Three Edgar Allan Poe tales are brought to the screen in this devilishly fun anthology starring the great Vincent Price. The first, "Morella," finds a young woman (Maggie Pierce) visiting her father (Price) at their now-crumbling castle, where his mourning of her dead mother, Morella (Leona Gage), has taken on grim dimensions. The middle tale is a darkly comic adaptation of "The Black Cat" (with Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado" woven in) that stars Peter Lorre as a drunken scoundrel who walls his wife (Joyce Jameson) and her lover (Price) up in his basement...alive. "The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar" costars Basil Rathbone as a scheming doctor who uses hypnotism to keep his terminally ill patient (Price again) conscious after death. Part of a series of atmospheric Poe adaptations made in the 1960s by King of the Bs Roger Corman, TALES OF TERROR is presented in rich, moody color, with the stories linked by ominous narration and the pulse of a beating heart. The lyrical script is by Richard Matheson. Corman enjoyed working with Lorre in the comedic middle segment and tried a similar approach with the next film in the series, THE RAVEN.

release year: 1962

star(s): Vincent Price