My take: Can’t go wrong with three Poe-inspired tales that all have Vincent Price in them.
Rating: 3 out of 4 stars
Let me just be clear: I love me some Vincent Price. If his name is associated with a horror film, I am pretty much guaranteed to enjoy it on some level. Just the sound of his voice sets the mood for a creepy tale.
I did not read the summary of Tales of Terror before I hit play. As a result, I screamed like a school girl when I heard Vincent Price’s voice narrating the start of the movie. And he stuck around through all three stories in this feature.
In the first story, he plays a hermit widower whose estranged daughter returns home. He always blamed his daughter for the wife’s demise, but he quickly learns that his wife’s death was not as simple as he believed.
In the second story, Vincent plays a celebrated wine taster opposite Peter Lorre (Mad Love and The Maltese Falcon). Peter Lorre’s character is an alcoholic, and Vincent Price’s character takes advantage of his drunkenness by having an affair with his wife. But the alcoholic is more devious than he seems.
Vincent Price playing a famous wine taster and philanderer in The Black Cat, the second tale in Tales of Terror.
In the third story, Vincent plays a man on his death-bed, who uses a hypnotist, played by Basil Rathbone, to alleviate his pain. But the hypnotist takes a cruel pleasure in controlling Vincent’s character’s mind.
Each story on its own would not be enough for a feature-length film. But the short stories work well together. Their short length helps you quickly get over any plot holes or other annoyances. And the all-star cast makes it a fun movie to watch.
I would recommend this movie to fans of Poe, Vincent Price and classic gothic horror.
I got the movie on a disc from Netflix. Here’s the trailer that I found on YouTube:
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