Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, I'm gonna be covering an anthology film from 1962. That movie is "Tales of Terror".
Now, this film peaked my interest for a few different reasons. For starters, this movie is supposedly an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's many stories. In fact, there's about 3 stories in here that are gonna be adapted for this movie. Which sounds great, because I've always had a bit of an interest in seeing more stuff involving Poe's work ever since I watched "The Raven" some years ago. Which, if you've never seen it, guys, I would definitely recommend it, especially if you are a fan of Edgar Allan Poe's work.
Now, the other reason why this film got my interest was it's casting. Specifically, Vincent Prince stars in this thing, and I'm happy to get another chance to cover another movie starring this man. So there is that. One other thing before I start watching the movie is that even though this thing is a horror anthology film, it's also suppose to be a horror comedy. At least, according to Google, it's suppose to be so. Though whether or not this thing is gonna be funny at all is something I'll find out for myself eventually.
I'm *really* hoping for this thing to be amazing, guys, and it certainly has that potential. However, I won't know for sure, unless I shut up and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Tales of Terror".
13 minutes later
I am gonna say, guys, that I really am liking the performances here in this first story. Granted, I kinda already knew Vincent Price was gonna be great, and he is, but Maggie Pierce is also putting on a stellar performance as his daughter. I can't really say much about the story itself yet, but so far, the acting here is definitely making this story stand out in a rather positive way.
10 minutes later
Well, that was...certainly a way to end that first story. Holy shit...I was not expecting that ending. Certainly was very interesting, though.
13 minutes later
OK, I have a question here. Now, I've only had one sip of wine in my entire life, but is it really common among wine tasters to make goofy-looking faces as they're tasting the wine? I'm only asking, because I've never seen anyone actually do that kind of thing when they're tasting wine. Mind you, it's really funny, especially coming from Vincent Price's character in this thing, but I'm just wondering if that's what wine tasters actually do when they're tasting it? I'm really sorta curious here.
19 minutes later
You know, guys, this dream sequence is actually kinda creepy to witness. And I probably would find it all the more creepy, if it wasn't filmed in such an awkward way, thus sorta ruining the quality of this scene. I get what it's trying to do, but the more I look at it, the more I feel like it's sorta ruining a really cool scene.
20 minutes later
I'm really sorry, guys, for not saying a whole lot right now, I'm actually really getting sucked into this story here. It really is very fascinating to watch, and I honestly can't wait to see where they go with this one.
5 minutes later
OK, so Carmichael says that he won't release Valdemar from death until he is "ready". Ready for what, is something that still hasn't been entirely explained yet, but nonetheless, I am still very intrigued by where this is all going.
The Review
Well, guys, that was "Tales of Terror". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off here...OK. Well, um...where to begin here? Well, I did say that I wanted to this thing to be amazing. And it most certainly is just that. I really enjoyed the hell out of this thing. In fact, I may make it a tradition where I watch this thing every year around Halloween season.
So anyway, let's go ahead and get started with this review by first talking about the writing. Now, as I have done with almost every other anthology film I've covered for this series, I would usually start with the weakest story. Because a lot of the ones I've seen usually has at least one or two stories that are really weak or they just might kinda suck. But honestly, I really can't find one here. Because all 3 stories are just good enough to where they were able to stand out in their own way. Now if I had to really stretch things, I would probably say that the first story, which is called "Morella", would maybe be the weakest of the three. And the only reason I can think of as to why would simply be because it's really short. It's only about 23 minutes long, while the other two stories get more screen time. But even then, it works really well, and I honestly can't think of any way you would stretch that story even further than what we already got. So, I'm not really gonna call it a negative. At worst, I would just say it's me nitpicking for the sake of nitpicking.
But moving right along with the rest of this anthology, like I said, the other two stories in this movie are definitely the ones that get more screen time. The second story, which is called "The Black Cat", is the only story here that features the comedy that I mentioned earlier when I brought up that this thing was suppose to be a horror comedy. And I'm gonna tell you, guys, when it wants to be funny, it *really* is funny. I almost got a laugh out of it myself, mostly thanks in part due to Vincent Price's acting. But I'll get more into that when I cover the acting. So anyway, like I said, when it's funny, it is genuinely hilarious. At least, until you get to the dark moments of the story, and it quickly takes a fucking turn when you realize what Montresor is going to do and what he has already done. Trust me, it's worth not me spoiling the story there, because I really want you guys to experience it for yourself.
The third story, which is known as "The Case of M. Valdemar", is about a sorcerer named Carmichael, who conjure's up a spell in which he hypnotizes Valdemar, which is Vincent Price's character, from near death, and thus stops his spirit from resting in peace. His wife, who's now a widow at this point, and the doctor, try to get Carmichael to release his spell, but only if he gets to marry Valdemar's wife. Which sorta answers my question from earlier as to why Carmichael even had Valdemar's spirit under his control. It also kinda makes me wonder how long he's had Valdemar under his hypnotism, but honestly, it's not a huge deal in the long run, because the ending to this story is totally worth it. It's also probably the creepiest story out of the three, though personally speaking, I really enjoyed "The Black Cat" more, mostly due to the performances and the comedy in that thing. Again, the moments that were funny anyway. In fact, just about all of the performances in this thing are really solid from every story that's presented here.
And since I'm on that subject, let's actually segue-way this into the acting. And like I just said, the acting here is mostly spectacular. Special mention, of course, has to go to Vincent Price, since he plays 3 different characters in all of these stories. Because when I watch him in this thing, it just reminds me more of how talented he was as an actor. The man can be serious and dramatic, as is the case with the first and last story, to being really fucking hilarious in the second story. The man was so full of range and it's in full force here within this movie. Even when he has to ham it up with Peter Lorre, it is such a delight to see it on screen because the man was incredibly talented for his time. And of course, that could be said of everyone else here. The acting is great from just about every actor here. There's only *one* thing I have to comment on that would be considered a hiccup. And it has to involve the actress playing Montresor's wife. Now performance wise, she was great here...but there is a moment or two when you see her lifeless body being chained up to a wall. And in those couple of instances, you can see her chest breathing, which kinda defeats the purpose of her trying to play dead. I haven't seen that kind of thing since I watched "Killjoy 2" from years ago. But at least here, I can give it more of a pass, because the actress here did a really good job for the most part. So, I guess without beating more of a dead horse here, the acting here is just about great from the entire cast.
Special effects here are actually pretty good. In fact, there's a blurb here on the back of the DVD case which states that the make-up effects used in the third story are a mixture of glue, glycerin, corn starch and make-up paint, which was heated and poured over Vincent Price's head as a means to show that his face has melted off. Now, I could give you the context into how the hell that all makes sense in story, but then I would be giving away major plot details as to how, and well, I don't want to do that here. I will say though, that the effects of it look great, especially for a movie that was probably filmed on a low budget. Although, I wouldn't really know how much a low budget film could be worth back in 1962. But then again, this was produced and directed by Roger Corman, and the guy was very well known for making low budget movies. So, I guess that sorta answers my own theory. But anyway, the special effects here are really good for low budget standards.
Camerawork here is really good, except for one scene that I mentioned earlier involving the dream sequence that happens near the end of "The Black Cat". Now, I totally understand that because it's a dream sequence, it's suppose to be weird and creepy. However, I feel like with this sequence in particular, it makes the shots here look really blurry and awkward, and makes the whole thing look kinda like shit. Now, I don't mind weird, trippy bullshit some of the time, but there's a difference being weird and trippy, and this one didn't exactly execute that part really well. The only time that it actually kinda worked here was during near the end of the final act of the third story, and that's mostly because it didn't try to go for the awkward movements like the dream sequence did. So yeah, that scene was filmed rather poorly, whether it was intentionally shot like that or not.
But otherwise, guys, the lighting here is really good, the sound-mixing is mixed fine, and the music here, mainly for it's score is pretty good. It's not entirely memorable, mind you, but it's still pretty good for what it is.
So ultimately, guys, when everything is said and done, am I able to recommend "Tales of Terror". Oh absolutely, guys. This movie is great. It's one of the better anthology films I've seen in a long time. In fact, I would almost say it's one of the best ones I've seen in years. Which, granted, isn't saying much considering all of the other ones I've seen for this series and on my own time, but still, I really enjoyed this thing immensely. And if you, yourself, are a fan of Edgar Allan Poe's work, and you wanted to see more of his work being adapted into film, then I would most certainly recommend checking this thing out, especially during this time of year, what with the Halloween season and all. And as for myself, well, like I already said, I'm most definitely going to be adding this thing to my tradition of films that I'm gonna watch every year around the Halloween season. And speaking of which, I'm gonna continue that trend by watching another movie starring Vincent Price. I'm gonna go and rewatch my copy of "House on Haunted Hill". Which, in my opinion, is one of his finest's work I've seen starring him.
And with that, guys, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.
No comments:
Post a Comment