Revenge in the House of Usher

Phew...I am a devoted fan of Jess Franco, but watching 3 incredibly awful movies of his in less than one week (this one, Oasis of the Zombies and The Castle of Fu Manchu) really isn't my admiration and respect for him doing much good! "Revenge in the House of Usher" is a very disappointing effort and it's a complete mystery to me what Franco intended to pull off by making it. Why filming another version of Edgar Allan Poe's classic tale when there are already other (and better) movies made revolving on the tale of the Ushers? Why did Franco feel it was necessary to link Poe's tale with his own 60's chiller "The Awful Dr. Orloff"? And, more importantly, why in God's name did I spent 10 Pounds buying this DVD?? This movie has nothing to do with Poe, it's unimaginably boring and it lacks every form of action or excitement. Howard Vernon (him again) stars as an insane "doctor" who keeps on trying to resurrect his late daughter with the blood of young girls. Living with him in the ramshackle castle are some insane employees and a couple of ghosts from the past. 'Revenge in the House of Usher' is horribly slow and it completely lacks all the elements that made Jess Franco (in)famous! Lina Romay stars in this film, yet she keeps her clothes on and the only bit of violence there was to see were actually flashbacks. I can imagine Franco is proud of his "Awful Dr. Orloff" but that doesn't give him the right to re-edit entire sequences of it in other movies! Like every other reviewer here already pointed out: stay far away from this movie!

When Dr.Alan Harker travels to the crumbling estate of his university mentor Dr.Usher,he finds the man plagued by a horrible paranoia-destroyed by his repeated attempts at awakening his comatose daughter.Haunted by ghosts of his dead family members,Dr.Usher is rushing toward madness,with only Harker left to save him.I can easily say that I'm a big fan of Jesus Franco,unfortunately "Revenge in the House of Usher" is breathtakingly awful.Those expecting gore and sex in a Eurohorror title(especially from Franco)will be sorely disappointed,because there is absolutely no nudity or blood in this one.The pacing is horribly slow and there are a lot of 'flashback' scenes taken from Franco's earlier horror classic "The Awful Dr.Orloff".Avoid this piece of stinking crap like the plague.

Dr. Alan Harker (Robert Foster) receives an invitation and arrives at the house of his former professor at the Prague University, Roderic Usher (Howard Vernon), who lives with his housekeeper Helen (Lina Romay) in an old castle. Dr. Usher is insane, living with ghosts, and invites his former student Harker to proceed with his research. He tells to Harker that when his daughter Melissa (Françoise Blanchard) died many years ago, he had developed a means to reanimate her using the blood of prostitutes. Along many years, Dr. Usher and his assistant Morpho (Olivier Mathot) kidnapped and killed many young women to keep Melissa alive. But when Harker meets Dr. Seward (Daniel Villiers), who is the doctor of Dr. Usher, he explains that Dr. Usher is delusional. What is the truth about Dr. Usher and his secret?

"Revenge in the House of Usher" is a boring, lame and messy movie by Jess Franco based on the story of the Edgar Allan Poe. The plot is a senseless mess, the old castle is actually a preserved castle, there is no continuity in the edition in this forgettable film. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "A Queda da Casa de Usher" ("The Fall of the House of Usher")

Jess Franco made a hell of a lot of movies in his career, and rather unsurprisingly that has lead to a lot of respect from the cult movie community, and it also means that he made a lot of bad films - and unfortunately, Revenge in the House of Usher is right down there with the likes of Succubus as one of his very worst efforts! Edgar Allen Poe's story was made into a brilliant film in 1960 by the great Roger Corman, but unfortunately Jess Franco wasn't able to do likewise - mainly because he hasn't based this on the Poe story at all, but rather the common idea that stemmed from the classic Eyes Without a Face, and which he made did himself some years earlier with The Awful Dr Orloff, that being basing the film on a doctor who is trying to help his daughter and sacrificing a lot of other people in the process. The main problem with this film, aside from the fact that it has nothing to do with the story that it's supposedly based on, is the fact that it's BORING. I seriously was completely numbed for most of this movie and it did often make me wonder quite how anyone involved could have thought it was a good idea. Franco regulars Howard Vernon and Lina Romay star but neither has a good day and not even the atmosphere is worth commenting on. Don't bother with this one!

A lot of people are complaining about this film - but watch this short interview with Franco - about the movie he initially made and what the studio then did to it to turn it into the piece of crap everyone is complaining about. I'd love to get hold of the original film Franco made (Fall of the House of Usher) and compare it to the version that is commonly available.