Le cercueil vivant

We tend to diminish some movies which doesn't fits in ours pre-established concepts, The Oblong Box is one of this case, an exotic picture mixing gothic horror and sorcery from Africa, however has many qualities to overcame a possible low points, the story is about two brothers from British aristocracy Julian Markham (Vincent Price) who maintain imprisoned at your room Edward (Alister Williamson), such fact took place at Africa where they had profitable business, actually Edward fortuitously killed a native child, by this his face was disfigured by voodoo's ritual, at England under order of Julian his lawyer brings from Africa a native sorcerer to try heal his brother, but he was misleading by the greed lawyer, Edward is hit by poison dart, he states as dead and buried alive, but the body snatchers unearth him to sell to Dr. Newhart (Lee) just for scientific purposes, somehow Edward wake up and made an agreement with the Doctor to stay there, in exchange of money to keep his research ongoing, to make his revenge Edward uses a scarlet hood, the producers put a mundane atmosphere on movie as at brothel's house, offering plenty of slight nudity scenes, spicy sequence, further has a twist on final that worthy waiting for, valuable and underrated!!

Resume:

First watch: 2020 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.5

This was going to be the fourth film directed by Michael Reeves ("Witchfinder General," "The Sorcerers," "She Beast"), who's a filmmaker I'm fascinated by, mostly because of the three intriguing horror films he directed before his untimely death. None of these films were horror classics, but they were unique stories and were more of an edge than most horror films of this era. I was particularly taken with "Witchfinder General" where Vincent Price gave a rare non-hammy performance and was terrific. "The Oblong Box" would have again paired Price and Reeves, but sadly Reeves died due to an accidental overdose during pre-production. Veteran horror director Gordon Hessler took over and made the film more in line with the previous AIP Poe film adaptations, which isn't a bad thing, but it's disappointing to not see what Reeves would have brought to this cycle of films. In this Poe tale, Vincent Price's brother, Alister Williamson, is buried alive, and then reappears wearing a red mask, exacting his bloody revenge. Overall, this film is not as classy or smart as the Roger Corman Poe films, but it's entertaining none-the-less.

This 1969 film heralded the first on-screen teaming of Vincent Price and Christopher Lee - shamefully, they only get one scene together (why couldn't the film-makers of the time put the horror masters together in a film successfully?).

Despite being beseiged by production problems - the writer Lawrence Huntington died shortly after completing the script and the original director, Michael Reeves was replaced by Gordon Hesler, due to his dependence on drugs and suicidal tendencies (he actually committed suicide in February 1969) - the film has a very eerie and atmospheric feel to it.

The plot is guilty of becoming too involved for its own good, but given there is always a general understanding of what is going on, the film does not suffer. Indeed, the period atmosphere is well-maintained and is supplemented by plenty of suspense and shock, not least due to the large content of scenes taking place during nightfall.

We are also cleverly kept guessing as to what Edward Markham's face is really like under the scarlet hood, and since this naturally becomes a preoccupation with the viewer, one is entitled to expect a horrific revelation at the end. It does come and depending on what you pre-judge his face to look like, I was not particularly disappointed!

Vincent Price and Christopher Lee's characterisations are not that pivotal and their performances tend to be just enough to carry the film through - they are really secondary, in a film stolen by Alister Williamson as the revenge killer.

Nevertheless, this film is well-worth a look, mainly due to it's originality and ambition.

Disfigured in an African ritual, Edward is kept, "protected", by his brother Julian by being kept chained up in attic. He fakes his death to escape from Julian and another man is killed to take Edward's place in the "oblong box". Film looks like a low-key, photographed stageplay, a well-dressed period piece having little to do with Poe's short story, besides the title box. This is one of those films to watch primarily to enjoy the cast, lush settings and photography, hooded killers, throat-slicings, and a couple of good scares along the way, even if it has little if anything to do with Poe, just don't get one's hopes too high up. It does have a good unmasking scene, and genuinely creepy twist-ending, which still stood out in my mind years after I had last seen this film.

Favourite line: "I'll only do my prowling at night."

We have all kind of barbarities featuring in this dark and moody tale. Only the wicked pen of Edgar Allen Poe could have come up with a tale that blends voodoo, body snatching, medical experiments, brotherly betrayal and a taste of what most likely is the worst imaginable nightmare: being buried alive! Set in the second half of the 19th century, Vincent Price (oh, how I love this man) stars as a wealthy landlord who returned from Africa severely traumatized. His brother got cursed by the aboriginals there and now lives locked up in his room, heavily deformed. But he's still clever enough to plan an escape and pays some small crooks to have him appear dead. Due to several unfortunate events, the plan goes wrong and Sir Edward's supposedly dead body ends up in the laboratory of morbid scientist Christopher Lee (another man I love!)

The entire film carries some sort of unnameable eeriness. The depressing set pieces and colorless locations add a great deal to the sublime horrific atmosphere. All this, together with an intriguing and complex screenplay makes this movie yet another highlight in the careers of Vincent Price and Christopher Lee. Both icons of horror give away amazing performances and it's actually a damn shame they don't share many sequences together. This is a marvelous film from the time that horror still was the greatest genre in cinema. They simply can't deliver movies as good as this anymore. Maybe I'm giving it a little too much praise but you can't but agree with me that at least this kind of horror oldies demand a much wider attention span than the nowadays gore-junk. For that aspect alone, I feel obliged to give it a high rating.