Before us is not just a wonderful film, but an amazing project that gives a lot of fun every minute of its screen time, which does not reach an hour. Do you like the works of Edgar Allan Poe? Do you like the talent of the inimitable Vincent Price? What if the two classics came together when the other reads the first? Imagine, Vincent Price himself reads to you personally the brainchild of Allan Poe - what could be better?! Still, it can, because it is not just reading, but whole single performances of the cult genre actor, who with the help of limited means creates real theatrical magic, throwing out a typhoon of bright emotions in a crystal clear dialogue with his audience, which is not shaded by the obstacles of accompanying effects or a special heap of scenery. The master plays as if he lives in front of the camera, brightly burning in the chosen characters, surprisingly delicately feeling the next character, making it truly natural. Each spoken word or intonation masterfully adorns the classic text of the Gothic genre, making the viewer enjoy the process when any blinking of the eye is a crime.
Opens the production of the story “The Tell-Tale Heart”, where Vincent Price sparklingly recreates the confession of a psychopath, incredibly truthfully depicting human insanity. It is truly terrible to listen to the sinister revelations of the hero, allowing the viewer to enter the terrible world of a mentally ill murderer, whose dangerous nature is based on two pillars of cunning and violent paranoia. No kind of fake monster would not overshadow this brilliantly played image with half-witted eyes and an incessant mouth, sharing new details of his sick perception of the world.
Next up is the funny Sphinx. Anyone who has read the original should know its main adventurous highlight, over which the artist worked well. He perfectly thickens the colors, gives a creepy ride from a meeting with an incredible monster, his poor character does not find a place for himself from the unenviable fate of being an eyewitness to such a surreal giant creature and ... and we get a powerful finale that causes a smile from the comic-suspecting hero Vincent Price.
Only relieved the viewer exhaled, as the gloomy narrative “The Cask of Amontillado” comes into play, where a genuine fear is recreated at the expense of another confession. But this criminal is frightening not by insanity, but by a cold-blooded calculation that has turned revenge into a delightful, unhurried execution that will never be revealed and for which they will not be rewarded. No help for his victim. The executioner is like a patient spider, weaving deadly webs of deceptive words, well versed in psychology. The most horrific story, presented through the prism of a rather unpunished murderer, raising a glass of blood-red wine in honor of his flawless crime. Cheers, artist! You are magnificent in this gall-predatory role of a white-haired criminal, leisurely savoring a completed, exactly an expensive drink.
“The pit and the pendulum” (The pit and the pendulum) is the final story, screening one of the signature stories of the writer, consisting of an existential metaphor of the frailty of our being with an inexorable pendulum, measuring years, days and moments before meeting a merciless death, in whose eyes each of us is condemned by birthright. Vincent Price literally physically experiences the necessary emotion of the painful painful memory of a prisoner of the Inquisition. The actor starts a spring of the strongest stupefying fear, driving him crazy and taking away any desire to live on. His lips shoot more and more new descriptions of a vainly rushing mind, aware of the inevitable meeting with a sadist of measured death hanging over him. The character goes beyond the edge of insanity somewhere much further, the grains of reason analyze the hopeless situation of the inquisitorial hell, the artist plays on a tear, preparing an emotional bomb in the apogee, depriving himself of the possibility of respite between words or sentences, he does not spare himself, he breaks down into a climactic devastating cry when salvation cannot become salvation after the experience. Spooky, pure horror of hopeless fatalism in the words, voice and eyes of the artist, which became a memorable ellipsis of this amazing project, which made an invaluable gift to the audience in the form of a wonderfully terrible evening by Edgar Allan Poe, imbued with powerful energy and talent of the magnificent Vincent Price. Bravo! In the theater, such performances are applauded standing.
10 out of 10