House of Usher (1960), The Pit and the Pendulum (1961), and The Masque of the Red Death (1964)

In the beginning of his career as a producer / director Roger Corman was known for cranking out cheap and fast black and white pictures that always made money. He worked in all genres, but it was mainly the horror and sci-fi pictures in the mid to late ’60s he was known for. All that changed in 1960, when he convinced AIP to let him adapt a story from Edgar Allan Poe, but in color, with a bigger budget, and longer shooting schedule. That started a new phase of Corman’s career, which also made an even bigger star of Vincent Price.

In this episode, we take a deep dive into three of these Poe adaptations, and not necessarily looking in the faithfulness of them, but in their production, the incredible casts, the look, the style, as well as the feel of them. They really do get better each and every time you watch them. Hopefully after listening to this episode, you’ll decide to either venture down this dark path for the first time or take a revisit to admire the doom and gloom they all have.

Films mentioned in this episode:

The Big Bird Cage (1972), Black Sunday (1960), Chinatown (1974), City of the Dead (1960), Countess Dracula (1971), Corman’s World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel (2011), Death Race 2000 (1975), Don’t Look Now (1973), Duel (1971), Five Guns West (1955), The Fly (1958), Gunslinger (1956), The Haunted Palace (1963), Horror Hospital (1973), House on Haunted Hill (1959), House of Usher (1960), House of Wax (1953), Humanoids from the Deep (1980), Intruder (1962), It Conquered the World (1956), The Legend of Hell House (1973), Little Shop of Horrors (1960), Masque of the Red Death (1964), Monster from the Ocean Floor (1954), Naked Paradise (1957), Not of this Earth (1957), Pit Stop (1969), Piranha (1978), The Pit and the Pendulum (1961), Premature Burial (1962), Psycho (1960), The Raven (1963), Return of the Fly (1959), Rock ‘n’ Roll High School (1979), The Seventh Seal (1957), Swamp Women (1956), Tales of Terror (1962), The Terror (1963), The Tingler (1959), Trilogy of Terror (1975), The Wasp Women (1959)