Review – The Tomb of Ligeia

I believe this was the last of the Poe pictures Roger Corman and Vincent Price did for American International. Though in the past I’ve griped about the inclusion of too much humor in horror pictures, this one actually might have benefited from a little levity here and there. The basic story is pure Poe: the vengeful spirit of a man’s first wife returns to torment his second. As that doesn’t really supply enough plot for a whole movie, we end up with a lot of go-nowhere embroidery such as strange dream sequences and weird legal complications. The result is a good deal duller than I’d expected. The picture also loses a point for the particularly brutal treatment of a cat. That the creature was the avatar of the departed spouse did little to add enjoyment to the experience of watching Price threaten, hit, and ultimately strangle her. Wish I’d skipped it