" And travellers now within that valley,
Through the red-litten windows, see
Vast forms that move fantastically
To a discordant melody;
While, like a rapid ghastly river,
Through the pale door,
A hideous throng rush out forever,
And laugh --but smile no more."
Edgar Allan Poe - 'The Haunted Palace', from 'The Fall of the House of Usher'
A small village in the North-East of America, the villagers are rising up against Joseph
Curwen (Vincent Price), a Warlock who lives in a giant Palace
overlooking the town and whom they accuse of sorcery. Breaking into the
house, they capture and burn him, but not before he puts a curse on the
town and the descendents of those who killed him. 150 years later, Charles
Dexter Ward (also Vincent Price), Curwen's great grandson, arrives in
the town to claim possession of the Palace. The townspeople are afraid
and refuse to help him, but Ward and his wife head up to the house,
finding it in a dilapidated state, and an elderly caretaker, Simon Orne
(Lon Chaney Jr.) the only person there. It is not long before Curwen's
influence starts to attack Ward, and the villagers soon find themselves
reliving the horror of 150 years before...
His sixth AIP Gothic saw Roger Corman returning to the more serious style horror film of the House of Usher (1960), after the comedy of The Raven (1963) and Tales of Terror
(1962). Aiming to keep the series fresh, Corman chose not to shoot
another Poe film, but instead has the script based on the
works of cult writer H.P. Lovecraft (inventor of the Cthulu mythos),
however, the AIP producers wanted to promote it as another Poe film and
thus some very tenuous links to The Haunted Palace
poem from Poe's Fall of the House of Usher were
incorportated (hence the opening and closing texts and the
curious reference to the castle as a Palace throughout the film). The
script itself is well written with some good dialogue and detail, and
although the references to Lovecraftian mythos are rather
brief, there are some effectively creepy and tense moments. The
climax is especially strong thanks to some solid characterisation
throughout.
Working again with series regular Floyd
Crosby, Corman directs the film very well, showing a lot more skill
than he is ever given credit for, with some very nice sweeping camera
work, boosted by some very good gothic sets and well used matte
paintings (fans of the series will recognise some stock shots). Corman
regular Ronald Stein provides an effective orchestral soundtrack that
helps the film along.
Vincent
Price of course takes the lead role, and gives a superb performance in
effectively a dual role both as the mild-mannered Ward, and in his
possessed form as the evil Curwen. The attractive Debra Paget is second
billed as Ward's wife in a well written role (certainly she does more
than just scream) and performs well. Many of the AIP Gothics boasted an
old Universal Horror star in the cast, and
Haunted Palace
gets the original Wolf Man, Lon Chaney Jr. as Curwen's undead
assistant. Although not getting much to do, Chaney looks good here and
it is a long way from his final shuffling performance for Al Adamson (
Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1971)).
The rest of the cast are effective in their roles.
A return to the serious gothic horror that kicked off the franchise,
Haunted Palace
is a solid film although nothing particularly innovative compared to
the other AIP Gothics. Certainly recommended to fans of the series, and
a decent place to start, there are other, better titles to see first.
