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Six Gothic Tales: Limited Edition – Arrow Video (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Dates: USA, 1960 (The Fall of the House of Usher), USA, 1961 (The Pit and the Pendulum), USA, 1962 (Tales of Terror), USA, 1963 (The Raven, The Haunted Palace), UK, 1964 (The Tomb of Ligeia)
Director: Roger Corman (All Films)
Cast: Vincent Price (All Films), Mark Damon, Myrna Fahey, Harry Ellerbe (The Fall of the House of Usher), John Kerr, Barbara Steele, Luana Anders (The Pit and the Pendulum), Maggie Pierce, Leona Gage, Peter Lorre, Joyce Jameson, Basil Rathbone, Debra Paget (Tales of Terror), Peter Lorre , Boris Karloff, Hazel Court, Olive Sturgess, Jack Nicholson (The Raven), Debra Paget, Lon Chaney Jr., Elisha Cook Jr. (The Haunted Palace), Elizabeth Shepherd, John Westbrook, Derek Francis, Oliver Johnston, Richard Vernon, Frank Thornton (The Tomb of Ligeia)

Release Date: March 9th, 2015
Approximate Running Times: 79 Minutes 19 Seconds (The Fall of the House of Usher), 80 Minutes 32 Seconds (The Pit and the Pendulum), 88 Minutes 42 Seconds (Tales of Terror), 86 Minutes 8 Seconds (The Raven), 87 Minutes 8 Seconds (The Haunted Palace), 81 Minutes 44 Seconds (The Tomb of Ligeia)
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVCC (All Films)
Rating: 15 (UK)
Sound: LPCM Mono English
Subtitles: English SDH
Region Coding: Region B
Retail Price: OOP

"From the Merchant of Menace, Vincent Price, and the King of the Bs, Roger Corman, come Six Gothic tales inspired by the pen of Edgar Allan Poe.

In The Fall of the House of Usher, a young man learns of a family curse that threatens his happiness with his bride-to-be. In The Pit and the Pendulum, a brother investigates the untimely death of sister, played by Barbara Steele. Tales of Terror adapts three Poe classics, Morella, The Black Cat and The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar, each starring a horror icon. The Raven is a comic take on the famous poem concerning three rival magicians. In The Haunted Palace, a newcomer in a New England town is suspected of being a warlock. And in The Tomb of Ligeia, filmed in Norfolk and at Stonehenge, a widower's upcoming marriage plans are thwarted by his dead first wife.

The six films boast a remarkable cast list: not just Price and Steele, but also Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre, Lon Chaney Jr, Basil and a very young Jack Nicholson. Adapted for the screen by Richard Matheson and Robert Towne, these Six Gothic Tales now rank as classic examples of sixties horror cinema." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4/5 (The Fall of the House of Usher, The Pit and the Pendulum, Tales of Terror, The Raven, The Haunted Palace, The Tomb of Ligeia)

Here’s the information provided about the transfers, “The six feature films in this collection are presented in their original aspect ratios with original mono audio. The HD masters were created by MGM and delivered to Hollywood Classics. Additional picture restoration work was carried out at Deluxe Restoration, London under the supervision of Arrow Films.”

The Fall of the House of Usher comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 45.3 GB

Feature: 22.2 GB

The Pit and the Pendulum comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 38.5 GB

Feature: 23.5 GB

Tales of Terror comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 42.8 GB

Feature: 25.7 GB

The Raven comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 39.9 GB

Feature: 24.9 GB

The Haunted Palace comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 31.4 GB

Feature: 25.4 GB

The Tomb of Ligeia comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 30.5 GB

Feature: 23.9 GB

Though all six films come with dated HD masters, the sources used for these transfers are in great shape, and any print debris that remains is minor. When it comes to color saturation, all of these films look great; flesh tones look healthy; image clarity and black levels are strong; there are no issues with compression; and there does not appear to be any digital noise reduction. Until new 2K or 4K restorations come along, these transfers included as part of this collection are the best these films have looked to date on home video.

Audio: 4/5 (LPCM Mono English - All Films)

Each film comes with one audio and one subtitle option, a LPCM mono mix in English with removable English SDH. The quality of these six film audio tracks is comparable. They are in great shape; there are no issues with distortion or hiss. Dialog comes through clearly; everything sounds balanced and robust when it should.

Extras:

Extras for The Fall of the House of Usher include reversible cover art, a theatrical trailer (2 minutes 30 seconds, LPCM mono English, no subtitles), a video essay by film critic and filmmaker David Cairns titled Fragments of the House of Usher (10 minutes 47 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), an archival interview with actor Vincent Price from 1986 (11 minutes 26 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with author and Gothic horror expert Jonathan Rigby titled The House is the Monster (32 minutes 58 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with filmmaker and former Roger Corman apprentice titled Legend to Legend (26 minutes 47 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), and an audio commentary with director Roger Corman.

Extras for The Pit and the Pendulum include reversible cover art, a theatrical trailer (2 minutes 30 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), an additional scene shot for television version (5 minutes 4 seconds, LPCM mono English, no subtitles), An Evening of Edgar Allan Poe with Vincent Price (53 minutes 7 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English with removable English SDH), a documentary titled Behind the Swinging Blade (43 minutes 7 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an Isolated Music and Effects Track, an audio commentary with director Roger Corman, and an audio commentary with film critic Tim Lucas.

Extras for Tales of Terror include reversible cover art, a stills & poster gallery, a theatrical trailer (2 minutes 22 seconds, LPCM mono English, no subtitles), a featurette with author and film critic Anne Billson titled Cats in Horror Films (9 minutes 12 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a short film directed by Rob Green titled The Black Cat (18 minutes 21 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), a featurette titled Kim Newman on Edgar Allen Poe (29 minutes 33 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a career retrospective documentary about Roger Corman titled The Directors: Roger Corman (58 minutes 32 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), and an Isolated Music and Effects Track.

Extras for The Raven include reversible cover art, a stills & poster gallery, promotional record (5 minutes 41 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), a theatrical trailer (2 minutes 27 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), a short film directed by Rob Green titled The Trick (12 minutes 19 seconds, LPCM stereo English, no subtitles), an interview director Roger Corman (8 minutes 11 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), screenwriter Richard Matheson (6 minutes 35 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a documentary about actor Peter Lorre titled Peter Lorre: The Double Face (61 minutes 21 seconds, LPCM stereo English with removable English SDH), and an Isolated Music and Effects Track.

Extras for The Haunted Palace include reversible cover art, a stills and poster gallery, a theatrical trailer (2 minutes 14 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), an interview with director Roger Corman (11 minutes 18 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a featurette titled Kim Newman on H.P. Lovecraft (27 minutes 59 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an audio commentary with Vincent Price biographer David Del Valle and author Derek Botelho, and an Isolated Music and Effects Track.

Extras for The Tomb of Ligeia include reversible cover art, a theatrical trailer (2 minutes 31 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), an interview with composer Kenneth V. Jones (6 minutes 19 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with clapper loader Bob Jordan (7 minutes 41 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with assistant director David Tringham (8 minutes 15 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with screenwriter Paul Mayersberg (24 minutes 25 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an audio commentary with director Roger Corman, an audio commentary with actress Elizabeth Shepard, and an Isolated Music and Effects Track.

Other extras include a limited-edition 200-page hardbound book with cast & crew information for each film, original archive stills, an essay titled The House is the Monster written by Tim Lucas, an essay titled The Waiting Pit of Hell written by Jonathan Rigby, an essay titled Three Down, Five To Go written by Roger Clarke, an essay titled Comedy and Karloff written by Vic Pratt, an essay titled Strange Echoes and Fevered Repetitions written by Roger Luckhurst, an essay titled The Last of the Corman-Poes: Excavating The Tomb of Ligeia written by Julian Upton, an excerpt written by Vincent Price from the chapter Ghoul Days from the book Vincent Price, His Movies, His Plays, His Life, David De Valle’s text based interview with Roger Corman titled Roger Corman: Better to be on the Set Than in the Office, cast & crew information and text pieces for The Black Cat and The Trick written by Rob Green, information about the transfers, Tales of Terror comic book, The Raven comic book, and The Tomb of Ligeia comic book.

Summary:

The Fall of the House of Usher: The last remaining male descendant of a cursed family refuses to let his sister marry the man she loves because he believes that the only way to end his family's curse is by ending their blood line.

Directed by Roger Corman, who would go on to direct seven more films that were adapted from the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Technically, six more if you count The Haunted Place is a Edgar Allan Poe adaptation in name only, and the story has been adapted from a story written by H. P. Lovecraft.

Roger Corman embarked on a series of films based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe. He was primarily known for directing rebellious teenagers and schlocky B-movie monster films. The most notable of these pre-Poe films is Little Shop of Horrors.

Besides the increased budgets, the other area that stands out head and shoulders about Roger Corman’s films, starting with The Fall of the House of Usher and beyond, is his marked improvement as a filmmaker. And I am not talking about baby steps or a slight transformation. Virtually overnight (literally over the course of one film), he formulates a distinctive visual style that will become synonymous with him from here on out.

Though he was not the first and most definitely would not be the last filmmaker to venture into the Gothic horror film genre, it is interesting to compare the striking similarities in Edgar Allen Poe films with the Gothic horror films that Italian filmmaker Mario Bava was making around the same time, half way around the world. It should be noted that even though AIP released many Mario Bava films, they would not release their first Mario Bava film until about one year after House of Usher had made its theatrical debut.

In true Roger Corman fashion, with The Fall of the House of Usher, he tells a story that requires the bare minimum of actors and takes place primarily in one main location. And the end result of a film that far exceeds and feels much grander than the sum of its parts.

Visually, there is never a shortage of atmosphere. In fact, there is so much atmosphere on display here that it could fill multiple films. Also, though these are Edgar Allen Poe adaptations, there is no need to worry about being familiar with his literary legacy or having familiarity with the story at hand to fully enjoy what Roger Corman is putting forth on the screen.

Being that The Fall of the House of Usher is a rather intimate affair, it should not be too surprising how much of a role the performances of the three main actors play in its success. First and foremost to be acknowledged is the performance of Vincent Price (The Witchfinder General) in the role of Roderick Usher, the last living male descendant of a cursed family. He gives an utterly convincing performance of a man who has long since lost grip with reality. The other two main cast members include Myrna Fahey in the role of Madeline Usher and Mark Damon (Naked You Die) in the role of Madeline Usher’s suitor.

The most telling fact about Roger Corman’s The Fall of the House of Usher is how well it holds up to the film's sequel, which will follow it in his cycle of Edgar Allen Poe films. After all, it was his first foray into the world of Edgar Allen Poe, and yet the end result easily ranks high when compared to the films that make up Roger Corman’s Edgar Allen Poe film cycle. And in this humble reviewer's opinion, there is actually only one film that I would rank higher than The Fall of the House of Usher, and that film would be The Masque of the Red Death.

The Pit and the Pendulum: A young man visits his brother-in-law's home after learning that his sister died under mysterious circumstances.

Sequels are a necessary evil of the film industry, and though The Pit and the Pendulum is not a continuation of The Fall of the House of Usher, story-wise, it is a continuation of a series of films directed by Roger Corman that were all based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Thus making it an unofficial sequel to The Fall of the House of Usher. And one would think that following the success of The Fall of the House of Usher, Roger Corman would have been given more freedom and a larger budget to work with. Unfortunately, that would not be the case, as he was working with AIP (American International Pictures), a company known for being notoriously cheap when it came to their budgets. Fortunately, this lack of resources was something that Corman was used to, and as he progressed as a filmmaker, he would excel with less where most filmmakers would falter.

After choosing which story he wanted to adapt, the first issue that Roger Corman had to deal with was what he was going to do about the first two acts since the story he chose was only long enough to carry the final act. And this is where screenwriter Richard Matheson’s invaluable contribution not only to The Pit and the Pendulum but to the whole cycle of Edgar Allen Poe films shines the brightest as he weaves elements in the first two acts that are drawn from the works of Edgar Allan Poe. He creates a strong narrative that helps build and sustain the mounting sense of doom present throughout The Pit and the Pendulum.

Visually, Roger Corman's The Pit and the Pendulum once again surprises, as it is another giant step in regards to his development as a director. The Gothic atmosphere that is prevalent throughout The Fall of the House of Usher is covered over for The Pit and the Pendulum, and this time around, he further exploits the use of colors to further add dimensions to the story at hand. A few standout moments visually include the blue-tinted flashbacks and, of course, an exceptional finale.

Performance-wise, Vincent Price (Theatre of Blood) is once again cast in the main roles. He portrays Nicholas Medina, the husband who died under mysterious circumstances, as an iron maiden. He is very good in The Pit and the Pendulum, as he is given the task of playing a grieving widower whose wife’s ghost has come back to haunt him and drive him mad. Cast in the role of Nicholas Medina’s wife is Barbara Steele (Black Sunday), though her screen time is limited to flashbacks and the final act. The specter of her characters plays a pivotal role throughout the narrative. Unfortunately, outside of Vincent Price and Barbara Steele, the rest of the cast is at best adequate. Ultimately, though there is a lot to enjoy and like about The Pit and the Pendulum, it is still overshadowed by what came before it, House of Usher.

Tales of Terror: Tales of Terror stands out from the rest of Roger Corman’s Edgar Allen Poe adaptations as the one and only time he made an anthology film from the collected works of Edgar Allen Poe. And when compared to his seven other Edgar Allen Poe films, which all stretch their source to fit the rigid confines of a feature-length film, in regards to presenting the fiction of Edgar Allen Poe in an analogy format as a feature film for each story, this proves to be a better-suited way to transcribe Edgar Allen Poe fiction, and it is surprising that Roger Corman would not return to the anthology format before leaving the world of Edgar Allen Poe behind.

Morella: A young woman tries to reconnect with her estranged father, who had her sent away shortly after her birth. With the source of his animosity towards his daughter linked to her mother’s death while giving birth to her, will he ever be able to let go of his anger, or will it finally lead to his demise?

The Black Cat: An alcoholic husband discovers that his wife is having an affair with a wine connoisseur. So the husband concocts a devious plan to rid himself of his cheating wife and her lover. Unfortunately for him, a pesky black cat inadvertently threatens to unravel his devious plan.

The Case of M. Valdemar: Not wanting his last moments to be overwhelmed by pain, a man named Valdemar enlists the help of a hypnotist, who assists him in reducing his pain through hypnotism. And in return for doing this, Valdemar has agreed to let the hypnotists have the right to hypnotize him at the moment he is about to pass and thus keep him in a state of limbo. Will the hypnotist keep his end of the bargain, or does he have grander plans in regards to what he wants from Valdemar?

Visually, all three stories look great and have a tremendous amount of atmosphere. Set design is also top-notch, as Roger Corman continues to recycle sets from previous Edgar Allen Poe films and has a firmer grasp of what he is trying to achieve artistically. And as mentioned before, the anthology format works very well with Edgar Allen Poe’s fiction, and pacing-wise, there is never an issue as stories are no longer pushed beyond their potency.

When it comes to tanking these three tales, if I had to choose one as my favorite, that one would be the first tale, Morella, which offers a different side of Vincent Price than what is seen in the other Edgar Allen Poe adaptations, and another one of its strengths is its intimacy. These scenes between Vincent Price and Maggie Pierce are easily the ones that leave the strongest lasting impression.

Not far behind Morella is the second tale, The Black Cat, which also happens to be one of Edgar Allen Poe’s most adapted stories. And though this one takes a brief moment before it finds its footing, its iconic ending, and Peter Lorre’s (M) sublime performance.

The third and final tale The case of M. Valdemar is by default the weakest of the three. And though the performances are entertaining, the end result is a methodical exercise in crafting terror that is devoid of the engaging characters that populate the other two stories.

The Raven: A magician named Bedlo has been turned into a raven. So he enlists the help of a former sorcerer named Craven to bring him back to his human form. Shortly thereafter, Craven is lured into a duel over his death by an unscrupulous sorcerer named Scarabus.

By the time Roger Corman got to The Raven, it was his fifth foray into the world of Edgar Allan Poe. He had already recycled many of the things that inspired him to adapt Edgar Allan Poe in the first place. Fortunately, Roger Corman was never a filmmaker who rested on his laurels, and to renew his interest in the Edgar Allan Poe series, he would give it a slight makeover. Where the previous Edgar Allan Poe films relied heavily on atmosphere, this latest adaptation would put a humorous spin on subject matter that originated in the realm of the macabre. For many who had become fond of the previous Edgar Allan Poe films, this tongue-and-cheek approach to the subject matter at hand was a bitter pill. And it should not come as a surprise that The Raven continues to be the most divisive of Roger Corman’s eight Edgar Allan Poe films.

Narrative wise, outside of the opening sequence where the character named Bedlo arrives at Craven’s home in the form of a raven, this is essentially the extent of Edgar Allen Poe’s influence on the film, and pretty much all that follows this opening sequence is an entity of its own. And though there have been countless other films that have also featured magicians and sorcerers, the magic performed in The Raven requires a much larger leap of faith than one would expect considering similar-themed subject matter. That said, this added level of absurdity lends itself effortlessly to the humor that runs deep throughout The Raven. In fact, one could easily argue that the reason why said humor works as well as it does is because of how outlandish some of the things that occur in The Raven are.

Though all the Roger Corman and Edgar Allen Poe films, including The Raven, feature first-rate visuals, it is the performances that are ultimately going to sell you on The Raven. And once again, Vincent Price is featured in a prominent role, and this time around, he portrays a retired sorcerer named Craven. The other two prominent roles are Peter Lorre (Mad Love) in the role of Bedlo and Boris Karloff (Black Sabbath) in the role of Scarabus, the arch nemesis of Craven. And of these three performances, Peter Lorre steals the show as he delivers a delirious performance that features the funniest lines of dialog. Also, the scenes he has with Jack Nicholson (Chinatown) in the role of Bedlo’s son are without a doubt the most entertaining, as they have a tremendous amount of chemistry. Vincent Price and Boris Karloff’s moment to shine comes in the form of a sorcerer's duel to the death, which culminates in The Raven.

The Haunted Palace: Charles Dexter Ward returns to the cursed village of Arkham, where one hundred years before, his ancestor died at the hands of a mob that branded him a warlock.

Though The Haunted Palace is officially considered one of the eight films that make up Roger Corman’s Edgar Allan Poe Cycle. It is an Edgar Allen Poe film in name only, with the plot being adapted from several stories written by H.P. Lovecraft.

Reportedly, The Haunted Palace began as a H.P. Lovecraft adaptation, and it was not until very late into the production that Roger Corman realized that AIP (American International Pictures) was going to brand the film as an Edgar Allen Poe film. And though The Haunted Palace has long had its admirers, it is a shame that it was not released as a H.P. Lovecraft film that could have perhaps started a new cycle of films from Roger Corman.

Though Edgar Allen Poe and H.P. Lovecraft have long been linked due to the bulk of their output being tales rooted in the macabre, prose-wise, they are like night and day, with H.P. Lovecraft’s work being more cerebral. Also, the majority of the horrors depicted in Edgar Allen Poe’s literature are visually crystal clear; the same cannot be said for H.P. Lovecraft, who often creates entities that mere words cannot describe.

The thing that immediately grabs you while watching The Haunted Palace for the first time is the look of the film. Not wanting to simply recycle what he had already done before with the Edgar Allen Poe films, Roger Corman creates a visual tapestry that has a deliberately different look than the Edgar Allen Poe films.

Narrative wise, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward serves as the shell for this H.P. Lovecraft adaptation. Content-wise, it is actually more of a melting pot of H.P. Lovecraft’s literary works than one singular story being adapted into a film. And just like the Edgar Allen Poe films with The Haunted Palace, Roger Corman wisely chooses to take bits and pieces from various stories instead of trying to do a straight-forward adaptation.

Returning once again in the role of the protagonist is Vincent Price, and this time around he gets the opportunity to play the dual roles of Joseph Curwen and Charles Dexter Ward. Price gives a solid performance that is head-and-shoulders above the rest of the performances in this film. Besides Vincent Price, it should be noted that several other actors have dual roles in The Haunted Palace. Another performance of note is Lon Chaney Jr. (The Wolf Man) in the role of Simon Orne, the man in charge of getting Ward’s family estate read for his arrival.

When The Haunted Palace was released in 1963, there were no other H.P. Lovecraft adaptations to compare it to. Since then, the tide has turned, and in recent years, there has been an influx of films adapted from or inspired by the literary works of H. P. Lovecraft. Unfortunately, despite this influx, the end results far too often fail to capture the essence of what makes H.P. Lovecraft’s stories so enthralling. That said, The Haunted Palace remains one of the strongest Lovecraft adaptations, and it is a pity that Corman would never return to H.P. Lovecraft’s universe.

The Tomb of Ligeia: A man’s obsession with his deceased wife threatens to put his new-found love in jeopardy. Will he be able to put his deceased wife to rest once and for all, or will he lose his sanity in the process?

The Tomb of Ligeia would mark Roger Corman’s eighth and final film in what has since become his Edgar Allen Poe film cycle. All good things must eventually come to an end. After completing The Masque of the Red Death, which is arguably Roger Corman’s strongest film in his Edgar Allen Poe cycle, he would venture one last time into the world of Edgar Allen Poe with The Tomb of Ligeia, which is widely considered the most maligned film from Roger Corman’s Edgar Allen Poe cycle.

And though The Tomb of Ligeia has carried over many of the ingredients from the previous Edgar Allen Poe films, the end result is something that stands apart from the rest of the films, with the most notable difference being the tone of The Tomb of Ligeia, which this time around adds a romance angle to the Gothic vibe that is present throughout the Edgar Allen Poe cycle. Another area where The Tomb of Ligeia drastically differs from its predecessors is its extensive use of live locations over sound stages.

That said, since the beginning of the Edgar Allen Poe cycle, Corman has always been looking for new ways to be creative and trying his best not to repeat himself too much. And this shifting to more natural locations gives The Tomb of Ligeia a much more foreboding vibe than the use of sound-stage, which often rooted the horror in the realm of nightmares, albeit ones filled with a tremendous amount of atmosphere.

Visually, The Tomb of Ligeia is not as striking as the other films in Roger Corman's Edgar Allen Poe Cycle. And yet it features one of the jaw-dropping moments to appear in Roger Corman's Edgar Allen Poe Cycle. The scene in question is a dream sequence where Lady Rowena Trevanion receives a bouquet of flowers with a dead fox in the middle of the arrangement, and said sequence sends her into the arms of Verden Fell, passionately kissing. And though this is the more grounded of Roger Corman’s Edgar Allen Poe’s films, this sequence shows his knack for capturing what lies beyond the surface and in the realm of one’s psyche.

When discussing The Tomb of Ligeia, so much of its criticism comes from the casting of Vincent Price in the role of the protagonist, Verden Fell. And reportedly, the screenplay was written with a much younger actor in mind than Vincent Price, who was at the time twenty-five years older than his leading lady, Elizabeth Shepherd.

Fortunately for those who have seen Vincent Price in other roles, he is known for his vast range as an actor, and after the initial shock of seeing him for the first time, his exterior look from then on never proved to be intrusive. And though this is another solid performance from Vincent Price, the real star of The Tomb of Ligeia is Elizabeth Shepherd in the dual roles of Lady Rowena Trevanion and Lady Ligeia. Another thing that ensures that The Tomb of Ligeia remains engaging throughout is Vincent Price and Elizabeth Shepherd’s onscreen chemistry.

Six Gothic Tales is an outstanding release from Arrow Video that brings together six of Roger Corman’s eight Edgar Allen Poe’s adaptations, gives them solid audio/video presentations, and offers a wealth of insightful extras, highly recommended.

Note: Arrow Video has re-released Six Gothic Tales in a standard edition that drops the 200-page book.