Roger Corman's Poe Films
Low Budget Horror Masterpieces From House of Usher to Tomb of Ligeia
Sep 9, 2008
Edgar Allan Poe: America’s Tortured Poet
Edgar Allan Poe was one of America’s most important writers of the nineteenth century, particularly in the field of short stories and poetry. Despite his popularity at the time he never-the-less found it difficult to make ends meet due to the amount of his work that was copied without due payment being made. Although his legacy is particularly centred around the numerous works of macabre fiction that he penned, very much in the mold of romantic and gothic fiction from Europe, he was also a prolific writer in numerous other genres. In particular his character C. Auguste Dupin is the model for countless detectives in fiction and film to this day.
Roger Corman: Master of Low Budget Films
Often known as the “King of the B’s” Roger Corman’s reputation as one of America’s foremost low budget film-makers lies in a bewildering number of films he made between 1955 and 1970. Most of these pictures were for American International Pictures (as they eventually became), a company dedicated to producing quick exploitation films for independent cinemas and the drive-in/teenager market. Corman was their ideal protégé, producing films on ridiculously low sums, often under notoriously tight shooting schedules. His hand’s on approach to film-making is legendary, often resorting to doing stunts for the films when necessary or making whole new movies with paid for actors if the production wrapped before schedule – getting two films for the price of one.
Vincent Price: Horror Actor Extraordinaire
Each generation has actors that define horror. From the 1950’s to the 1970’s Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Vincent Price defined horror for an audience that was slowly moving from the age of Hayes Code censorship to the nearly unregulated free market that marked the end of the 1960’s. Price was perfect for Corman’s grandiose and melodramatic horrors. Having come off of numerous genre pictures such as The Fly (1958) and The House on Haunted Hill (1959) his expressionistic style of acting perfectly matched the larger than life tales of the macabre that Corman was making.
The Poe Cycle Begins - House of Usher to Tales of Terror
Taking their influence in part from the world wide success of Hammer films gore drenched horrors Corman’s Poe cycle use their Technicolor, widescreen canvases to portray a hyper-real world of the supernatural that seers itself onto the viewers mind. Starting with House of Usher (1960) Corman revels in Poe’s fears of premature burial and madness by having Madeline, the cataleptic wife of the ostensible hero of the film, go insane by being buried alive. The films success led to a larger budget for The Pit and the Pendulum (1961), a more graphic film set in 16th century Spain concerning torture, disease and death. Premature Burial (1961) followed with Ray Milland rather than Vincent Price in the leading role. Although the films were gaining huge profits and considerable critical acclaim, particularly unusual in a much derided genre, Corman was keen to try something different. Tales of Terror (1962), a portmanteau film of Poe shorts, maintains a brisk pace by injecting humour into proceedings and uniting top actors Price, Basil Rathbone and Peter Lorre.
Returning to Poe - The Haunted Palace to Tomb of Ligeia
Despite being marketed as a Poe film (it’s actually based upon H. P. Lovecraft) The Haunted Palace (1963) is an atmospheric tale of insanity, possession and terrifying forces. The continued popularity of the series led to The Masque of the Red Death (1964), Corman’s masterpiece, a colour saturated ode to the macabre with a perfectly bombastic central performance by Price. The final film in the cycle The Tomb of Ligeia (1964) is a more underplayed, brooding affair about loss and decay, neatly bringing the series to a worthy close.
The Legacy of the Poe Films
Corman’s use of color and atmosphere helped the horror film develop a distinct sub-set of arthouse horror as well as mirroring the technical advances on many giallo films that revelled in colourful art design and stylisation. Although produced in a relatively short space of time they remain an important part of horror film history.
