X
- 1960
- Approved
- American International Pictures (AIP)
- 1 h 19 m
- 1960
- Approved
- American International Pictures (AIP)
- 1 h 19 m
Summary Upon entering his fiancée's family mansion, a man discovers a savage family curse and fears that his future brother-in-law has entombed his bride-to-be prematurely.
Directed By: Roger Corman
Written By: Edgar Allan Poe, Richard Matheson
- 1960
- Approved
- American International Pictures (AIP)
- 1 h 19 m
- 1960
- Approved
- American International Pictures (AIP)
- 1 h 19 m
House of Usher
75
7.1
Summary Upon entering his fiancée's family mansion, a man discovers a savage family curse and fears that his future brother-in-law has entombed his bride-to-be prematurely.
Directed By: Roger Corman
Written By: Edgar Allan Poe, Richard Matheson
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 8 Critic Reviews
75
88% Positive
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
13% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 8 Critic Reviews
75
88% Positive
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
13% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Corman's legendary parsimony has rarely been so inobvious; House of Usher has the look and feel of a film made for far more than its tiny $200K budget (and on a tight, 15-day shooting schedule). Its authentically creepy dream-sequence – all grasping hands and hazy blue-gelled fog swirls – is a minor surrealist masterpiece by its own right.
The movie, shot in CinemaScope and colour, is punctuated by shocking moments, but is more notable for its claustrophobic, doom-laden, necrophilic atmosphere and elegant camerawork than the kind of fashionable, in-your-face horror that was launched in the same year by Psycho.
The first of Corman's eight-film Poe cycle, and one of his most faithful adaptations. Price is his usual impressive self as the almost certainly incestuously inclined Roderick Usher who, having buried his sister alive when she falls into a cataleptic trance, becomes the victim of her ghostly revenge; but it is Corman's overall direction that lends the film its intelligence and power.
Price is wonderful as the spooky owner, but the other three players are merely adequate. But still a superlative Corman/AIP effort and a great beginning to a varying but always interesting series of horror films.
Corman's filmmaking runs on unchanneled energy and apocalyptic emotions; his is an art without craft.
In patronizingly romanticizing Poe's venerable prose, scenarist Richard Matheson has managed to preserve enough of the original's haunting flavor and spirit. The elaborations change the personalities of the three central characters, but not recklessly so.
Under the low-budget circumstances, Vincent Price and Myrna Fahey should not be blamed for portraying the decadent Ushers with arch affectation, nor Mark Damon held to account for the traces of Brooklynese that creep into his stiffly costumed impersonation of the mystified interloper.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 9 User Ratings
7.1
78% Positive
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
22% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 9 User Ratings
7.1
78% Positive
7 Ratings
7 Ratings
22% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.
Awards
Golden Globes, USA
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Laurel Awards
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
National Film Preservation Board, USA
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
