Extraordinary Tales (2015) – movie review

Extraordinary Tales (2015)

Directed by Raul Garcia

Stories by Edgar Allan Poe screenplay by Raul Garcia

Starring:
Christopher Lee
Bela Lugosi
Guillermo del Toro
Roger Corman

This is an animated collection of five Poe stories. For the most part modern animation styles take a back seat and the styles of more intrinsic art are brought to life for the tales. They each carry their own distinct visual flair applied to Poe’s source material. We have the squared-off and skewed shapes in The House of Usher, the stark black & white imagery and cutting lines for The Tell-Tale Heart (in artist, Alberto Breccia’s style), and the graphic novel/Creepy magazine style of The Masque of Red Death. Voice overs and narration are done by Christopher Lee, Bela Lugosi, Guillermo del Toro, Roger Corman and Julian Sands, amongst others, who each provide their unique expression to the benefit of the atmosphere. Lugosi is here courtesy of an old recording/reading remastered for the Tell Tale Heart segment. The wrap around concerns a crow in a graveyard talking to Death. The conversation between them leads us into the stories. Everything is backed by classic musical compositions by Sergio de la Puente with additional music from Javier López de Guereña. I’m surprised this has such a low rating, but with its gothic origins and gloomy mood, I guess that should be expected.  The stories are edited into shorter form than Poe’s original works but they work well with the animation. Also included are The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar and The Pit and the Pendulum to round out the best tales from the gothic master. For someone who grew up reading horror illustrated comics such as Creepy, Eerie, Vampirella, and Heavy Metal Magazine, this is a pleasant throwback to a similar storytelling and visual style. Revisit Poe’s most popular tales with animation worthy of artistic merit in this fine collection.

This gothic animated film heralding the work of Edgar Allan Poe provides gloomy, yet interesting entertainment.

I give it 3.9 cringe inducing, caterwauling, death wails out of 5 on the gothic haunting horror scale.

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parlor of horror – horror movie reviews

*Halloween $ Dollar $ Bin Movie Deals*

*Halloween $ Dollar $ Bin Horror Movie Deals*

It seems like every Halloween season there is a generous supply of one-dollar and sale DVDs at your local discount store and in the end of the aisle racks at your local supermarket. While most of these cheap, no-frills movies seem like unwatchable garbage, within these sale bins can be found some surprising hidden gems at a real bargain price. From old classics to forgotten cult favorites – I wanted to relay some of the great deals I’ve found in the past. Prices ranged from one-dollar to two dollars and ninety-nine cents. (Prices will vary depending on stores.)

White Zombie/ The Invisible Ghost – double feature – $1.
Two classic Bela Lugosi classic movies for a buck, you can’t beat it!

The Last Man on Earth / The Last Woman on Earth – double feature – $1.99
The Last Man on Earth is the classic Vincent Price, sci-fi horror that was later remade as The Omega Man (1970’s) and most recently as  I Am Legend with Will Smith. Last Woman is more on the drama side but a decent enough story.

House on Haunted Hill / Horror Hotel – double feature – $1.99
Another classic Vincent Price horror movie in the infamous House on Haunted Hill. Horror Hotel is an early Christopher Lee movie about a witches coven in Massachusetts. Both are very good movies!

The Screaming Skull / Tormented – double feature – $1
The Screaming Skull is a good movie with suspense, good acting, and an impressive soundtrack. A new bride is haunted by the screaming skull in the deep hours of the night but no one will believe what she tells them. Tormented was not very good at all but Screaming Skull made the DVD worth the price.
 

Vampire Bat / The Devil Bat – double feature – $1
These two early horror movies are very dated but Vampire Bat features Fay Wray and The Devil Bat features Bela Lugosi. I purchased the DVD just to have these two Iconic actors of yesteryear in my video library starring in lesser known roles. It serves as a point of interest.

Night of the Living Dead – $2.99
In recent years they have digitally mastered NotLD and digitally re-mastered the music of this classic zombie movie a number of times for re-release DVDs and Blu-Ray. My favorite version is this no-frills, sale bin DVD. Music is a bit warble-y and warped, picture fades slightly from light to dark, everything is a bit fuzzy – that is the experience I remember when first seeing this ground breaking film! I’m surprised they haven’t tried to colorize it already and try to sell us on that.

The Giant Gila Monster / Creature from The Haunted Sea – double feature – $1
I enjoyed the 50’s/60’s hot-rod and rock-and-bop feel of The Giant Gila Monster. Typical plot of 1950’s sci-fi without the budget of better known films of the era. The Haunted Sea I didn’t care for at all.

If you’ve found any good deals on old horror films worth checking out, let me know in the comments 🙂