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The Fall of the House of Usher

The Fall of the House of Usher

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: classic VINCENT PRICE at its best
Review: Vincent price is the "Lord of Horror" according to me. The Fall of the House of Usher is a classic horror movie that is very enjoyable. A great story, just great.

The story is based on an Edgar Alan Poe story. Roger Corman, the director, was the first to bring Poe poem to the silver screen; and here it is!

The story pulls you into it and you get a real feeling for the characters. The acting is what it is for that time period; enough said. This is a classic horror film! GET IT AND LOVE IT

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: classic VINCENT PRICE at its best
Review: Vincent price is the "Lord of Horror" according to me. The Fall of the House of Usher is a classic horror movie that is very enjoyable. A great story, just great.

The story is based on an Edgar Alan Poe story. Roger Corman, the director, was the first to bring Poe poem to the silver screen; and here it is!

The story pulls you into it and you get a real feeling for the characters. The acting is what it is for that time period; enough said. This is a classic horror film! GET IT AND LOVE IT

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Thank you Roger Corman!
Review: Watching this at once familiar and now newly discovered film while listening to Corman's warm and fuzzy commentary, I felt as if the director was sitting on the sofa next to me, discovering his work again after a long absence. Although the feature is packaged in the "Midnight Movie" (read: no frills) format that MGM has chosen to adopt for these classics, it nevertheless looks and sounds magnificent. The widescreen transfer brings many of the subtle elements into focus for the viewer for the first time, and although low budget, the atmosphere created is palpable and frightening. I highly recommend this and the other Corman Poe films which I'm sure will be released shortly.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Gave me good chills. Liked it.
Review: When I was in elementary school, I saw a movie "The Fall of the House of Usher" on late-night television, and I remember being so entranced by it. Now almost 20 years later, I decided to find and watch that film again, so I bought this DVD.

Alas, this was not the version I had seen as a kid. (Gotta keep looking) Nevertheless, I very much enjoyed watching this DVD. Vincent Price is awesome as Roderick, and Roger Corman's direction is superb. Even with the limited budget and the hokey effects (by today's standards), the sense of suspense and the atmosphere of fear are genuine. Like I wrote in the title, the movie gave me good chills, and I liked it.

This was my first Corman movie, and having seen this, I'll be sure to check out his other Poe-adaptations. It's incredible how he shot this film in 15 days! (And that was his LONGEST shoot yet!)

Speaking of Corman, the commentary by Corman was just so-so. It had some interesting bits of information, but overall, I found it to be boring, and quite honestly, it put me to sleep. (So who knows? Maybe I missed out on some good parts of the commentary....) The commentary often had many long pauses, and it sounded as if Corman couldn't really think of anything much to say, and he was waiting for a scene in the movie to trigger his memory. To be fair, seeing his filmography in IMDB, he was involved in TONS of movies (directing as many as 6 or 7 films in a YEAR), so this movie he directed 40 years ago probably isn't fresh in his mind. :) I'll probably have to re-watch the film with the commentary track to see if I missed anything interesting though....

By the way, check out the play "The Fall of the House of Usher" by Gip Hoppe. It's a play-adaptation of Poe's story, and I read the script. It was a very intriguing play. I'd love to be able to see and/or play a part in the play if I could.... (...)

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: One of Corman's Best
Review: With the possible exception of "The Masque of the Red Death," this is probably Corman's best Poe film. Like all of the Poe films, it isn't completely true to the actual story (Like "The Haunted Palace" -- which wasn't even a Poe story). However, the playful renditions aren't ones that will leave Poe fans crying foul, but rather appreciating an expanded adaption which leaves a story once valuable only in words at least acceptable for film.

Price plays Roderick Usher, a hauntingly pale and eccentric artist with a strange ailment, with great class. A little indulgent sometimes, like Price always was, but always charming and believable. I only regret that there wasn't more play with Usher's sensitivity for the senses, and that an actual lute player hadn't provided a soundtrack, instead of Price's awful attempts to portray himself as a great musical composer while obviously having no clue how to play the instrument.

This film is most valuable for its imagery and its "special effects" however. The decayed and "misty" settings are fantastic, and so are the paintings of the Usher family and the mansion itself, which seems to have been used in several films. For the burning scene, Corman actually rushed over to film a burning house that had been reported over the radio. A low-budget masterpiece!


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