Behind the Couch

1963 Dir. Roger Corman While it takes its name from a poem by Edgar Allan Poe, The Haunted Palace is actually an adaptation of HP Lovecraft’s The Case of Charles Dexter Ward . It’s still regarded as one of the titles in Corman’s Poe cycle, not only because of its title, but because of its shared aesthetic, a gloomily literate script, unyieldingly grim atmosphere, preoccupation with death and mourning, and a household plagued by its dark secrets. There is also the presence of Vincent Price, a stalwart of Corman’s Poe adaptations. While the director had actually been keen to move away from Poe adaptations, he was persuaded not to buck the trend by producers, as their Poe films had been immensely successful. A compromise was reached - the film would be an adaptation of Lovecraft, but would take its title from a poem by Poe. It successfully entwines the themes and sensibilities of both writers and emerges as one of the best horror films made by Corman at this time. Lovecraft’s sto...

1970 Dir. Daniel Haller When she becomes acquainted with softly spoken oddball Wilbur Whateley (Dean Stockwell), little does student Nancy Wagner (Sandra Dee) realise that he plans to use her in a ghastly ritual to summon forth the Old Ones; ancient entities slumbering in another dimension, waiting until the stars are right so they can return to earth. And procreate.  Based on Lovecraft’s story of the same name (written in 1928, published in 1929), this was Daniel Haller’s second adaption of the author’s work, following on from Die Monster Die . Lovecraft’s story concerns Wilbur Whateley, the son of a strange albino woman, Lavinia Whateley, and ‘unknown father’, and the weird events that surround his hometown of Dunwich. Wilbur is instructed in the ways of the occult by his fiendish grandfather and eventually attempts to acquire a copy of The Necronomicon to help him summon the Old Ones. Cattle, and people, go missing in the surrounding area and there’s talk of something hi...

2010 Dir. Declan O’Brien An eeevviiiil, egotistical bio-geneticist, along with his reluctant daughter, develops a hybrid half-shark/half-octopus for the US military (!). Code-named S11, the creature has been designed as the ultimate weapon in aquatic attack and defence. But when its control unit malfunctions during a test run, the S11 is accidentally unleashed and sets off in the direction of a popular tourist resort. Oh noes! Can our intrepid heroes - egotistical bio-geneticist’s daughter and a hunky ex-employee-turned slacker-mercenary - track down and capture the mutant killing machine before it snacks on a buffet of oiled-up, dressed-down holidaymakers?! Can they heck!  Half Shark. Half Octopus. All Killer. With a title like Sharktopus , let’s face it, one really ought to know what to expect. A goofy, tongue-in-cheek monster-movie romp, the film has already been garnering a sizable cult following for its deliberately trashy, B-movie campiness. Add to this the fact tha...

1960 Dir. Roger Corman When she returns to her family home after their engagement, Madeline Usher is visited by her fiancée Philip Winthorpe, who wants her to return to Boston with him. Her brother, the severely melancholic Roderick opposes this suggestion. Philip discovers that the Usher lineage has been afflicted by an all consuming malady and that the siblings, the last of the Ushers, believe they are cursed to descend into insanity like their ancestors did before them. A series of morbid incidents unfold over the coming days as events seem set to reach a horrific climax bringing an end to the Usher bloodline, once and for all… It suddenly occurred to me, as such things usually do, that it’s been several months since I last watched anything featuring Vincent Price. Disgraceful. So, after I poured a glass of Russell’s Cellar’s finest merlot, I settled down to watch Roger Corman’s first Poe adaptation, The Fall of the House of Usher. Setting the standard for all his other Poe ...

1966 Dir. Curtis Harrington 1990. Scientists on Earth receive a distress call from an alien ship that has crash landed on Mars. A small rescue team made up of scientists and astronauts are dispatched to rescue the alien crew. Only one survivor is found, a strange woman with lurid green skin. Back on board their own ship, the scientists discover that their guest has an insatiable appetite for blood and it isn’t long before she begins to pick off the crew, one by one… In the 60s Roger Corman’s production company AIP bought the rights to quite a few Russian sci-fi films and wrote new stories around the various special effects sequences; reusing the expensive footage in new low budget films. Queen of Blood is one such film and reuses footage from Russian sci-fi epics Niebo Zowiet and Meshte Nastreshu . These scenes provide a number of the film’s highlights, as much of Harrington’s footage, particularly in the early scenes, with their kitschy ideas about how the future (1990) would l...

1961 Dir. Roger Corman Renzo Capetto (Antony Carbone) seizes the opportunity to get his hands on some dosh when civil unrest breaks out in Cuba. He agrees to help General Tostada and a group of exiled Cuban nationals escape on his boat with a sizeable portion of the Cuban treasury. He then plots to kill the men and blame their deaths on a legendary sea monster. So far, so good. Capetto is joined by his faithful, if rather dim-witted motley crew. What Capetto doesn’t count on is an actual sea monster turning up to throw a major spanner in the works. The stage is set for shenanigans on the high seas, quirky beatnik characters, shoestring budgets, ludicrous acting and one of the best bargain-basement monsters ever committed to celluloid. Dear reader, I give you Roger Corman’s sublime  Creature from the Haunted Sea ! Creature from the Haunted Sea belongs to a group of Corman films collectively referred to as the ‘Puerto Rico Trilogy.’ The other two are The Last Woman on Earth an...

AKA The Haunted & the Hunted 1963 Dir. Francis Ford Coppola Troubled couple Louise (Luana Anders) and her husband John are staying at his family castle in deepest, darkest Ireland. The family have gathered for the annual memorial service of John’s sister and the reading of his mother’s will. Taking a midnight jaunt in a row boat, Louise and John discuss his mother’s will, they argue and he reminds Louise that if he dies before his mother, she will not see a penny of the inheritance. As she tries to persuade him to talk his mother into changing the will, he has a heart attack and dies. Louise sees the opportunity to worm her way into her mother-in-law’s favour and tips John’s body into the lake, later faking a note from him stating that he had to return to New York on urgent business. She hatches a plan that involves driving the mother insane by making her believe that her dead daughter has come back to haunt her and will therefore be more easily persuaded to change her will....

1961 Dir. Roger Corman Francis Barnard (John Kerr) makes his way to the home of his late sister Elizabeth (Barabara Steele) to meet her husband Nicholas Medina (Vincent Price) and learn more of her death. Whilst there, he witnesses Medina slowly sink into mourning and insanity as his sister Catherine (Luana Anders) helplessly looks on. Francis soon begins to realise Elizabeth’s death occurred under mysterious circumstances and all is not as it seems…  The Corman adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe stories were perhaps some of the first horror films I ever watched as a youngster. Staying up late and secretly watching the little portable TV in my room, with the light on of course, I often peered at these lurid gems of the genre from between my fingers. None had more of an impact than Pit and the Pendulum . It still retains the ability to chill and unsettle in its own unique way. Watching it is pure nostalgic bliss. Adding to the nostalgia and the bliss is the fact that the film stars...

1964 Dir. Roger Corman ‘Death has no master.’ What better way to celebrate the Bicentennial of Edgar Allan Poe (only a day late) than to settle back, raise a glass of something shockingly red and full-bodied and feast your eyes upon the visual decadence that is Masque of the Red Death . Based upon one of Poe's most celebrated short stories and starring Poe-adaptation stalwart, and all-round devilishly watchable, Vincent Price, Masque of the Red Death is another Corman adaptation of Poe's work and one of the few films that fully captures the doom-laden tone of the morbid writer's best work... Tyrannical Prince Prospero (Vincent Price) abducts Francesca (Jane Asher), a local peasant, and adjourns to his castle in an attempt to corrupt her soul and offer her as a bride to Satan. Meanwhile, a deadly plague known as the Red Death ravages the countryside around his castle, indiscriminately killing off the local population, leaving their faces in bright red sores. Pros...

1963 Dir. Roger Corman After his exquisite, highly literate Poe adaptations ( House of Usher, Premature Burial and The Pit and The Pendulum ) Corman returned to directing with this cautionary tale of dangerous curiosity and existential crisis. Dr Xavier (Ray Milland) is a scientist who has concocted a serum that allows the human eye to see through anything! Against the advice of his colleagues Dr Brant (Harold Stone) and Dr Diane Fairfax (Diana van der Vlis), he experiments with the serum on himself. Sure enough, he is able to see through things! Walls! Paper documents! Clothes! However, this being a cautionary tale about the dangers of venturing into scientific realms we probably have no business venturing into, things inevitably turn bad for our intrepid doc. After accidentally pushing Dr Brant to his death from a window, Xavier goes on the run and winds up as a fairground sideshow act, looking into people’s minds and reading their thoughts and social security numbers and bein...