it to be a humorous exchange.) White once again does an excellent job as the lead in this tale, and Clayton Cheek supports him admirably as Fortunato. The only weak point of the adaptation arises from what undoubtedly were budget constraints--the party from which Montessor lures Fortunato seems to be sparsely attended. Many more extras should have been on hand for the party scenes.

Wrapping up the film is a presentation of "The Raven". The most praiseworthy thing here is White's reading of the poem, which is the best I've ever heard. Like the adaptation of "The Tell-Tale Heart", he doesn't quite manage to create a cinematic ending with the sort of punch that Poe's pure work has (and here he's not competing with a particular black-and-white drawing in my mind), but if one just listens to White's voice as he reads the poem the full impact of the work is brought to life.

With "Nightmares from the Mind of Poe" Ric White has created a film that lovers of Edgar Allan Poe's work definitely need to check out. Film lovers in general will also find much to enjoy here. The film doesn't have the lush feel of Corman's Poe movies, but it's still well put together.

It's a shame therefore that, as of this writing, you won't be able to rent or buy it at your local store or favorite online dealer. Like a surprising number of well-made independent films, "Nightmares from the Mind of Poe" has not been placed with a distributor that would offer the filmmakers a deal they thought acceptable.

However, there is a very nice website devoted to the film where you can order it direct. Click here to go there. The site also contains dozens of stills from the film, as well as the texts and analysis of the four works upon which the film was based. It's a great site that's well worth a look, even if you don't pick up the movie.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Poe! (Belated)

I tried to schedule posts to go up automatically... and I screwed up.

In celebration of Jan. 19, the birthday of Edgar Allan Poe, here's a review of one of the best movies based on his writings.

Masque of the Red Death (1964)
Starring: Vincent Price, Hazel Court, Jane Asher, Patrick Magee, and David Weston
Director: Roger Corman
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars


As a plague known as the Red Death sweeps across the countryside, Prince Prospero (Price) believes the walls of his castle and his devotion to Satan will keep him and his foul friends safe. But one evil act too many brings a mysterious guest to a masquerade ball the prince throws.

This is the only Roger Corman film I've seen so far that I felt I could give a glowing review without tacking on ANY qualifications. "Masque of the Red Death" is a fine horror film that engages both the mind and the gut as it unfolds. It is proficiently acted, well-scripted and perfectly paced, expertly filmed within amazing sets... everything here is clicking. What's more, the film evokes its horror and dread through a well-told story rather than gore and other special effects. If there ever was a Corman film that should be described as "great" and that is worth seeing by fans of good movies (not just cheesy ones), then this is it.

Vicent Price is in top form as the evil prince, and Hazel Court also shines brightly. It's obvious that some of Corman's very best work was done while filming under the umbrella of a taxshelter in Great Britain, and "Masque of the Red Death" is the best of that work.





Click Here to read the original story this movie was based on, as well as other great works by Edgar Allan Poe.