Shawn Watson Long before Creepshow, Tales from the Crypt, or Treehouse of Horror this 1962 Roger Corman effort attempts the unholy trinity anthology style by giving us three Edgar Allen Poe stories adapted for the big screen. Though Corman was no stranger to taking a few meagre pages and expanding them to feature length with previous films such as The Pit and the Pendulum and The Fall of the House of Usher, he wisely keeps the running time to roughly 30 minutes each here.The first story is an adaptation of Morella with Vincent Price brooding in his gloomy castle, pining for his long-dead wife and the daughter who's birth killed her. It's good, with some nice sets and morbid ham acting from Price.The second story bills itself as an adaptation of The Black Cat but seems a bit more like The Telltale Heart. In it Peter Lorre is a drunk who bricks up his wife and her lover (Price again) in his cellar so he can spend her money on drink. The cat imagery doesn't seem like it even belongs in this story but Price's over-the-top acting makes this one more comedic.Lastly, we have an adaptation of The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar, which is the weakest of the three. Here we have Basil Rathbone put Price under hypnosis at the moment of his death as a way of controlling his ghost for eternity. It's not very good and I was getting bored before the end.Overall, an okay movie but hardly the finest hour for anyone involved.

Johan Louwet When talking about horror anthologies it seems the longer ones don't do it for me. Even though the stories differ a lot from those of Black Sabbath I see the same pattern here in my appreciation of the 3 segments. In Black Sabbath I found the first story enjoyable, the second and longest the least interesting and the last one the best. Exactly the same goes for Tales of Terror. The first segment is called "Morella" and clearly all about atmosphere as the story is as simple as it can get and character development kept to a bare minimum. The middle segment "The Black Cat" does have icons Vincent Price and Peter Lorre in a wine contest up against each other which was the best part of that segment. Again a pretty simple story where unfortunately the comedy factor was too high for me to appreciate it much. Thank God the last segment "The Case of M. Valdemar" was kept for the last. This one was the darkest and the most interesting for me. Hypnosis is indeed something spooky certainly when used for dark purposes and even more when applied to a person whose body is dead but spirit still kept alive. The treacherous character played by Basil Rathbone and eerie voice from the spirit of Valdemar (Vincent Price) make this a great horror experience. Too bad the other 2 segments are largely forgettable.

Phil Hubbs Don't you just love these old kooky horror pictures, look at this cast! Vincent Price, Peter Lorre and Basil Rathbone, three ghoulish tales with three epic stars. As I'm sure you all know this is one of Roger Corman's Poe movie adaptations that made up his eight movie series (give or take). Most of which all starred Price and a selection of the greatest horror icons of the silver screen.The movie is narrated by Price and all three tales star Price...so its a Price vehicle then. After the admittedly pointless narration we kick off with 'Morella' with Price. A young woman travels home to see her father (Price) who dwells on his own within a dusty cobweb ridden mansion. The woman wants to reconcile with her father after many years of no contact, the reason being her mother died giving birth to her and her father has never forgiven her for it. In fact he kept the young girls dead mother in the bedroom where she died, a rotting corpse, as you do. As the pair slowly grow closer together over time events take a turn for the worst as the spirit of the dead mother comes back for revenge.This entire story seemed totally ludicrous to me frankly. A woman dies giving birth to her daughter and blames the baby on her deathbed for her demise. I mean yeah sure the baby did cause it but that's not the babies fault sheesh. Then that child's father (Price) hates her for most of her young life because of it?! The ending is even more weird because I have no clue why the dead mother comes back from the dead and does what she does (kill her daughter and husband), I also have no real clue why the mothers resurrected body swaps places with her recently murdered daughter, and why they then swap back again once the husband is dead (Price). So the dead mother comes back from the dead and kills her daughter for revenge and kills her husband whom she loved very much for...? I don't know.I loved the visuals in this short tale. I adored the old creaking mansion set on the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea, the haunted house look with lush period interior decorations (whatever period it was). The whole atmosphere in this tale was perfectly creepy and just what you'd expect from this type of old fashioned spooky story, its just a shame the plot made no sense.The second tale was 'The Black Cat' which also incorporated 'The Cask of Amontillado', this starred Peter Lorre alongside Price. Here we see the drunken loutish Herringbone (Lorre) who abuses his wife by taking all her hard earned money and spending every night at the local pub. After stumbling into a wine tasting event he meets up with and befriends Fortunato Luchresi (Price) a wine expert. Herringbone invites Luchresi back to his place for drinks but Luchresi falls for Herringbone's wife and the pair have an affair. Herringbone gets his own back by luring Luchresi once again to his place for drinks, drugs him and walls him up in the cellar with his wife.Its called The Black Cat because Herringbone's wife has a black cat which Herringbone dislikes. In the end the cat gives his murderous game away but to be honest the cat doesn't actually feature much in the tale so it seems rather moot. This is the one story that is presented in a light-hearted way with silly humour. Both Lorre and Price really have a good time hamming it up something chronic, the best example being the brilliant wine tasting competition between the pair. Again there are so many plot holes and conveniences like how on earth Herringbone manages to get anything done when he's so utterly drunk. This short tale isn't exactly scary but more of a parody or spoof really, its a fun one.Lastly its 'The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar' with Basil Rathbone. Price's character of Valdemar is dying from a disease, Mr Carmichael (Rathbone) alleviates his pain through hypnosis. Carmichael does this as Valdemar passes away which traps his soul between the world of the living and the dead, in limbo as it were. Valdemar begs Carmichael to release him so he can pass over completely but Carmichael will not...for some reason. In the end Carmichael tries to force Valdemar's wife into marriage but she is rescued by the rotting corpse of Valdemar...somehow.Again the plot makes little sense with no proper explanations, it all just happens. This is probably the eeriest tale with Rathbone on fine form as the dastardly villain although I'm not really sure what his goal is here. He keeps Valdemar's soul trapped in limbo but I dunno why, dunno what he's trying to achieve. I'm not entirely sure if the hypnosis was meant to ease Valdemar's death or prevent it because when he does die everyone acts as though something has gone wrong. No clue how Valdemar's soulless rotting shell of a corpse manages to spring to life and save his wife from Carmichael either but hey ho.All in all I enjoyed this little anthology of horror, it wasn't scary or overly eerie but it was a barrel of high spirits. Some fantastic period set visuals with costumes and set details, some lovely old hokey special effects and hands-on practical makeup work and of course the three legendary movie icons. Probably one of the better anthologies I've seen mainly for visuals, its let down by the weak stories which other anthologies (Amicus) easily trump.6.5/10

Dan Franzen (dfranzen70) There have been plenty of movies based on Edgar Allan Poe stories. I mean, plenty. Countless versions of Buried Alive or The Masque of the Red Death, with some Pit and the Pendulum thrown in for good measure. 1962's Tales of Terror is another entry in the subgenre, only there are three stories, and one combines aspects of two Poe stories.The first one, Morella, is about an aged widower (Vincent Price, who appears in all three stories) who lives alone in an isolated family castle, grieving over his dead wife and blaming the daughter who killed her during childbirth. The now grown child Lenora (Maggie Pierce) shows up to visit her long-estranged dad. Unresolved death! But the deceased Morella has plans for her living husband and daughter.Next up is The Black Cat, which also includes elements from The Cask of Amontillado. Peter Lorre plays a loutish drunk named Montresor, married to the lovely and buxom Annabel (Joyce Jameson). Montresor wanders into a meeting of expert wine tasters, led by the gregarious Fortunato Luchresi (Price). Despite Montresor's slovenly, uncultured appearance, he's able to match Luchresi's knowledge of and capacity for wine, and the two become friends. Until Montresor discovers his new friend has been having an affair with Annabel, thus leading to our connection with The Cask of Amontillado. This segment is often pretty funny, particularly when Montresor hallucinates that his head has been lopped off and is being tossed around like a toy. Lorre was reportedly so scared of the head prop that he refused to even touch it.Finally, it's The Curious Case of M. Valdemar, in which Price plays a dying man who's beholden to an evil hypnotist played by Basil Rathbone. Rathbone's Carmichael is able to alleviate the constant pain endured by Price's Valdemar, but at a price - as Valdemar passes on, Carmichael will hypnotize him, the better to gain understanding as to what happens in the afterlife. Naturally, he uses this opportunity to take over Valdemar's body, marry his wife, and assume his fortune. Poor Carmichael.Director Roger Corman and Vincent Price, as usual, are a great team, and Tales of Terror is alternately spooky and funny. Great atmosphere, too; part of the Price/Corman cycle of Poe-related movies in the 1960s, some of the sets here were reused later in Comedy of Terrors.