Haunted Palace (1963) [VHS]
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VHS Movie Reviews of Haunted Palace (1963) [VHS]
Movie Review: Nice First Try, at the Lovecraft Guy
Summary: 3 Stars
American International Pictures made the first stab at adapting H. P. Lovecraft to screen with this little goodie, which succeeds more than it fails.The atmosphere and production are terrific, typical of AIP at its best. Price is good and sinister, as always, and Debra Paget is effective as his haunted wife. Numerous famous character actors play Curwen's resurrected former associates and present-day victims, such as Lon Chaney, Jr. and Elisha Cook, Jr. Charles Beaumont's script adaptation is not bad, limited by the production capacities of the day to reproduce Lovecraft's variety of cosmic horrors believably on the screen. The music score is excellent, but a bit repetitive. There's a pretty decent (for the time) Lovecraftian beastie thrown briefly into the mix, and an even creepier, barely-glimpsed one of its "offspring" which appears long enough to work a little mayhem.
Neither the best Lovecraft nor Vincent Price film, but still a good one, and well worth watching.
Movie Review: Dull script and lackluster direction....
Summary: 2 Stars
Not that much of a Roger Corman fan, I Find very little to offer in the man's films, and his overall directoiral flair. I have seen only a a handful, but thats a little more than I Could bare. This was the very first film I saw of his, and like most of his films, it's short of actor direction, and high and camera ethics and lush gothis sets, filled with many vibrant colors, that can distract the eye quit easily ( A weekness in all color Horor films-color distracts the eye, thats why most of the very best are in black n' white, Horror is more of the sureal, and color is not sureal, unless it was used in a creative fashion, which is almost entirly on the shoulders of Mario Bava, Terence Fisher, and Dario Argento) Here, what the eye catches is sets full of colour filtered slate) Almost tacky like, but weren't most AIP/ Corman films, with the sole exceptions of "The Masque of Red Death and The Tomb of Legia(both 1964) The perfomances are good, with Price coming on top (of course) The story in my opinion, though considered by many, a well-crafted one is, in my viewpoint down-right dull, and plodding. That combined with Corman's rather dull robotic direction, is...well it doesn't add anything, the film just sits there. So lets look at it again, shall we:The Good: Wonderful perfomances by Price and all conserned, beautiful camerwork, and lush sets, and music.
The bad: About everything I didn't mention, Corman's direction, a dull script that hampers the film serverly, and some tacky looking fog affects.
Rating: 2 out of 5
Grade: C 80%
Movie Review: Best Lovecraft movie done so far
Summary: 5 Stars
The start of the movie says it's a Poe, but every reader knows its clearly HP Lovecraft's Charles Dexter Ward. Despite that false citation it is a good flick about the nameless Gods. Vincent Price plays the mad necromancer conducting his weird breeding experiments through his grandson. The scenes with the various mutant townsfolk are way cool. Lon Chaney plays a sidekick. You will also see a cameo by the actor who played Kirk's lawyer in the episode where he was court-martialed.Movie Review: Not Poe, but still entertaining
Summary: 4 Stars
This is considered one of Roger Corman's Poe films, but really the story is based on an H.P. Lovecraft story and only the film's title is taken from a poem by Poe. This film sometimes goes over looked, but I think it is one of the better of the series. Vincent Price does a fine job ecspecially with the Jekyll-Hyde transformation that takes place when a mild natured gentlemen is taken over by the spirit of his great grandfather who was also a warlock. Originally they wanted Boris Karloff in this film, but he declined due to his health and they got Lon Chaney Jr. instead. Pretty good supporting cast help the story flow along well. The sets and the palace itself are great, the local pub is called the burning man (there is a very good reason for it). This is one of the better films that follows the sins of the fathers theme. The opening theme is good, but they keep playing it over and over throughout the movie. This is a very good film to watch late at night.Movie Review: Good Effort
Summary: 3 Stars
This is a screen adaption of H.P. Lovecraft's "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward". It is reasonably faithful, but lacks the heavy atmosphere of horror that all of Lovecraft's stories have. Still, for one of the first attempts at bringing such a difficult story to the screen, it's a better than average try. No excess nudity or unnecessary violence are added, but certain scenes do have the requisite level of creepiness to satisfy most Lovecraft fans. Not a masterpiece, but a good effort.