Synopsis:

Three of the Masters of the Macabre present a visual feast in bringing to life three of Edgar Allen Poe's stories. Morella

Tells the story of a husband (Vincent Price) mourning the death of his wife, Morella some thirty years earlier. His daughter comes to visit and is greeted not so warmly by her dear old dad. In the thirty years that have passed, her father has become a shadow of the man he used to be. Now he is an aging drunk who lives out each day in abject despair and grief. Unwilling to commit her beauty to the Earth, the husband, "rescues" Morella's corpse from the grave and places her in their bed. Upon their daughter's arrival, Morella's spirit grows uneasy and prepares to deliver a final blow of her own.

The Cask of Amontillado

Peter Lorre stars as Montresore Herringbone, a mean fart of a drunk with an exceptionally beautiful young wife. Their daily ritual revolves around her cleaning the house and him demanding money for more wine. On a particularly heavy binge, he stumbles into a wine tasting contest where Fortunato Lucresse (Vincent Price) is the featured taster. Convinced he can out-taste Lucresse, Montresore bullies his way into the contest and much to everyone's surprise he out matches Lucresse at every turn! Totally drunk and disorderly, Montresore is unable to make his way home without assistance so, Fortunato takes him home. Once there he meets, Montresore's wife and it's love at first sight. The two become lovers and secret dalliances are the order of the day. No longer a struggle to get money out of his wife, Montresore paints the town, drinking himself under the bar. One particular evening, the bar keep mentions that Montresore's new found freedom might be attributable to someone else "taking care" of his wife. Incensed, Montresore heads home only to see the two lovers bidding each other adieu as they part. Unwilling to be bested, Montresore plans to put a lid if you will, on these things once and for all.

The case of Mr. Valdemar

Vincent Price stars as Mr. Valdemar. An extremely wealthy man who suffers from an incurable fatal & painful disease that leaves him racked with pain every day. Basil Rathbone is a Mesmerist. He believes that he can, at the point of death, extract the soul of Valdemar and send him blissfully into eternal peace. Well, at least that's what he's telling Valdemar and more importantly, his young and beautiful wife. At present, he uses his tools of mesmerism to alleviate the pains that Valdemar suffers from his illness. Neither his wife nor his Physician approves of Rathbone's methods and they make their disapproval known. Rathbone however, has the full and total support of Valdemar and exercises his considerable hold quite frequently. The day of Valdemar's death arrives and true to his word, Rathbone extracts his soul at the very moment of death. The end result, a disembodied voice travelling towards eternity. Rathbone has far more sinister plans in store though and once he has Valdemar's essence safely contained, he brings all his powers to bear on those that remain.

Audio:

the audio as presented is a mono platform that can at times sound quite tinny. While wholly enjoyable, the lack of stereo presentation is painfully evident from the opening moments of the film until the closing credits. As it is in Mono, the surround/sub speakers are not at all used. The overall effect is lackluster but the creepy score makes up the difference!

Video:

The video is presented in a full frame format and is full of scratches and flecks galore. The colors range from soft to fairly sharp but overall, the images are not as well defined as I would have expected. The overall look of the film is fair to good in my estimation.

Extras:

The extras are confined to a long trailer for the feature that gave away far too much information. Other than the trailer, there are no extras.

Overall:

I fell in love with all of these actors many, many years ago. This film in particular is a gem. It's just hokey enough to be laughable but there are also moments of genuine terror that give this film the edge it needs to succeed! You couldn't ask for a better cast of characters than those assembled for this film. While there are some technical errors and flaws, they could never take away from the thrust this film generates! Highly Recommended!