Welcome to the last of my “three scary stories in one” posts, at least until we get the next seasons of The Twilight Zone and Black Mirror.
I alluded to having mixed up Tales of Terror with Trilogy of Terror. I’ve also gotten it mixed up with House of Wax and Waxworks, despite having seen the latter.*
All right, back to work. I was glad to finally watch the actual Tales of Terror and am happy I did, although I wouldn’t quite say I loved it.
“Morella” – The setup is EXTREMELY interesting. A father is confronted at his home by his 26-year-old daughter whom he has never known, as he blames her for his wife dying in childbirth. He slowly comes to want to make amends but the corpse of his wife…yeah I don’t know. Something about revenge and coming back to life, I think? Couldn’t make sense of it though. Maybe the original short story is clearer but I shouldn’t have to read that to understand what is going on.
“The Black Cat” – This is the only case where I had already read the short story. Short stories, in fact, because this is the only segment where two stories are combined. The other one, “The Cask of Amontillado” is my favorite Poe work ever (with the possible exception of “The Raven”). There’s also some original content. Peter Lorre plays a man who lets his wife be the sole breadwinner (bad enough nowadays, let alone in the 19th century) while he spends all the money on alcohol. He later finds a rival in the area of wine-tasting, and when said rival begins an affair with the mistreated wife, Montresor plots a horrific revenge on his wife and on Fortunado. People who have read “The Cask of Amontillado” know, after seeing those names, what happens next but people who have read “The Black Cat” also know how this ends. Combining the two stories was a clever idea and if you haven’t read the stories I don’t think the ending is telegraphed. My only issue is that Montresor’s drunken illusions go on for too long; it would have helped to cut those and make the story crisper. Nonetheless, I definitely liked it.
“The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar” – My favorite segment. There are three characters interested in the same woman: her husband (Vincent Price), the doctor, and a hypnotist (Basil Rathbone). The first of those men, who is about to die, has given his blessing for her to be with the second but the third has something to say about that. This story brings to mind the Harlan Ellison quote “I have no mouth and I must scream.” Wow. Plus we get riveting performances from Price and Rathbone as well as a final shot you won’t forget!
“Morella” – 69, “The Black Cat” – 88, “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar” – 98
Bottom Line: Fun hour and a half of horror.
*I watched Waxworks on Netflix disc in 2005. The following day when I told my friend Christian I’d watched a silent German expressionistic horror anthology the previous night he replied “You’re probably the only person in the world who can say that last night he watched a silent German expressionistic horror anthology.”
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