Roger Corman

Synopsis:
After a long journey, Philip arrives at the Usher mansion seeking his loved one, Madeline. Upon arriving, however, he discovers that Madeline and her brother Roderick Usher have been afflicted with a mysterious malady: Roderick’s senses have become painfully acute, while Madeline has become catatonic. That evening, Roderick tells his guest of an old Usher family curse: any time there has been more than one Usher child, all of the siblings have gone insane and died horrible deaths. As the days wear on, the effects of the curse reach their terrifying climax.Read More »

Quote:
A capital summarization of Roger Corman’s Poe cycle. The model is L’Amore, the meditation on the director’s art in contrasting moods addressed by the actor — Magnani playing urbane and then peasant for Rossellini, Vincent Price fitting Corman’s sense of the grotesque into august and absurdist guises. Morella, the first tale, gives a deft synthesis of House of Usher and The Pit and the Pendulum. Maggie Pierce enters a crumbling castle, inside are tarantulas in crimson chalices and a cake wrapped in cobwebs, Price is her grief-consumed father, her dead mother (Leona Gage) looms in spirit (an overseeing portrait) and in the flesh (a mummy in the boudoir); the vengeful past averts family healing, so the climax mates incest with necrophilia amid the flames.Read More »

Synopsis:
Lt. Duvalier (Jack Nicholson), a French soldier, loses contact with his unit and is forced to wander alone near the Baltic Sea. While in search of his regiment, he spies Helene (Sandra Knight), a mysterious beauty, walking by herself. Mesmerized, Duvalier begins tracking her, but she vanishes. He later catches up with her and follows her into a castle, where he encounters the bizarre Baron Von Leppe (Boris Karloff), finds signs of witchcraft and learns the shocking truth about Helene.Read More »

Quote:
A doctor uses special eye drops to give himself x-ray vision, but the new power has disastrous consequences.Read More »