EDGAR ALLEN POE'S BLACK CATS: TWO ADAPTATIONS BY SERGIO MARTINO & LUCIO FULCI (BLU-RAY REVIEW)

EDGAR ALLEN POE'S BLACK CATS: TWO ADAPTATIONS BY SERGIO MARTINO AND LUCIO FULCI 

THE BLACK CAT (1981) 

Label: Arrow Video
Region Code: Region Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 91 Minutes
Audio: Uncompressed LPCM Mono English, LPCM Mono Italian with Optional English SDH Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Lucio Fulci
Cast: David Warbeck, Patrick Magee, Mimsy Farmer, Dagmar Lassander, Al Cliver


Director Lucio Fulci takes a step back from the graphic gore of City of the Living Dead (1980) for The Black Cat, his variation on the Edgar Allen Poe short story of the same name. The movie begins with a man driving through a quiet English village when an ominous black cat appears in the backseat of his car, the man stares into the cat's eyes and falls into a trance, before veering into a parked car and erupting into flames. A short time later a pair of young lovers are making out in a boat on the river, looking for a more private place they make their way to a nearby boathouse where they lock themselves into a airtight storage room. The mysterious black cat again appears, supernaturally causing the A/C to shut down before making off with the only key to the door, the young lovers are trapped inside and suffocate to death, their whereabouts remain unknown for some days. 

It turns out that the ominous black cat belongs the aged Professor Robert Miles (Patrick Magee, A Clockwork Orange), a mean-spirited old cuss who spends his free time making audio recordings at the nearby graveyard, hoping to record the voices of the newly dead. It is implied that the professor possesses some form of hypnotic power, and might possibly be using his abilities to guide the black cat on it's murderous spree. The mother of one of the missing lovers from the boathouse, Lillian Gayson (Dagmar Lassander, The House by the Cemetery), worries about her daughter, notifying local constable Sergeant Wilson (Al Cliver, Zombi) who in turn places a call to Scotland Yard, Inspector Gorley (David Warbeck, The Beyond). Gorley arrives on motorcycle, in one of Warbecks more proactive and bad ass roles in Italian cinema, tearing into town on a the motorbike is a memorable entrance. After his arrival more death follow the appearance of the malicious cat with  suspicion beginning to fall on Professor Miles, Patrick Magee is just brings a lot of creepy menace and gravitas to the role, a strange character for sure. 

The story is only weakly linked to the Poe origins, basically we have the black cat and a victim bricked-up behind a wall at the finale, the latter of which Fulci has already explored with his movie The Psychic (1977), a superior movie with a similar tone. Fulci's Black Cat is a sort of montage of disparate elements, with Poe's story being just one component alongside other Poe-centic ideas, with a strong reference to David Cronenberg's The Brood (1977) and a shoe-horned nod to The Exorcist (1973), all wrapped up in the Gothic trappings of a rural English village with  loads of atmospheric touches including eerie fog shrouded woodland and cemetery scenes. 

Here Fulci relies more on a slow-building atmosphere than gruesome gore, there's no eye-trauma on display, just a few vicious cat scratches when the venomous feline draws blood, plus a mild scene of decomposing, rat-gnawn bodies, but for the duration of the film Fulci keeps it firmly in the Gothic horror vein, more akin to a Fulci/Hammer horror than a gruesome gore-soaked nightmare. It's worth noting Fulci made quite a few atmospheric whodunits before he came around to the favored gore entries in the early to mid-eighties, and this is a nice return to his roots, more along the lines of Don't Torture a Ducking or the aforementioned The Psychic. 

Audio/Video: Arrow Video bring Lucio Fulci's Gothic shocker to Blu-ray, sourcing the brand new 2K transfer straight from the original camera negative. The result are fantastic, well advancing over previous releases in all areas with improved clarity, depth and he overall crispness of the image. Colors are reproduced faithfully with natural looking skin tones, this is top-notch HD upgrade all around. Audio comes by way of  an uncompressed  LPCM Mono English or Italian with optional  English SDH subtitles. The evocative score from Pino Donaggio is nicely balanced with the dialogue and effects, nothing is overpowered, everything is crisp and free of distortion. 

Arrow blows away previous releases with not just a gorgeous brand-new 2K transfer, but with a variety of informative value-added extras, beginning with an audio commentary from former Fangoria editor, and movie maker in his own right, Chris Alexander. he comes across as a huge fan of Eurocult and Fulci in particular, maybe not the most insightful commentary in an academic sense, but fun, breezy and he comes off as a well-informed super-fan. Not to trash the commentary but I would have preferred a commentary with author and horror historian Stephen Thrower. 

No worries, Stephen Thrower is well represented with two new features, the 20-minute overview of the movie 'Poe into Fulci: The Spirit of Perverseness', and the 8-minute 'In the Paw-Prints of the Black Cat', the latter with Thrower touring the original Black Cat filming locations, even recreating a few of the iconic tracking shots. Thrower is always a wealth of knowledge, mixing anecdotal asides with his own wry views and well-versed horror history, these are the best of the extras on the set in my opinion. There's also have a 20-minute interview with actress Dagmar Lassander who goes into some great detail about her storied career in Italian cinema. David Warbeck, who dies in 1997, is featured in a 70-minute video interview conducted by Thrower, the interview covers most of Warbeck's body of  Italian cinema. Lastly we have a HD trailer for the movie. 

Special Features: 
- Brand new audio commentary by filmmaker and Fangoria editor Chris Alexander
- Poe into Fulci: The Spirit of Perverseness – film historian Stephen Thrower on Fulci’s Poe-tinged classic(26 Mins) HD 
- In the Paw-Prints of the Black Cat – a look at the original Black Cat locations (8 Mins) HD 
- Frightened Dagmar – a brand new career interview with actress Dagmar Lassander (20 Mins) HD 
- At Home with David Warbeck – an archive interview with The Black Cat star (70 Mins) HD
- Original Theatrical Trailer (3 Mins) 
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Matthew Griffin

Lucio Fulci's The Black Cat (1981) is a sorely under appreciated entry from the Italian master of phantasmagorical gore, maybe because it relies more on tone and atmosphere and strays from the more typical fantasy-based gore he was known for at the time, having been bookended by City of the Living dead and The Beyond, I can see how this Gothic chiller might get lost between to iconic slices of Italian cinema, but I highly recommend you check out this overlooked gem of Gothic cinema, a movie with great performances from the venerable Patrick Magee and Eurocult regular David Warbeck. 

YOUR VICE IS A LOCKED ROOM AND ONLY I HAVE THE KEY (1972) 

Label: Arrow Video 

Region Code: Region Free

Rating: Unrated

Duration: 96 Minutes 

Audio: Uncompressed LPCM Mono English, LPCM Mono Italian with Optional  English SDH Subtitles 

Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1) 

Director: Sergio Martino

Cast: Edwige Fenech, Anita Strindberg, Luigi Pistilli, Ivan Rassimov, Franco Nebbia 

The second half of Arrow's Poe adaptation double feature is a classic Italian whodunit from noted director Sergio Martino, Your vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key, which is a title that references his previous whodunnut The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh, also starring Eurocult icon Edwige Fenech. This lurid slice of Italian cinema begins with waning novel writer Oliviero Rouvigny (Luigi Pistilli, A Bay of Blood), the sadistic husband of Irina (Anita Strindberg, The Case of the Scorpion's Tale). Oliviero is obsessed with his dead mother, a quirk which emerges when he becomes a bit too turned on when his wife and various lovers dress in her vintage gowns. His strange sexual proclivities make him the subject of a murder investigation, when his former student and current lover turns up dead. After being questioned by the police the already wrecked man begins to spiral out of control, pushed even further when his maid turns up dead in his home, worried that he will be blamed for her death both he and his wife hide the body in the home and create a story about having to fire her. 

Soon after they receive word that Irina's niece will be visiting, a sex kitten named Floriana (Edwige Fenech, Blade of the Ripper), a manipulative nymph who seduces not only Oliviero but her own aunt, the red-haired Irina, whom as played by Strindberg is still quite a blossom, even when compared to Fenech. The stylish whodunit sets itself apart from many of it's contemporaries by eschewing many of the whodunit norms, there's no black-gloved killer for starters, but there's plenty of paranoia and no shortage of suspects, which makes it hard to get your footing at times. 

Fenech's turn as a villainous woman is fun, usually cast as the victim, and while she suffers at the hands of her abusive husband she's not angel, nope. As this is part of the Black Cat double-feature from Arrow there must be a connection to Edgar Allen Poe's short story, again we have black cat, named Satan which belonged to Oliviero's now dead mother, Irina cannot stand the cat and goes after ti several times with knife. Additionally theres the bricked-up wall which reveals a secret when the wailing cat draws suspicion from the police at the last moment, again, a tenuous link to the Poe story to be sure, but it's there. Italian cult-cinema fans will be pleased to see Eurocult staple Ivan Rassimov (Spasmo) who appears as, what else, a nefarious character who may or may not be complicit in the crimes.

Audio/Video: Like Fulci's The Black Cat this new 2K HD transfer was sourced from the original camera negative, but lacks the depth and clarity of Fulci's entry, there's some grit to it, it lacks the crispness and fine detail of the former, but looks significantly better that any version I have viewed before, it's a definite upgrade.  Audio again come by way of a crisp and clean uncompressed LPCM Mono English or Italian with optional  English SDH subtitles. 

Onto the bonus content we have a brand new interview with Sergio Martino himself in Italian with English subtitles as the director looks back upon his career and the influence of Edgar Allen Poe. Carried over from the No shame DVD from a few years back is a 23-minute making of retrospective featuring Martino, Edwige Fenech and screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi. Michael Mackenzie offers up a half-hour visual essay covering all of Martinos whodunits, film historian Justin Harries waxes poetic over Fenech for the half-hour career retrospective, and director Eli Roth offers a 9-minute appreciation of the movie and of the director, citing Martino as a direct influence on Hostel II, in addition to casting Fenech in the movie as well.

Special Features: 

- Through the Keyhole – a brand new interview with director Sergio Martino (35 Mins) HD
- Unveiling the Vice – making-of retrospective featuring interviews with Martino, star Edwige Fenech and screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi (23 Mins)
- Dolls of Flesh and Blood: The Gialli of Sergio Martino – a visual essay by Michael Mackenzie exploring the director’s unique contributions to the giallo genre (29 Mins) HD
- The Strange Vices of Ms. Fenech – film historian Justin Harries on the Your Vice actress’ prolific career (30 Mins) 

-  Eli Roth on Your Vice and the genius of Martino (9 Mins) HD
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Matthew Griffin

- Limited Edition 80-page booklet containing new articles on the films, Lucio Fulci’s last ever interview and a reprint of Edgar Allen Poe’s original story.

Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key gets a nice upgrade from Arrow with a sweet array of newly produced supplemental material. of the pair of movies I liked it less than I did the Fulci entry but I have always favored Fulci, maybe to a fault. Martino's entry is solid, a deeply psycho-sexual whodunit ripe with sadism, misogyny and multi-faceted betrayal, while not may favorite of the Martino whodunits this is still a high recommend. Arrow's Edgar Allan Poe’s Black Cats: Two Adaptations by Sergio Martino and  Lucio Fulci is a classy release, the new HD transfers are the best either movies have ever appeared on home video, and the value-added extras make this one of my favorite releases of the year. 

'SIX GOTHIC TALES' LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY BOX coming 12/8 from ARROW VIDEO!

LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY BOX-SET – December 8th 2014

From the Merchant of Menace, Vincent Price, and the King of the B’s, Roger Corman, come six Gothic tales inspired by the pen of Edgar Allan Poe. Arrow Video is thrilled to announce the limited edition release of this Six Gothic Tales box set. Limited to a run of just 2000 copies, this much-anticipated release will include The Fall of the House of Usher, Tales of Terror, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Raven, The Haunted Palace and The Tomb of Ligeia.  

In keeping with Arrow Video tradition, this limited edition box-set will host a wealth of new bonus features sure to please Price, Corman and Poe fans alike. The set will include various new featurettes such as Kim Newman on Edgar Allan Poe, in which the novelist and critic looks at Poe’s influence on the big screen and Kim Newman on H.P. Lovecraft, a look at the relationship between Lovecraft and the cinema. In the featurette Cats in Horror Films, critic, novelist and Cats on Film blogger Anne Billson discusses the genre contributions of our feline friends.

Alongside these newly commissioned featurettes, various other documentaries will be included such as The Two Faces of Peter Lorre (1984), the English-friendly debut of acclaimed filmmaker Harun Farocki’s career-spanning portrait of Lorre’s early days through to his untimely death. And The Directors: Roger Corman, an hour-long episode from the TV series on the filmmaker featuring contributions from James Cameron, Martin Scorsese and Ron Howard will also be included.

Other standout bonus content includes all-new interviews with The Tomb of Ligeia crew members including co-writer/production assistant Paul Mayersberg (who would go on to write The Man Who Fell to Earth and Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence among others).

The Haunted Palace features a newly recorded audio commentary by Vincent Price's biographer David Del Valle and Tales of Terror will include Rob Green's acclaimed short film from the nineties,The Black Cat (1993) and The Raven  will include his other short The Trick, (1996).

The set will be rounded off with a 200-page book containing a wealth of new writing on each of the films, an interview with Roger Corman, and reproductions of tie-in comic books for Tales of Terror,The Raven and The Tomb of Ligeia originally published in the sixties.

Synopsis: 

In The Fall of the House of Usher, a young man learns of a family curse that threatens his happiness with his bride-to-be. In The Pit and the Pendulum, a brother investigates the untimely death of sister, played by Barbara Steele. Tales of Terror adapts three Poe classics, Morella, The Black Cat and The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar, each starring a horror icon. The Raven is a comic take on the famous poem concerning three rival magicians. In The Haunted Palace, a newcomer in a New England town is suspected of being a warlock. And in The Tomb of Ligeia, filmed in Norfolk and at Stonehenge, a widower’s upcoming marriage plans are thwarted by his dead first wife.

The six films boast a remarkable cast list: not just Price and Steele (Black Sunday), but also Boris Karloff (Frankenstein), Peter Lorre (M, The Beast with Five Fingers), Lon Chaney Jr (The Wolf Man, Spider Baby), Basil Rathbone (The Black Cat) and a very young Jack Nicholson. Adapted for the screen by Richard Matheson (The Twilight Zone, I Am Legend) and Robert Towne (Chinatown), these Six Gothic Tales now rank as classic examples of sixties horror cinema.

Special Edition Contents

· LIMITED EDITION BOXED-SET (2000 COPIES)

· High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of all six features, presented across six Blu-rays

· Original uncompressed mono PCM Audio for all films

· Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for all films

The Fall of the House of Usher

EDGAR ALLAN POE’S OVERWHELMING TALE OF EVIL & TORMENT

When exploitation maestro Roger Corman decided to raise his game by hiring Vincent Price to star in an adaptation of a classic tale by Edgar Allan Poe, he set in train a series of Poe adaptations that would redefine American horror cinema.

When Philip Winthrop (Mark Damon) visits his fiancée Madeline Usher (Myrna Fahey) in her crumbling family mansion, her brother Roderick (Price) tries to talk him out of the wedding, explaining that the Usher family is cursed and that extending its bloodline will only prolong the agony. Madeline wants to elope with Philip, but neither of them can predict what ruthless lengths Roderick will go to in order to keep them apart.

Richard Matheson’s intelligent, literate script is enhanced by Floyd Crosby’s stylish widescreen cinematography, but it’s Price’s anguished conviction in one of his signature roles that makes the film so chillingly memorable over half a century on.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the feature, transferred from original film elements by MGM

• Original uncompressed 2.0 Mono PCM Audio

• Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

• Audio commentary with director and producer Roger Corman

• Legend to Legend, an interview with director and former Corman apprentice Joe Dante

• Interview with author and Gothic horror expert Jonathan Rigby

• Fragments of the House of Usher, a specially-commissioned video essay by critic and filmmaker David Cairns examining Corman’s film in relation to Poe’s story

• Archival interview with Vincent Price

• Original Trailer

• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys

The Pit and the Pendulum

DOWN - STILL UNCEASINGLY - STILL INEVITABLY DOWN!

A horse-drawn carriage pulls up on a deserted beach. A sombre figure dismounts and gazes up towards his destination – a foreboding cliff-top castle perched high above the crashing waves. Thus the perfect Gothic scene is set for The Pit and the Pendulum, the second of Roger Corman’s Edgar Allan Poe adaptations once again starring the ever-reliable Vincent Price (The Fall of the House of Usher, Theatre of Blood) alongside the bewitching Barbara Steele (Black Sunday).

Having learned of the sudden death of his sister Elizabeth (Steele), Francis Barnard (John Kerr) sets out to the castle of his brother-in-law, Nicholas Medina (Price), to uncover the cause of her untimely demise. A distraught, grief-stricken Nicholas can offer only the vaguest explanations as to Elizabeth’s death – at first citing “something in her blood”, but later asserting that she quite literally “died of fright”. What sort of unspeakable horrors are buried within the walls of this castle that could cause one’s heart to stop so? With Francis determined to get to the bottom of this mystery, the terrible truth will not stay buried for long.

Right from its brooding kaleidoscopic opening titles, The Pit and Pendulum draws you into its world of cobwebs, secret passageways and dusty suits of armour. All the necessary elements are present and correct and, along with one of Price’s most tortured performances, makes The Pit and the Pendulum every inch the Gothic masterpiece.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the feature, transferred from original film elements by MGM

• Original uncompressed Mono PCM Audio

• Optional isolated music and effects track

• Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

• Audio commentary with director and producer Roger Corman

• Audio commentary by critic Tim Lucas

• Behind the Swinging Blade, a new documentary on the making of The Pit and the Pendulum featuring Roger Corman, star Barbara Steele, Vincent Price’s daughter Victoria Price and more!

• Added TV Sequence – Shot in 1968 to pad out the film for the longer TV time slot, this scene features star Luana Anders

• An Evening of Edgar Allan Poe with Vincent Price (1970, 52 mins), Price reads a selection of Poe’s classic stories before a live audience, including The Tell-Tale Heart, The Sphinx, The Cask of Amontillado and The Pit and the Pendulum (with optional SDH subtitles)

• Original Trailer

• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx

Tales of Terror

TRILOGY OF SHOCK AND HORROR!

In his earlier Edgar Allan Poe films, Roger Corman took short stories by the great Gothic master and expanded them into full-length features. Here, by contrast, the stories stay short, the only other thing they have in common being the participation of Vincent Price.

In ‘Morella’, Price plays a tormented man forced to confront a dark family secret when his long estranged daughter tracks him down. In ‘The Black Cat’, he’s the rakish lover of the wife of Peter Lorre, who naturally plots a deadly revenge. And in the title role of ‘The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar’, he tries to relieve chronic pain by asking Basil Rathbone to hypnotise him, something that leaves poor Valdemar hovering on the border between the dead and the living.

Corman’s previous Poe films were played completely straight, and parts of Tales of Terror are as authentically creepy as any of them. But he also stirred comedy into the Poe brew for the first time, particularly in the scenes between Price and Lorre.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the feature, transferred from original film elements by MGM

• Original uncompressed Mono PCM Audio Optional isolated music and effects track

• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

• The Directors: Roger Corman, an hour-long documentary on the filmmaker featuring contributions from James Cameron, Martin Scorsese and Ron Howard

• Kim Newman on Edgar Allan Poe, the novelist and critic looks at Poe’s influence on the big screen

• Cats in Horror Films, critic, novelist and Cats on Film blogger Anne Billson discusses the genre contributions of our feline friends

• The Black Cat, a 1993 short film adaptation of Poe’s classic tale directed by Rob Green (The Bunker)

• Original Theatrical Trailer

• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Dan Mumford

The Raven

ONCE UPON A MIDNIGHT DREARY…

Although The Raven is one of Edgar Allan Poe’s most famous poems, the lack of a narrative hook initially stumped screenwriting legend Richard Matheson (I Am Legend, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Duel) until he realised that the idea of adapting the poem was so ridiculous that he might as well make it a comedy.

And what a comedy! Vincent Price, Peter Lorre and Boris Karloff play rival magicians whose paths cross when Dr Craven (Price) hears Dr Bedlo tap-tap-tapping on his windowpane. For Bedlo has been turned into a raven by Dr Scarabus (Karloff), and when transformed back into his old self he naturally vows revenge. But the scripted rivalry is as nothing compared to three great horror masters relentlessly upstaging each other - even a young Jack Nicholson, as Bedlo’s son, barely gets a look-in.

If there’s not much authentic Poe in these sorcery shenanigans, the sets and cinematography more than compensate: director Roger Corman was by then a master of conjuring Gothic atmosphere on a very modest budget.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the feature, transferred from original film elements by MGM

• Original uncompressed Mono PCM Audio

• Optional isolated music and effects track

• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

• The Two Faces of Peter Lorre (1984, 61 mins), Harun Farocki’s career-spanning portrait from Lorre’s early days in the theatre alongside Brecht to his untimely death

•Richard Matheson: Storyteller, an interview with the legendary novelist and screenwriter

• Corman’s Comedy of Poe, an interview with Roger Corman about making The Raven

• The Trick, a short film about rival magicians by Rob Green (The Bunker)

• Promotional Record

• Stills and Poster Gallery

• Original Theatrical Trailer

• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Vladimir Zimakov

The Haunted Palace

ONE BECOMES ACCUSTOMED TO THE DARKNESS…

Although recognised as part of Roger Corman’s Edgar Allan Poe cycle (its title comes from a Poe poem), The Haunted Palace has a much more significant place in film history for being the first high-profile adaptation of the work of H.P. Lovecraft, in this case his novella The Case of Charles Dexter Ward.

Ward is one of two characters played by Vincent Price, the other being Ward’s great-great-grandfather Joseph Curwen, burned as a warlock 110 years before. When Ward returns to the village of Arkham to reclaim the family mansion, his striking resemblance to his ancestor is just the first of many macabre events that proceed to unfold, including the screen debut of Lovecraft’s legendary Necronomicon.

As before, Corman and his team worked wonders with their modest budget, with Daniel Haller’s sets amongst the most elaborate in all the Poe cycle, enhanced by genuinely creepy moments such as the crowd of deformed villagers still living under Curwen’s curse.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the feature, transferred from original film elements by MGM Original uncompressed Mono PCM Audio

• Optional isolated music and effects track

• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

• Audio commentary by Vincent Price’s biographer David Del Valle and writer Derek Botelho

• Kim Newman on H.P. Lovecraft, a look at the relationship between Lovecraft and the cinema, and the challenges of adapting his work

• A Change of Poe, an interview with Roger Corman

• Stills and Poster Gallery

• Original Theatrical Trailer

• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Matthew Griffin

The Tomb of Ligeia

THE EYES, THEY CONFOUND ME!

For the last of his cycle of Edgar Allan Poe adaptations, Roger Corman asked screenwriter Robert Towne (Chinatown) to turn Poe’s story ‘Ligeia’ into another vehicle for Vincent Price, who once again plays a man so haunted by his past that he is unable to function in the present.

In this case the past comes in the form of his now-deceased first wife Ligeia, who casts a long shadow over an ill-advised second marriage to a woman who resembles her (Elizabeth Shepherd), particularly when he becomes convinced that Ligeia’s spirit is returning to him in the form of a black cat. But is this actually a delusion on his part?

Although the doom-laden narrative and Price’s tormented performance had become well established ingredients in the Corman Poe cycle, the film looks strikingly different from the earlier films, with much of it taking place in broad daylight, and shot in actual English locations (notably Stonehenge and Norfolk’s Castle Acre Priory) instead of Hollywood sets.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

•  High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the feature, transferred from original film elements by MGM

• Original uncompressed Mono PCM Audio

• Optional isolated music and effects track

• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

• Audio commentary by director and producer Roger Corman

• Audio commentary by star Elizabeth Shepherd

•  All-new interviews with crew members including cowriter/ production assistant Paul Mayersberg, first assistant director David Tringham, clapper loader Bob Jordan and composer Kenneth V. Jones

• Original Theatrical Trailer

• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by the Twins of Evil

Details

Release Date                                     Monday 8th December 2014

Certificate                                           12

Formats                                               Blu-ray

Language                                             English (English SDH Subtitles)

Running Time                                    507 mins

Number of Discs                               2

Region                                                  B/2

Aspect Ratio                                       2.35:1

Audio                                                    Mono 2.0

Colour                                                   Colour

RRP                                                        £79.99

Cat Number                                       FCD1025