Post by slayrrr666 on Oct 24, 2008 10:02:31 GMT -5
“House of Usher” is one of Price’s most entertaining films.
**SPOILERS**
Arriving at the Usher Estate, Phillipe Winthrop, (Mark Damon) is told that Madeline Usher, (Myrna Fahey) his fiancee, is gravely ill and doesn’t want any visitors. Her brother, Roderick, (Vincent Price) orders him to leave for Madeline‘s health. Reluctantly allowing him to do so, Roderick tells him of the Usher curse that leaves all members of the family stricken with a disease that leaves the senses in such a state of over-emphasis that they are tormented by them. Still refusing to leave, strange occurrences begin happening around the castle which prompt Phillipe to remove Madeline for her own safety. When Roderick still refuses, he thinks the family curse will come over the house and the residents inside.
The Good News: The official start of the Poe series Corman made featuring Vincent Price, this is also one of the best in the series. The Gothic atmosphere surrounding the film is completely overwhelming and at times can suffocate with it’s dread. The encounter in the basement is a great example, filled with old, creaky caskets, a long, winding staircase into the darkness and cob-webbed decor surrounding the room. It has a great shock ending that effectively uses a skeleton to get a scare. The castle grounds are the traditional Victorian style on a fog-covered grounds, and it makes the sequences showing it pretty spooky. The final half hour is one continuous Gothic set-piece, with the banging doors, the blaring thunderstorm in the background, and many other surprises that pop up make this a spectacular series of events. A dream sequence also deserves mention, as for the time it was pretty creepy and a certain part of it actually came as a surprise. Cleverly done. The conflagration at the end is an only more than appropriate ending, as it’s action-packed and suspenseful in it’s own way. It is a great ending to the series of events and ends it on a high note. Perhaps the best part, though, is Price’s creepy performance as Roderick Usher. He gives one of his best performances, being creepy, mysterious and fun to watch as well. Certainly a career highlight in that respect. Even though it probably doesn’t really deserve mentioning, but one shot really impressed me: a close-up following of a blood-trail along the floor. Really stuck out for me.
The Bad News: I have heard conflicting stories about how close it is to Poe’s story, but having not really read it, there are moments that seem Poe-ish while others don’t. I can’t officially comment, but from just viewing it, it seems like the not-too-close side have it right, but again, I haven’t read the original story. There is really only one thing I want to mention: every new and then, Price’s constant speeches about not understanding the Usher curse got old. It wouldn’t take up that much to officially explain what happened, and it would take away from the speeches and get to the story, so that kind of got to me.
The Final Verdict: If only Price would’ve spilled the Usher secret earlier on, it would rank as one pretty entertaining entry in the series. I can’t tell if it’s close to Poe’s story or not, so that would have to be individually discovered, but otherwise, this is a more than impressive entry in the series and is recommended to Price fans, Gothic horror enthusiasts and Poe fans.
Today’s Rating-PG: Mild violence
