Well it is atmospheric and the look of it is suitable to a gothic film based on an Edgar Allan Poe tale but the movie story is very thin. A lot of things happen but why they do is puzzling. It's an omnibus of spooky things without rhyme nor reason. Even Vincent Price as Verden Fell can't make plausible the baffling dialogue he has to utter. And what the purpose of the black cat was, who knows? The film drags along to an unsatisfying and confusing finale.
The film has enthusiastic fans but as a Roger Corman film inspired by Poe it pales in comparison to his 'The Masque Of The Red Death' or 'The Pit And The Pendulum', in my humble opinion of course.
The film has enthusiastic fans but as a Roger Corman film inspired by Poe it pales in comparison to his 'The Masque Of The Red Death' or 'The Pit And The Pendulum', in my humble opinion of course.