The Haunting of Morella

I hit puberty in the early 90s, so in other words, I was a horny and hormone-controlled teenager when "Baywatch" first aired on TV, and naturally had a crush on practically every babe that paraded through the screen in a skimpy red bathing suit. Pamela Anderson, evidently, but I was even far more enchanted by two other blond and typically nineties' beauties; - Erika Elaniak and Nicole Eggert. The latter was a cherubic and polished but nonetheless very sexy girl-next-door type. Whoever knew that, before her "Baywatch" period, Eggert had already appeared in a cheap and ultra-sleazy Roger Corman production loosely - VERY loosely - inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's writings? At the beginning of the film, Eggert depicts the fiercely foul-mouthed witch Lenora who gets executed in front of an angry town's mob and her powerlessly staring husband who's holding their few weeks' old baby in his arms. Nearly 18 years later, the baby matured into the gorgeous Nicole Eggert again. Morella is excited to celebrate her birthday and taste adulthood, but little does she know that the voluptuous nanny has been carefully preparing Lenora's reincarnation via the pure body and soul of her daughter.

Roger Corman knows Poe, trust me. He was single-handedly responsible for the absolute greatest Edgar Allan Poe film-adaptations during the early sixties, like "House of Usher", "The Masque of the Red Death", "Premature Burial", etc. If Corman really wanted to make an atmospheric, qualitative and genuinely frightening adaptation of Poe's short story, he certainly could have done so. Instead, he cleared just hired Jim Wynorski ("Chopping Mall", "Transylvania Twist") to direct a cheap but profitable B-movie with a focus on ravishing women, tacky horror, secondhand sets & scenery and boobs, boobs, boobs! 18-year-old Eggert still gets a stand-in for her nude sequences, but Corman regulars Lana Clarkson, Maria Ford and Gail Thackray showcase their bodily assets gratuitously and repeatedly. The sets and stock-footage, like the numerous lightening strikes, are shamelessly edited from much older flicks (you might recognize "The Terror" - 1963) and our producer would still continue to recycle them in later films like "The Haunting of Hell House" - 1999. "The Haunting of Morella" is nevertheless fun and amusing, at least if you don't mind the derivative plot and the dull moments in between the cheesy gore and the nudity.

Morella (Nicole Eggert) is killed in the opening minutes for murder and witchcraft as her husband Gideon (David McCallum) looks on with their infant child. 17 years later, the child Lenora (Eggert again) is all grown up and soon to receive an sizable trust fund on her 18th birthday. But she is also the target of her teacher Coel (Lana Clarkson), who was Morella's accomplice back in the day, and hopes to put her old friend's soul in this new body. Loosely based on Poe's "Morella" short story, this feature runs only 82-minutes (the film ends at 78 minutes) but seems to go on a lot longer than that. Director Jim Wynorski gives the story what every critic of Poe thought it was missing - lots of topless women running around. To be fair, it succeeds on an exploitation level, but you'll never confuse this with a 1960s Corman Poe adaptation. And it is a nice looking production because this is back when Wynorski gave a damn. Eggert was "hot" off CHARLES IN CHARGE at the time so this must have seemed edgy for her. Regardless, she uses an obvious body double during her nude scenes. It is hilarious seeing her and Clarkson on screen as there is over a foot height differential, which leaves Eggert level with Clarkson's chest. Concorde staple Maria Ford has a smaller role as a servant. The film ends with the ridiculous on screen words "I still live!"

At the start of The Haunting of Morella, I wondered why it's won itself so many negative reviews. The film has a great Gothic atmosphere, and while the story is highly derivative of a great many other films; it fits well with the tone of the film and leads you to believe that you're in for something decent. However, it soon became clear why this film isn't well liked - and that's because it doesn't really go anywhere. The story is based on a short by the great Edgar Allen Poe, and follows the burning of a witch somewhere in America. She leaves her husband and daughter behind, but promises to return several years later. She plans to do this, of course, by taking over the body of her newly matured daughter. The Gothic atmosphere soon becomes little more than a slight distraction from the dull central plot, and by the end; the film was actually reminding me of a bad music video. Chopping Mall proved that Jim Wynorski isn't the best director, and this film does nothing to disprove that; as the action is dull and sluggish, and a good potential for a nice horror flick is wasted. Overall, this film may appeal to Poe completists (although I doubt it), and everyone else should stay clear!

This movie was a total farce. They used Edgar Allen Poe to get several young women out of their clothes. No different then your typical stupid slasher film. The only difference is that it is based off a short story by Edgar Allen Poe. Don't watch this movie

Well, let's get this out of the way. BOOBS. Lots of BOOBS. As a woman, I am not personally impressed by boobs so trying to rely on that as a selling point for a film is just tacky to me. Now that's out of the way, I'll talk about the actual movie.

What I liked: *The setting. *The way it was shot. Some of the scenes were really shot beautifully. *The costumes were nice with the exception of a scene that shows underwear that doesn't suit the era. *The story.

What I didn't like: *Some of the acting was pretty bad. *The script was lousy but it may have come across lousy at times because the acting was so off. *The amount of boob-age.

This wasn't downright awful, to me but it left something to be desired. It really could've been so much more because there really is a story there. Maybe someone will take another stab at this one someday.