little to do with zombies, despite the alternate title). Screen legend Oliver Reed plays Roderick Usher in 1989’s THE HOUSE OF USHER, in which it is a pair of brothers haunted by the Usher curse, the other brother played by Donald Pleasence. Influenced as much by CITIZEN KANE as it was by Poe’s original story, 1941’s THE TELL-TALE HEART by Jules Drassin adheres to the original closely, while lifting Orson Welles’ then- iconic directorial style. The story of a man haunted by the deformed eye of his employer so much that he plots to kill him was readapted most effectively in 1953’s animated short by Ted Parmelee, which relies on surreal imagery and James Mason’s creepy narration to illustrate the main character’s guilty conscience. The short recently resurfaced as an extra on Guillermo del Toro’s DVD release of HELLBOY. Ernest Morris retold the story in a hyper- sexual manner in 1960, with Laurence Payne as an obsessed man who kills a woman’s potential lover and is then haunted by what he believes to be his victim’s beating heart. In 1972’s AN EVENING WITH EDGAR ALLAN POE, Vincent Price narrated “The Tell- Tale Heart” with three other Poe tales (“The Sphinx”, “The Pit & the Pendulum”, and “The Cast of Amontillado”) in front of a live audience. Given that Price had performed so many of Poe’s characters to perfection in Corman’s films, he was the perfect choice for such a narration. More recently, Ridley Scott produced TELL-TALE in 2009, featuring a man haunted by the heart he received from an organ donation. Possibly Roger Corman’s finest Poe adaptation, THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM (1961), is a tale of torture cast against the backdrop of the Spanish Inquisition. Though Corman took many liberties with the story, he delivers a powerful tale of betrayal and jealousy. Vincent Price again stars, this time as Nicholas Medina, who becomes obsessed with the death of his sister, played by Barbara Steele. Thirty years later—differing from Poe’s original tale, but using the Spanish Inquisition as a backdrop— Stuart Gordon cast Lance Henriksen as Torquemada, the Grand Inquisitor, and chose to tell a story more steeped in historical fact and romance. The central piece of the pendulum remains constant in all adaptations, despite changes to the story.
None of Poe’s tales have been cinematically adapted as often as “The Raven”, in short and long form. Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi re-teamed for Lew Landers’ version of the famous poem. Though the film bears little resemblance to Poe’s work, Lugosi’s character is obsessed with Poe and owns a torture chamber, while Karloff plays a murderer on the run. Karloff returned to THE RAVEN in Roger Corman’s comedic take in 1963, which also starred Peter Lorre, a young Jack Nicholson, and, of course, Vincent Price. It follows a group of rival sorcerers and climaxes with Karloff and Price facing off in a magic duel—a far cry from Poe’s original vision. Last but not least, in
THE original plays
SIMPSONS’ “Treehouse
of Horror” episode, Bart
Simpson the
Raven that haunts the narrator,
FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND • MAR/APR 2012 47
Homer Simpson, with cries of “Nevermore!” And more recently, John Cusack will star as Edgar Allan Poe himself in THE RAVEN as he investigates crimes that seem to have leapt straight from his poems and stories. The film, directed by V FOR VENDETTA’s James McTeigue, is set to thrill audiences very soon. Other Poe films of note include THE MASQUE OF RED
DEATH (the 1964 film was another Corman/Price collaboration) and Corman acting as producer for a 1989 remake THE CONQUEROR WORM, also known as THE WITCHFINDER GENERAL, which has very little to do with Poe’s poem, save for a quote in the opening and closing credits. It starred Vincent Price, as well. Price also appeared in TOMB OF LIGEIA, another Corman-directed Poe tale of a man haunted by the loss of his wife. Lately, Poe’s influence has crossed over into comic books such
as BATMAN: NEVERMORE, in which the Caped Crusader teams up with Poe to solve a mystery, and IN THE SHADOW OF EDGAR ALLAN POE from DC Comics’ Vertigo line, retelling the writer’s origin. True Crime novelist Harold Schechter also has written Poe as a crime-fighting sleuth, paired up with Davey Crockett in NEVERMORE, MASK OF RED DEATH, THE HUM BUG, and THE TELL-TALE CORPSE. Poe makes a cameo in Seth Graham-Smith’s novel ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER, where he is mistaken for a bloodsucker. Actor Jeffrey Combs returned to the Poe role in a stage performance called NEVERMORE… AN EVENING WITH EDGAR ALLAN POE, which had a successful run in Los Angeles for a year and plans on touring other major cities across America soon. It seems that more so than any other literary figure, everyone has a take on Poe’s work and life. And whether faithful to the source material or not, Poe certainly holds a resonant and echoing effect on cinema and beyond. It is a testament to his literary work and now legendary life story that
Poe’s of tales are being told
and retold in film so often. Although Poe may have been eternally plagued by visions
buried
alive, it seems that every year someone unearths his work with a new vision, assuring be
that he will forgotten…
nevermore.
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