The Haunted Palace

This supposed version of Poe's poem, beautifully scripted by Charles Beaumont with a good deal more than a dash of Lovecraft's The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, boasts a superb performance from Price as a New England warlock who is burned alive for his evil practices, though not before putting a curse on his tormentors. In due course he returns, taking over the body of his great-great-grandson to wreak a picturesque revenge, well-flavoured with ground fogs, creaking doors, cobwebs, electrical storms and mutant monsters. If there is a flaw, it is that Daniel Haller's art direction rings too few changes on the style he established in House of Usher; but Corman, with his prowling camera omnivorously probing the darker recesses of nightmare, paces his direction to perfection.