Part of the Vincent Price Blogathon with Cinematic Catharsis
What's wrong with sticking to a formula? Dead wives who have influence over the living, Vincent Price playing a character slowly coming apart at the seams, strangely familiar stock footage of a house on fire... yes that's right it's a Roger Corman film based on Edgar Allan Poe. If you've ever seen one of these you probably know the drill; there'll be strange goings on in a Gothic house, a few spells of memory loss, and probably a nightmare scene for good measure. But after so many outings of this nature is there really any gas left in the tank? Or does migrating the production from AIP to Britain give it a new lease of life? It's from the same year The Comedy of Terrors poked fun at the whole thing after all. Let's take a peek inside the crypt and see if there are any signs of life.
Unfortunately the film itself isn't that notable beyond its cameo in Mean Streets. The obvious problem is that it's all been done so often before. With the best offering in the cycle being The Pit and the Pendulum three years earlier it's hardly surprising that it all feels a bit tired. The location itself is at least a bit of fresh air, with a real abbey in England providing some grounding for all the strange goings on. Verden Fell (Vincent Price) is not a happy man, and it seems unlikely he was a very upbeat character even before the death of his wife Ligeia. To make his day worse the locals tasked with her burial are pretty angry about laying her to rest, as she wasn't a Christian. In fact she was far more interested in the gods of Ancient Egypt.
However, after a familiar but atmospheric credits sequence (this time courtesy of artist Francis Rodker) the story retreats from the grave and quickly establishes a sense of the mundane. Thanks to the location there are plenty of countryside fields on show as well as various shots of fox hunting. Despite some rickety looking high speed photography it lends the first act a realistic vibe. For a time at least. Here we meet Rowena (Elizabeth Shepherd) who injects the story with some welcome energy. After a horse riding accident involving the eponymous tomb and a mysterious black cat, she crosses paths with Verden and of course their fates become entangled. Her friend Christopher (John Westbrook) is strangely unconcerned by Verden sweeping Rowena off her feet, but internal logic isn't the story's strong suit.
Despite the great crash zoom effect introducing Verden to Rowena (and the stylish sunglasses and sideburns combo he has going on) the look of the film is generally pretty bland. The abbey might be a real place, but it's often far too grey for the subject matter. The interiors fare better with some great fireplace shots alluding to the finale as Verden tells his new guests about his experiences with hypnotism. But it lacks the deep reds and lurid purples that made the earlier Poe adaptations so striking, which is a shame. Some blue candles and a few panes of stained glass just aren't enough. The imagery of Ancient Egypt does make a comeback during the conclusion at least, but the rest of the story would have benefited from a focus on the contrast between pious and pagan.
As Ligeia's influence begins to obstruct Rowena's chances at romance there are some good sequences, including an eerie climb through a bell tower and the obligatory dream scene. But the supernatural elements are never properly explained, despite many hints at a connection between Verden's lovers and a whole lot of violent mood swings. After an oddly uneventful honeymoon the couple return to the abbey where things start to get a little wild. But while certain moments are just spooky enough, many of the scenes in the third act are far too silly. Maybe it's just the way live cats are thrown at Elizabeth Shepherd from off camera multiple times, or maybe it's the repeated use of the same distorted meowing noises.
Rowena's snubbed friend Christopher eventually has to step in and demand answers, although there aren't too many reveals that make a lot of sense during the climax. Through a series of conveniences they eventually discover where Verden is sneaking off to every night, and what exactly is buried in the tomb. There are yet more feline sound effects as things come to a head, although everything is a little too vague to provide a satisfying outcome. The reality of Ligeia's hold over her husband isn't that complex, but the way it's explained often seems muddled in a story that needs a more focused narrative and tighter pacing. It's certainly never as ramshackle as Corman's own The Terror but it's not entirely compelling either.
The main draw here is the cast who do a great job of portraying characters struggling with unseen forces. There aren't many supporting characters, but Derek Francis adds some absent minded fun to the proceedings as Rowena's wealthy father. The central romance on the other hand is less convincing, and there are times when the feisty Rowena should really have known better than to get involved in Verden's melancholy existence. Maybe the will of undying cat spirits was controlling her too? Is the (alleged) goddess of ill-omened marriages 'Astophet' pulling the strings? Or maybe this is all just another story about the way grief can keep people from moving on with their lives, causing distress to others along the way.
Perhaps with more work this story might have explored these ideas further. Like Verden's weak eyes (echoing the weak ears in House of Usher) there's a sense that this has all been done before, it feels a little recycled instead of reinvigorating. It's more notable for a line about throwing cabbages at household pets than anything truly meaningful. There is fun to be had here, and it's not all drab and lacklustre. Vincent Price delivers just about any line with gusto, and Elizabeth Shepherd is a great foil for his melodramatic persona. But in the end it's nothing more than the sum of these parts, and as a final entry to a series it's one that fans can take or leave.
3/5
BONUS REVIEW
THE TINGLER (1959)
Let's move onto something without any pretence of being more than what is says on the tin; which is to say it's yet another crowd pleaser from William Castle. Full of silly fourth wall breaking moments and fun special effects, some of the impact may be lost outside its intended theatre format but it's still highly entertaining. It's a film called The Tingler after all. Perhaps the characters say the phrase 'the tingler,' once too often, but then again maybe they don't say it enough. From the outset this is an absurd concept, as Dr. Warren Chapin (Vincent Price) discovers that a creature living in the human spine grows when its host experiences fear. Unless they scream to release the tension it will break their back, which accounts for the fractures he finds while working on death row autopsies.
But how to prove such a thing exists? Luckily enough he's got a few acquaintances to experiment on. His adulterous wife Isabel (Patricia Cutts) is the first subject though she doesn't know it. His convenient meeting with a mute woman who can't scream also proves invaluable. It's utterly ridiculous but it's a storyline that offers plenty of suspense along the way. The only real issue is that these women both have control of their household wealth, making certain dramatic moments feel repeated. Both domestic disputes have similar conflicts, so it would make more sense for them to be re-written into a composite storyline. Maybe it's all a commentary on how people deal with marital problems. I'm kidding of course; this is a story about bone crushing parasites that look like rubber centipedes.
There's plenty to enjoy between Isabel's black hearted behaviour and Warren's experiments, particularly when these two threads cross. Patricia Cutts does a great conniving temptress and Vincent Price switches between cool medical professional and scorned husband well. His performance also gets dialled up in a scene where he takes LSD to feel true fear. There's plenty of great B-movie magic on display, from the monster's reveal or a nightmare scene in which Warren's theory is proved correct. Some moments just involve The Tingler crawling about like a worm on a string, while other moments are actually pretty impressive.
Some of the disparate plots could be tighter and the final scene doesn't really make sense, but overall it's a good example of its genre. Everyone involved keeps the tone perfectly straight, despite having to say The Tingler in multiple scenes. Even a climactic sequence in a silent movie theatre as it slithers about is used to create some effective suspense. In a way the film has been transplanted from it's true home like the creature itself, so there are no 'Percepto!' gags available for modern audiences. But the effects are still watchable if you let yourself get in the right mood. This isn't true science fiction or a serious thriller; it's just here to entertain.
3/5
