buckikris This is one chilling movie from 1960, that never gets old. The movie begins when Winthrop( Matt Damon) travel to to the Usher mansion to see his fiancee. When he approaches the mansion, he notices the land is barren. he knocks on the door, and the man-servant Brisco( Henry Ellerbe), answers the door. He tells Winthrop he can't see Madeline (Myrna Fahey) because she is ill. Winthrop insists, and Brisco let's him in. He is asked to remove his shoes, which he thinks is odd. When he meets Rodrick Usher( Vincent Price) he realizes he is strange. Rodrick suffers from a mental illness. He is sensitive to sound, and asks to speak softly. he and Rodrick don't seem to get along, and believe Rodrick is overprotective. When Winthrop tell Rodrick he and Madeline are to be married, he gets upset. He explains that The Usher blood is cursed, and doesn't approve of the union. When asked if the marriage will include children, Winthrop say yes. Rodrick tells him that the bloodline must not continue, The Usher's have been cursed with madness and disease. That doesn't scare Winthrop, and he wants to take Madeline home with him the next day. Winthrop gets to know Brisco, and Brisco tells him history about the house and the usher dynasty. When Winthrop finally gets to see Madeline, she is so happy, but she has issues. She suffers from Catalepsy, plus Rodrick has put negative thoughts in her mind. When she travels down to the crypt with Winthrop, she shows him the Usher crypt. Winthrop has a fit, telling her it's not natural, she shows him the past Usher's, then her place in the crypt. Winthrop is now very upset with Rodrick. Madeline has thoughts of death and fears her own demise. One day Rodrick tells of the history of the land and the beauty of it. Then a plague came, and the Usher curse began. One night he hears Rodrick and Madeline fight . Supposedly Madeline has died, and Rodrick is rushed to in tomb her. While talking to Brisco he realizes she was buried alive. When she is found, they realize she has gone mad. In the end, a fight ensues and Rodrick Usher perishes along with The Usher mansion.This is a true gem, very creepy and it makes you think about in-laws. I will tell you this is one movie that is excellent. If you are able to get it, find it with The Pit and The Pendulum. Two classic for the price of one.

Leofwine_draca If you've seen any of the other Corman/Poe films, then you'll know exactly what to expect from this one. It's a straightforward adaptation of the Poe tale , with some very nice photography and camera-work - all achieved on a low budget, as par the course for Corman. The sets are beautiful and authentic-looking, there's plenty of dry ice floating about all over the place, and the costumes are pretty. Like the other films in this series, THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER works best in creeping up on you unawares, assailing you the viewer with some of Poe's worst fears - in this case, namely being buried alive.A blond (!) Vincent Price haunts the picture, once again giving an excellent performance which helps to lift the whole film. It's safe to say that Price is so good that in any scene without him, you find yourself looking forward to his return. In this film, he's mad (what's new), and puts in a frightening portrayal of total insanity. He believes he's pure and surrounded by evil, when in fact the opposite is true. Price also has some really bizarre mannerisms, he can't bear to be touched and he hates loud noise (later, in THE TOMB OF LIGEIA, he couldn't bear bright light either). Fahey makes a believable transition from damsel in distress to insane killer, and while Damon is occasionally wooden, he acquits himself in the hero role well.Richard Matheson is the scriptwriter in this case, adding to Poe's original story of madness in the family strain. I'm sure that Matheson is the one responsible for some of the choice dialogue here, which was definitely missing in later Poe films. Apart from an out of place dream sequence, which threatens to go all psychedelic on us, everything slots in nicely. The spookiest bit comes when Damon follows a trail of his fiancée's blood through the secret passageways of the house. There are also lots of cobwebby skeletons sitting around and adding to the atmosphere. Just wait for the predictably fiery and nihilistic climax when the house burns apart and collapses. Sombre, slow, creepy, haunting, subtle and atmospheric are all adjectives that can be applied to THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER, and it turns out to be one of Corman's best films (that's saying something when all of the Poe films he made were above average). For those who like Gothic spookers, this could be the one for you.

ironhorse_iv Edgar Allan Poe is one of the greatest writers of all time, and House of Usher (1960) the film version of his short story "The Fall of the House of Usher" is interesting look at modern psychological science. It covers the form of sensory overload known as hyperesthesia (hypersensitivity to light, sounds, smells, and tastes), hypochondria (an excessive preoccupation or worry about having a serious illness), and acute anxiety. The film was directed by Roger Corman known for his Edgar Allan Poe adaptations. The film was the first of eight Corman/Poe feature films. The film starts with Philip Winthrop (Mark Damon) travels to the House of Usher, , to meet his fiancée Madeline Usher (Myrna Fahey). Madeline's brother Roderick (Vincent Price) doesn't want the marriage to happen, telling Phillip that the Usher family is afflicted by a cursed bloodline which has driven all their ancestors to madness and doesn't want that to continue. Victor Price is great in the role, and truly can seem like a hypochondriac madman. Philip becomes increasingly desperate to take Madeline away; but Madeline suddenly dies and laid to rest in the family crypt beneath the house. As Philip is preparing to leave, the butler, Bristol (Harry Ellerbe), lets slip that Madeline is alive. Philip rips open Madeline's coffin and finds it empty. He desperately searches for her in the winding passages of the crypt but she eludes him and confronts her brother. Now completely insane, Madeline avenges herself upon the brother who knowingly buried her alive. The film does a good job in my opinion of presenting a faithful adaption of Edgar Allan Poe's classic tale of the macabre. Others say it ignore the author's style. I do say I'm glad the film doesn't do a whole reading of Mad Tryst, a novel in Poe's novel "House of Usher'. It wasn't needed in the film. The use of color is wondering. I love the opening shot of Victor Price in the bright red suit. Chilling—yet there were a bit of over cheese scenes, such as that of the green fog and dead people that makes me laugh. That scene was probably a serious scene in 1960's, but now it does looks awful. The movie help define the Gothic genre. It shows Poe's ability to create an emotional tone in his work, specifically feelings of fear, doom, and guilt. The explicit psychological dimension of this tale has prompted many critics to analyze it as a description of the human psyche, comparing, for instance, the House to the unconscious, and its central crack to the personality split which is called dissociative identity disorder. Mental disorder is also evoked through the themes of melancholy, and possible incest. An incestuous relationship between Roderick and Madeline is never explicitly stated, but seems implied by the strange attachment between the two. The film can be interpreted as "a detailed account of the derangement and dissipation of an individual's personality." The house itself becomes the "symbolic embodiment of this individual." With the house falling apart, the characters are falling as well. Check it out if you want. There are two versions, the original and the retouch version, as on 2010, BRIC Arts presented the film with a new score and psychedelic overlays and flash forwards by Marco Benevento in celebration of the film's 50th anniversary. I would choose the newer version as it's more interesting in sound and taste. A great horror movie, so watch it. Talked about a really good haunted house movie.

jc-osms The first of Roger Corman's low-budget adaptations of Edgar Allen Poe's Gothic tales of horror sets a convincing template to which the producer/director would return time and again. Created with an eye for period detail and utilising the charisma of Vincent Price to intrigue and occasionally scare the viewer, the story moves slowly but surely, like a descent to madness, to its fiery conclusion. With only four players and, not unnaturally, given the prominent part the house itself plays in the narrative, the movie is very set-bound, with eerie music turned up whenever a scary scene looms, the claustrophobic stifling atmosphere is in keeping with the conclusion of the story.Price is excellent, as the doomed, ghoulish brother Usher of his pretty but sheltered sister, the aptly-named Madeline. There's also a faithful butler on tow, to help move the action along and reveal key background facts, but I can exclusively reveal that he didn't do it. Mark Damon swoons and raves as Maddy's ardent but thwarted lover to compete the cast.Shot in lurid colour, with highly atmospheric background music, it would be easy to mock the heightened acting which occasionally borders on the wrong side of camp, but Price's presence and Corman's skill with cinematography and story-telling deliver a fitting tribute to Poe's work.