The Simple Annals of the Poe

Tomb of Ligeia. If Producer-Director Roger Corman had anything on his mind more substantial than cobwebs and curdled blood, he might easily extend to others the excitement he creates among a small but thrill-thirsty band of followers who await each Corman film as though it contained fresh plasma. They seldom have to wait long. At 39, Corman has made more than 70 movies. The best-known are his macabre, shimmering little quickies gleaned from the works of Edgar Allan Poe.

Opulently photographed in and around a crumbling English abbey, Ligeia, like its predecessors, offers meticulous decor, shrewd shock techniques, and an atmosphere of mounting terror that fails to deliver on its promise. Again, the cream-centered menace is Vincent Price, an actor who appears to be swooping around in a cape even when he stands perfectly still. His first wife dead, Price marries a breathtaking beauty (Elizabeth Shepherd) and takes her on a honeymoon that includes a stop at Stonehenge. Back home he resumes his necrophilic fancies until, as usual, a great raging holocaust consumes castle, corpses, black cats, Price, and loose ends of plot.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.