Every month Bil Antoniou curates an article picking a collection from The Criterion Channel and sorts its contents into categories – Must-See, Worthy, For The Curious and Skip It. This month the collection was Grindhouse Gothic – Roger Corman Directs Edgar Allan Poe.
Read the full article here.
House of Usher (1960)
Dakota Arsenault: Mark Damon plays Phillip Winthorp, a man who has come to find his fiancée Madeline Usher, played by Myrna Fahey. When he arrives at their crumbling estate he is told by both Madeline and her brother Roderick (Vincent Price) that they are cursed and will die soon, so Phillip must leave at once. What follows is an exploration of determinism versus predetermination: are Madeline and Roderick dying because they are cursed by centuries of relatives being evil and bringing everything to ruin, or is it just psychosomatic? Price looks almost unrecognizable with his hair dyed blonde and his pencil mustache shaved off. The film features some iconic horror imagery in the form of Madeline, who has gone insane by the end of the film, covered in blood and makeup accentuating the crazed look in her eyes as the titular house begins to burn down. It’s no surprise that this film kicked off the trend for the other Poe adaptations directed by Corman and starring Price. It makes great homework for the Mike Flannigan remake for Netflix.
The Raven (1963)
Dakota Arsenault: Unlike the rest of the movies in this collection, The Raven is Corman’s attempt to turn Poe’s work into a comedy. The film starts out with the famous poem being recited about a grief-stricken man who is visited by a raven taunting him about his dead lover Lenore. From there the film takes the themes of the poem and leaves everything else to the side. Once again Price leads the way, playing a magician Dr. Erasmus Craven (later the inspiration for the Marvel character Dr. Strange), who is visited by the titular raven who has had a curse placed on him. Dr. Craven helps the raven turn back to human form, legendary Hungarian actor Peter Lorre, who tells the depressed sorcerer that his dead wife, Lenore, is actually alive and living with Dr. Scarabus, the archenemy of Craven’s deceased father. The film indulges itself by poking fun at the Renaissance era, specifically the wardrobe where an entire scene is dedicated to Peter Lorre trying to find the perfect cloak and hat to wear. Not only does it star Corman-regular Price and the bug-eyed Lorre, but it also stars Frankenstein’s monster himself, Boris Karloff as Dr. Scarabus, Jack Nicholson in one of his first movie roles as Lorre’s adult son and horror icon Hazel Court as Lenore. The film ends with a final duel so ridiculous that when I say it is Craven and Scarabus just sitting in chairs using their hands to conjure funny things towards their opponents, you are already underestimating it. All of it is gold. The best part of the film is the improvised bickering that Lorre and Nicholson do, which reportedly was because they didn’t like each other and confused the veterans Price and Karloff, who only knew how to stick to the script.
