Film 13 of The December Project.
Also one of the small number of horror films I meant to watch in October. I'd been putting it off; only when it started did I remember why this one had seemed such a good choice.

From the very first the echoing surroundings of The House of Usher are absorbing. Corman creates so much with so little sound. And so much drama with only four actors.

But really, I was watching something different from the rest of you, lost in meaning, never scared but deeply moved as everything ran its inexorable curse: an aesthetic, atmospheric and restrained yet visceral film about genetic illness, seclusion, paranoid relatives and impossible romantic dreams of rescue.

I usually dislike the symbolism of horror, as I said in this earlier review, but here it was perfect for me, making this profoundly and cathartically affecting, but never overwhelming. An instant favourite and a sort of gothic soulmate in film form.

One of my first horrors. I remember being 10 or 11 and waking up in a cold november morning at 5 AM. I turned on the TV and this movie was broadcasted on MGM. It scared the shit out of me back then and it really creeped me out now.

The last 20 minutes are absolutely terrifying. Also, Vincent Price does a fantastic job, as usual.

Film 13 of The December Project.
Also one of the small number of horror films I meant to watch in October. I'd been putting it off; only when it started did I remember why this one had seemed such a good choice.

From the very first the echoing surroundings of The House of Usher are absorbing. Corman creates so much with so little sound. And so much drama with only four actors.

But really, I was watching something different from the rest of you, lost in meaning, never scared but deeply moved as everything ran its inexorable curse: an aesthetic, atmospheric and restrained yet visceral film about genetic illness, seclusion, paranoid relatives and impossible romantic dreams of rescue.

I usually dislike the symbolism of horror, as I said in this earlier review, but here it was perfect for me, making this profoundly and cathartically affecting, but never overwhelming. An instant favourite and a sort of gothic soulmate in film form.

@Home
w/ UJB

A great performance from Vincent Price & a rather damn good version of Edgar Allan Poe's story, it wasn't perfect - it dragged a little towards the end & Roderick ended up cast as much more of a villain than perhaps he should have but all in all I enjoyed it. The sets were pretty cool as were the paintings done for the film - what I would give to have one of those hanging in my living room!

The first of Corman's Poe adaptations goes more for horror than any of the others I've so far seen, really exploiting the Gothic creep factor to create an engagingly fretful atmosphere. There are a number of scenes wherein he manages quite successfully to shock and scare, a certain surreality to his imagery that really works to make everything really weird. Vincent Price camps it up like only he can, spouting that breed of perfectly enunciated verbosity that sends shivers down my spine. Splendidly coiffured and sporting an out-of-tune lute he plucks eerily throughout, this is one of my favourite Price roles. Not among the best of Corman's Poe series, but a very fun and mildly chilling experience throughout.

Roger Corman's melncholy adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's classic talestill holds up as one of the creepiest films ever. Vincent Price is wonderfully morbid as the cursed Roderick Usher, complete with dyed blonde hair and no moustache. Wonderful.