Edgar Allan Poe's Haunting Cycle of Vincent Price Films

Vincent Price in Roger Corman's The Haunted Palace

The Haunted Palace (1963)

Corman and AIP really stretched the Poe connection with this entry, which takes its title and absolutely nothing else from a poem and instead adapts a novella—“The Case of Charles Dexter Ward”—from another pioneering horror author, H.P. Lovecraft. Price plays both an evil 18th century sorcerer, Joseph Curwen, and his great-great-grandson Charles Dexter Ward, who returns to the ancestral home in Lovecraft’s famous town of Arkham and learns about Curwen’s occult experiments, many of which left the inhabitants of the town mutated. The descendant is ultimately possessed by Curwen’s spirit, which sets about enacting revenge on the village for burning him at the stake a century earlier.

Although it’s not entirely faithful to Lovecraft’s novella, The Haunted Palace is actually a pretty terrific adaptation of the Providence author’s work, incorporating aspects of his Cthulhu Mythos and trademark themes of Elder Gods and vile, ancient rituals into a movie for the first time. Price is fantastic in his dual role, and it’s nice to see Lon Chaney Jr. in a sizable role. The movie is also drenched in morbid atmosphere, particularly when we meet the deformed townspeople of Arkham or visit Curwen’s dungeon.

Vincent Price in Masque of the Red Death (1964)

The Masque of the Red Death (1964)

Many consider this the best of the Corman-Poe series, and it’s easy to see why: with this surreal, unnerving tale of the malevolent Prince Prospero holding revels inside his castle as a horrifying plague lays waste to the world outside, Corman elevated everything about his series—the production design, the screenwriting, the metaphorical underpinnings—to create a horror film that is among the most genuinely artistic the genre has ever seen.

Price gives one of his finest performances as Prospero, too, a man devoid of humanity and empathy. Meanwhile Hazel Court and Jane Asher play his mistress and the latest object of his depraved lust, respectively. From the start, with its Bergman-esque opening, The Masque of the Red Death is different from the pulpier pictures in the series, and it’s also the most eye-popping of the bunch, thanks to the opulent cinematography of future Don’t Look Now director Nicholas Roeg. Not surprisingly, it wasn’t as successful with general audiences, but it remains a high point for the cycle, as well as Corman and Price.

Vincent Price in The Tomb of Ligeia

The Tomb of Ligeia (1964)

Benefiting from location shooting at a cemetery and other real places (instead of the usual studio-bound sets), The Tomb of Ligeia finds Corman returning to the series’ roots for its final entry. The story on which the film is based is very short, so the movie is almost a “greatest hits” from the previous films: Price plays the ailing Verden Fell, a man haunted by memories of his dead wife Ligeia and possibly by her spirit as well. A decaying castle, a black cat, reincarnation, and murder all show up in the script by Robert Towne (who later wrote Chinatown), but despite the usual solid work from Price and the always excellent design and atmosphere, there’s a sense that the series is running on fumes.

According to a Cinefantastique interview with Corman, Towne didn’t want Price in the film, as the role was written for a younger man, but AIP demanded that the actor top the bill. Despite that, it was the lowest-grossing of the eight movies in the series and proved to be its swan song. Still, it’s a worthy capper for one of the most unique and in some ways visionary franchises in horror history.

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