Edgar Allan Poe's overwhelming tale of EVIL & TORMENT

Starring: Vincent Price, Mark Damon, Myrna Fahey, Harry Ellerbe

DML Rating: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ - good

"You cannot take my sister out of this house. If she were to bear children, the Usher evil would spread - malignant, cancerous."– Roderick Usher

Why watch this? This is one of the finest film adaptations of an Edgar Allen Poe tale.

Plot Summary: Philip Winthrop travels to the isolated House of Usher to visit his fiancée, Madeline Usher. Her brother, Roderick, is hostile toward Philip and explains that the Usher family is afflicted by a curse of madness and physical decay that also seems to affect the mansion itself. Roderick believes that Madeline's marriage to Philip would perpetuate the curse and tries to keep them apart. As Philip and Roderick clash, a series of unsettling events unfold within the crumbling house, revealing its dark secrets and accelerating the terrifying climax of the Usher family's fate.

Dad's Preview: A lone rider approaches a creepy mansion. He has come to see his fiancée, who is staying with her mysterious brother. This film is creepy from the start, as Roderick slowly reveals the reasons for his strange behavior. Edgar Allen Poe's real genius was to weave his tales on the razor-sharp edge that separates the supernatural from madness - either way, the outcome is devastating. Director Roger Corman and Vincent Price, thank the horror gods, would corner the market on Poe-adapted films.

Roger Corman; American International Pictures