You can almost see popular culture shift by watching the work of Roger Corman. He starts the 60s making films like this, and by the end of the decade was making films like "Bloody Mama".
But this film was part of his early 60s formula - get a bankable horror star - in this case Vincent Price, make the film a period piece and borrow at least the theme from Poe, have at least one beautiful lady who has an affliction or is in danger or both, and have some handsome knight in shining armor show up who feels he just has to save the girl. This film has only a loose association with the Poe story - siblings Madeleine and Roderick (Price), their strange physical afflictions of an unnamed origin, and their decaying house.
Price is always fun to watch in these late 50s early 60s horror films. His character Roderick Usher has menace, but he is just so interesting it is impossible to dislike him. Even though these Corman films have a low budget, they always seem to deliver plenty of atmosphere. I'd recommend it.
House of Usher
1960
Action / Drama / Fantasy / Horror
House of Usher
1960
Action / Drama / Fantasy / Horror
Plot summary
Convinced that his family’s blood is tainted by generations of evil, Roderick Usher is hell-bent on destroying his sister Madeline’s wedding to prevent the cursed Usher bloodline from extending any further. When her fiancé, Philip Winthrop, arrives at the crumbling family estate to claim his bride, Roderick goes to ruthless lengths to keep them apart.
Uploaded by: OTTO
September 06, 2013 at 05:26 PM
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Before Roger Corman discovered porn he did Poe
The first EAP from AIP.
The first of Roger Corman's Edgar Allan Poe adaptations from American International Pictures, The House of Usher opens as Philip Winthrop (Mark Damon) arrives at the Usher ancestral home—a crumbling pile in an arid, foggy landscape—looking for his bride-to-be, Madeline Usher (the lovely Myrna Fahey). He is greeted there by Madeline's brother Roderick (Vincent Price), who asks him to leave. Not one to take no for an answer, Philip remains, staying for the night, determined to take Madeline away with him the next day. Roderick, however, is resolved to keeping his sister at home whatever it takes, believing his family to be under a curse that causes strange maladies, evil ways, and premature death.
House of Usher is about as Gothic as it gets, featuring a foggy landscape, an old dark house full of cobweb-strewn secret passageways, an elderly butler who knows more than he is letting on, a dusty old crypt, and a raging thunderstorm; but as atmospheric as the setting is, I didn't find myself all that engrossed in the mystery that unfolds. Instead, I found it all rather boring, Roderick's repetitious insistence that his family is cursed and Winthrop's steadfast refusal to believe what he is told becoming rather tiresome. Admittedly, the production is sumptuously mounted, with impressive sets and lovely colour cinematography (used particularly effectively during a hypnotic dream sequence), but on the whole I was left rather unimpressed by this much-loved horror 'classic'.
Vincent Price without his moustache...
In one of the many classic adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe tales, Vincent Price creepily shines yet again. When Philip Winthrop (Mark Damon) goes to an estate to pick up his fiancée Madeleine Usher (Myrna Fahey), he learns from her brother Roderick (Price) that she and he both suffer from a degenerative disease that gives them both acute senses. Sure enough, it turns out that all is not quite what it seems.
Probably the most noticeable thing about this movie is that Vincent Price lacks his famously eerie moustache. But in a way, that almost makes him more mysterious. Roger Corman scored another triumph here. You're sure to love it.