Review – Tales of Terror

Roger Corman and Vincent Price team up once again to take on some classics from Edgar Allan Poe. This one differs from previous and subsequent efforts in that it’s an “anthology” piece rather than a single story. We get sequences based on three of Poe’s better-known tales: “Morella,” “The Black Cat” and “The Case of M. Valdemar.” But when writing the screenplay Richard Matheson by no means limited himself to the stories at hand. For example, the “Black Cat” sequence included hefty doses of “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” (which at least provided some respite from the awful cat hatred of the main story). Price stars in all three sequences, backed by other horror veterans including Peter Lorre and Basil Rathbone. Overall I thought the Valdemar bit was the best, in part because I like the original story and in part because they add some fun new twists to it. Mildly amusing