The best and worst Edgar Allan Poe adaptations

As far as definitive versions of “The Fall Of The House Of Usher” go, this is still the standard by which all adaptations will inevitably be measured. was the first of the Poe adaptations by Roger Corman and Vincent Price, and though it takes some liberties with the original story it’s probably the most faithful of the series. Had it not been well received by its target audience, that might have been the end of their collaboration. Fortunately, Corman’s particular brand of schlock translated through Price’s velvety yet sinister delivery was a winning formula. The film is still remembered as not only one of the best of the Corman-Price team-ups, but a classic of low-budget, Gothic horror.

Poe’s tale of torture during the Spanish inquisition was the basis for , the second film from Corman and Price, and they took a twisted delight in reimagining it with the help of screenwriter Richard Matheson. The titular torture device and the 16th-century Spanish setting are pretty much the only elements Matheson used from the short story of the same name. He also incorporated some of Poe’s other favorite literary devices, like a living character entombed behind a bricked-up wall. This was the film that cemented the partnership between Corman, Price, and their posthumous third collaborator, Poe. Its rich visual aesthetic, exaggerated camera movements, and stagey performances set the tone for the rest of the series and influenced a generation of horror creators, from Stephen King to Dario Argento.

Roger Corman and Vincent Price reached the apex of their collaboration with , a lush medieval horror-fantasy. Set in the 12th century and incorporating elements of the short story it’s named for, plus another Poe story titled “Hop Frog,” it pits good against evil at the court of Prince Prospero (Price). Prospero is a Satanist who shelters from a plague in his grand castle while peasants are dropping dead beyond the walls—except the ones he kidnaps for thrills. From its saturated color palette to Price’s over-the-top performance, the film is a banquet of unrestrained excess (as much as Corman could get away with on a limited budget) that’s striking to look at and constantly entertaining.

Poe’s work has been translated into every language, and has been the source of many good-to-great foreign films. The Snake Pit And The Pendulum is not one of those. Following Roger Corman and Vincent Price’s successful run of Poe adaptations, German horror film director Harald Reinl took on “The Pit And The Pendulum,” changing the location to 18th century Germany and the torture of the Spanish Inquisition for a sentence of being drawn and quartered. Christopher Lee stars as Count Regula, who receives the punishment after killing 12 maidens, then comes back to life in search of revenge. Reinl doesn’t seem to get Poe at all, and his directing style is not suited to the author’s work. The results are more silly than terrifying (and not in the good way).

makes our worst list for the unforgivable crime of slapping the title of a poem by Poe (which he repurposed in “The Fall Of The House Of Usher”) onto an adaptation of The Case Of Charles Dexter Ward by H.P. Lovecraft. If that were the extent of it, that would be bad enough, but there are Poe references dropped into the film for no reason. They certainly don’t add to the story. Perhaps Lovecraft was less known in 1963 than he is now, but looking back with the hindsight that his name and work have come to carry just as much weight as Poe’s, the decision not to acknowledge him as the author of the story is unforgivable.

It’s no secret that Poe was a bit obsessed with the terror of being buried alive. It crops up in his works again and again. Despite initially being marketed with his name above the title, , this film set at an all-girls school for juvenile delinquents retains little of the author’s Gothic romanticism or literary sensibilities. This mediocre thriller starring Robert Vaughn, Donald Pleasence, John Carradine, and Nia Long loses interest in anything to do with the author early on (there are black cats and characters on the edge of sanity) and quickly devolves into a dull slasher film with cheesy dialogue and an uninspired, predictable outcome.

There’s a strange tendency among those who set out to adapt Poe to cast him as a character in his own stories. You see this a lot, especially when it comes to the thinner tales that need to be filled out for length. One of the most egregious examples is The Raven, a forgettable crime thriller starring John Cusack as Poe. When a series of killings in Baltimore appears to mimic the deaths in his writings, the police bring in Poe for questioning. The ways in which the ridiculous plot repurposes some of Poe’s greatest works is a travesty and a disgrace to the author’s good name.

The same husband-and-wife team that made a series of infamous exploitation films with titles like Marihuana and Narcotic! came up with , a bizarre adaptation of “The Black Cat,” with elements of other Poe stories like “Murders In The Rue Morgue” also tossed in for some reason. Sometimes billed as Sex Maniac, this amateur production was once considered one of the worst movies ever made, but with time and reevaluation has now reached the status of cult classic. That still doesn’t make it good, though. Director Dwain Esper worked with his wife Hildagarde Stadie to craft a cinematic fever dream about an insane doctor and his even more insane patient, who goes on a violent crime spree that includes kidnapping and raping a woman. The Poe connection comes in the form of a cat that happens to be black, but the title is merely a misdirect to cash in on the author’s fame.