The Tomb of Ligeia

I was asked recently if I could name any genuinely scary films made before The Exorcist in 1973. The only titles I could come up with were Rosemary's Baby and Night of the Living Dead from the late '60s. I could suggest many horror titles made before 1970, but none were genuinely flesh-crawling enough to make the list. At the time, I had not seen The Tomb of Ligeia. Now I have seen it and, wow! This is one seriously under-rated gem.

It is one of the many Roger Corman films from this era based on an Edgar Allan Poe story. Intelligently scripted by Robert Towne, and acted to perfection by Vincent Price and Elisabeth Shepherd, this film is a treat from start to finish. Shepherd plays a well-to-do lady in Victorian England who falls in love with a mysterious loner (Price) who resides in a crumbling abbey and seems haunted by memories of his previous (now-dead) wife Ligeia. She marries Price, but her chances of love are blighted by spooky happenings which may be the work of the ghost of his jealous ex-bride.

The dream sequence, featuring a dead fox hidden in a bouquet of flowers and a terrifying metamorphosis midway through a passionate kiss, is a marvellous and memorable scene. All scenes featuring the weird black cat are eerily effective. There's also a wonderfully creepy hypnotism episode. The photography is lovely, with colourful outdoor lensing of a real English abbey and superb blending of light and shadows during the ghostly indoor sequences.

So, if you're after a truly spine-tingling film from before 1970 - here you go!

At one point in this film Vincent Price says 'Christopher, not ten minutes ago I tried to kill a stray cat with a cabbage'. Now, I think that is a pretty good reason alone to watch this movie but if that's not enough for you well, its another Roger Corman gothic horror starring Vincent the magnificent, based loosely on an Edgar Allen Poe story. There's nice sets and locations, lush cinematography, an above average script and Price doing what he does best, as well as vegetable-based violence directed at felines.

Very fine Poe adaptation. I had always reckoned Masque of the Red Death, from the same period to be far superior, but not so. Viewed again this is very well put together, especially the first half, which is really only setting the scene for the Poe tale to be told. Not quite as stylish as the aforementioned film, this is still, nevertheless, possessed of a very strong dream like quality and builds scarily as doors rattle, animals squawk and the inevitable black cat scrambles, leaps and screeches. Wonderful setting of Castle Acre Priory helps give the film greater authenticity and Corman mixes the Shepperton Studio interiors well with the beautiful Norfolk countryside and the marvellous grandiose priory remains. I don't know why the tomb of the title had to be so shining white and new looking but never mind, a really good Corman outing with excellent performances from Price and the leading lady Elizabeth Shepherd, who regrettably seems to have otherwise worked almost exclusively in television. She has real presence here in a double role successfully mixing the seductiveness of Lady Rowena and the satanic steel of Ligeia.

Of all the collaborations between director Roger Corman and sensuous, creepy actor Vincent Price, this is probably their best. There's the small cast of characters, mainly Ligeia, buried in a marble tomb in the grounds of a sinister old abbey, Rowena, a lady horserider looking for someone she can be 'drawn' to who is more interesting than her beau Christopher, and Verdon, Ligeia's bereaved husband, with his black shades and mood swings. There's also a cat. And this cat is really the true star of the film, watching, attacking, influencing.

The film benefits from its heavy use of locations, and makes it stand apart from the studio interiors of other adaptations. This is a decadent, decaying England with strange happenings and curses. It is a superb film, and lifts the Shepperton Poe adaptations to a new level.

Well, at least for a little while! His last of eight Poe films as director is (loosely) based on the Poe work of the same name and is a solid metaphorical ghost story. Lady Rowena (the wonderful Elizabeth Shepherd) falls in love with Verden Fell (Vincent Price) despite his strange behavior and questionable past. Soon after their marriage, he starts disappearing, she's menaced by that old Poe stand-by (the evil black cat) and plagued by horrific nightmares involving Verden's deceased former wife Ligeia (also played by Shepherd), whose ghost seems intent on ruining the union. Price, in top hat and strange sunglasses in many scenes (his vision being "dangerously acute"), seems a bit too old for the role, but still manages to come through with an effective performance. Corman has always been underrated for effectively capturing period detail on a limited budget and it's his keen eye for the crumbling ruins, lush green countrysides, oceanfronts and shadowy castle corridors that make much of this film work. Screenplay by future Oscar-winner Robert Towne (CHINATOWN). LIGEIA was Corman's last horror film as director until 1990's FRANKENSTEIN UNBOUND.