Mini Movie Review - Tales of Terror (1962)

 Friday night’s selection called for some classic fun, in the form of an Anthology-themed entry called Tales of Terror. From 1962, it stars Vincent Price (that voice!) in three short works inspired by the short stories of Edgar Allen Poe. Apparently, the director, Roger Corman, made a series of such movies. And with a screenplay written by Richard Matheson (The Hunger anyone?) it was bound to be good.

The movie unfolds like a series of short plays, which would normally drive me nuts in a movie even this old. However, it totally works for this movie. Each one had very few sets and sparse casts. The middle one, The Black Cat, easily had the biggest cast, thanks to a scene with of a wine merchants convention.

So, let’s take a slightly closer look, shall we? The first movie, “Morella”, tells the tale of a daughter come home to the family estate, which is much in disrepair. Lenora has essentially never seen her father. He sent her away when she was just a baby, days old, after her mother died, accusing the baby of having killed her. Father and daughter actually start to reconcile, when Morella decides to have her revenge.

There wasn’t much to this one and it actually bored me just a little bit, but I love how expressive Price’s eyes can be. However, the danged thing is so short that it left me with several questions and few answers. Nevertheless, it was still better than Devil from Thursday night.

And so, we continued on to short story number two. This was a combination of Poe’s “The Black Cat” and the very chilling “Cask of Amontillado”. Peter Lorre took the starring role in this one, although Price still has a key role. And my goodness how talented Mr. Lorre is! Even if you only watch one short in this anthology, it is worth the time to track down and watch this middle one! Lorre and Price and amazing actors on their own, but when you put them together you have magic.

The final movie is “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar” once again starring Vincent Price and based on a short story of the same name. It’s not one of his short stories that I’m familiar with, but I need to look it up now. M. Valdemar is dying of some sort of brain issue. This is a Poe story that I’m not at all familiar with, but that I also now want to dig up and read. No less than Sherlock Holmes himself (Basil Rathbone) plays a mesmerist helping a wealthy patient deal with the increasing pain from his impending death (Vincent Price). Mr. Valdemar has promised Mr. Carmichael that he can hypnotize him as he lies dying to discover if the moment of death can be prolonged via mesmerism.

Valdemar dies while in such a state, but his soul doesn’t leave his dead body and he remains trapped until Carmichael sees fit to release him. And Carmichael has his own plans. It’s a very neat concept that plays out with a sense of dread and horror – how long will the agonized Valdemar lie there before getting his final peace? And what will it take for Carmichael to finally relent and release his subject?

All in all, these were fun. I thought The Black Cat did drag a little in the middle, but not too much. And it might be my first Roger Corman film. I’m trying to remember. Regardless, I recommend this little anthology film for when you’re in the mood for something truly old school, but maybe not so old school that it predates color films! No gore, really, but lots left to the imagination.

As for a gaming connection, “Morella” could easily be adapted to a variety of game systems, but I see it best in a fantasy setting, such as Pathfinder or that other d20 fantasy system everyone is crazy about. Make it a curse of some sort, or perhaps Morella could be a lich. There are several possibilities.

“The Black Cat” is a bit harder if you’re intent on rescuing the victims. I’d suggest sticking to more of the “Cask of Amontillado” and having the investigators look into the winetasters disappearance. Add in some mythos elements and you’ve got a winner on your hands.

“The Facts in The Case of M. Valdemar” could be used similarly. Have him disappear. It may be known that he was near death, but there’s been no mention of him actually dying. Have your players investigate what is really going on. Toss in mesmerism as well as some Mythos activity of some sort – Yithians maybe? – and give them a good scare!

We’re almost at the end of the first week! Tomorrow’s selection, “Lost Boys” turned out to no longer be available on Pluto, dang it. You’ll have to continue checking out my blog posts to see what we watched instead. (Fortunately, I can get “The Lost Boys” from the local library, so all is not lost. It’ll just be postponed a wee bit.)

Check out the rest of my challenge choices here. And if you’d like to play along yourself, you can find Pun’s daily theme suggestions on his blog, Halls of the Niphilim.