Director: Roger Corman
Year: 1964
Country: USA/United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Supernatural
Plot:
Following her unexpected death, a lord, unable to bury his deceased wife for fear she is still alive, takes another woman into his good graces, only for events to unfurl that cause her to believe she has become possessed by her and is trying to right a wrong he committed against her.
Review:
This is an overrated film, but there's still some good stuff in here. As is usual with these films, the best part is the absolutely grand Gothic atmosphere here in the abbey location, which is really impressive. There's the fact that the film takes place in an actual ruined castle, which gives it a great feeling as the grandness of the location is a plus, allowing for some nice feeling with the washed- away stones, huge open spaces, and ornate furniture coming about through the candle-lit rooms that really make this stand out. There's also a really great castle as well, including a long series of really freaky hallways, filled with those ominous thunderstorms and atmosphere. This looks absolutely creepy and manages to get some fantastic imagery and atmosphere from it. The various scenes around the ruins, showing her adjusting to life with him and being pestered by the cat, as well as the chasing into the basement, which are fine Gothic set-pieces, as well as a really creepy and really great dream sequence, as it's not in normal time, and the surrealistic images and ideas presented in it make it stand out.
The other really big factor that works in here is its finale, which is just a fire-packed spectacle. The flaming ruins that comprise this one are just as grand as any other in the series, as the fire starts off small and soon ignites into a raging inferno, taking down entire columns of stone and walls that are ablaze in huge cascading walls of flames. What makes this one even more impressive is that there's some additional action thrown in with some fighting scenes, some chasing, and one of the best attempts to escape inside. Due to the large amount of falling flaming objects coming down, there are some thrilling moments due to all the close calls accumulated. Add in some nice jumps here and there and the odd creepy moment throughout, and this does have some great parts to it.
These make this one watchable, but it has an overrated feel to it. The plot here is the biggest flaw, as it shuffles around the basic elements of the rest of the previous films, including love from beyond the tomb, possession, the doom-and-gloom obsessed husband, the pretty, innocent bride driven around the bend by such obsessions, a neurotic and cowering lead that suffers from hyper- acuteness of a sense and everything going up in flames at the end, but the lack of much connecting logic to it all makes it feel like a fairly uninspired rehash. That feeling covers the entire film, making it seem like everything we've seen before is trotted out once again. The biggest flaw, though, is that the film takes forever to get going. This is a slow, slow film, and there's a real lack of action in here beyond an odd scene here and there. Otherwise, the only thing really constituting action would be the ending, leaving the beginning to feature a large amount of endless scenes that just go by without developing into anything. This is the film's biggest flaw, but beyond these two, the film isn't that bad.
Overview: ****/5
A tad overrated but still a good movie, this is a bit of a weaker entry to end the series on, but it features more than enough quality throughout here to be quite worthwhile and watchable overall. Those with an appreciation for this era of the genre, who enjoyed the other entries in the series, or who are fans of the creative crew, will have the most to like here, while most others might want to heed caution.
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