Rish Outfield's reviews
I think Mr. Corman gets a bad rap--from me as much as anybody else--as a hack who made bad movie knock-offs with no budgets. But this is a well-made, quality movie that just happens to have a low-budget.
This was Corman's first Poe adaptation for American International Pictures--the Drive-In movie studio. According to legend, one of my childhood friend's dads worked on this picture. In it, good-looking hero-type Philip comes to the Usher family house/castle/mansion to check up on his estranged fiancee Madeline and finds her in a strange half-sick, half-crazy condition only exacerbated by her unbelievably possessive brother Roderick. He starts to think more is going on than just . . . well, the obvious confusing situation.
It has a really classy feel from the opening seconds on--bright colors, foggy soundstage work, just great stuff. This was all shot in one location, with only four characters--but it doesn't look cheap. It has nice sets and atmosphere, with the constant fog and no trace of the sun. The story is very accessible. To me, it hardly feels dated at all, probably because it was a period piece. The semi-formal dialogue is also nice and helps the film. A long dream sequence was obviously filler, but it was colourful filler. I also thought the performances were good. The main actor (Mark Damon) is likeable, clad in purple. Madeline is obsessed with death. The scene where Roderick recounts the acts of infamous Ushers is really good. Vincent Price is the best. But is he mad? Evil? Overprotective? Correct?
It is well documented that E.A.Poe was obsessively afraid of being interred alive, and that theme is explored in this film (and a hell of a lot of others). It's obvious why: the possibility of premature burial is terrifying. I used to have dreams that I was buried alive, and dude, that SUCKS. The payoff of mad Madeline is a letdown, unfortunately. It's not a bad film, though the ending left something to be desired. The big question is--What was the Threat? One of the things that works about the film is that it is never completely proven whether Roderick Usher is insane, or whether the house truly is evil. So, as a reviewer, I have to make a choice--was the house a cursed place or was it him? You as a viewer get to choose what to believe also, but I, for want of not putting another Threat as Psychopath, chose to believe in the Evil.
Dialogue To Remember: Philip, feeding his fiancee: "Madeline, I'll have no scrawny woman in my home, now open up!"

Total Skulls: 10

Sequel
Sequel setup
Rips off earlier film
Horror film showing on TV/in theater in movie
Future celebrity appears
Former celebrity appears
Bad title
Bad premise
Bad acting
Bad dialogue
Bad execution
MTV Editing
OTS
Girl unnecessarily gets naked
Wanton sex
Death associated with sex
Unfulfilled promise of nudity
Characters forget about threat
Secluded location
Power is cut
Phone lines are cut
Someone investigates a strange noise
Someone runs up stairs instead of going out front door
Camera is the killer
Victims cower in front of a window/door
Victim locks self in with killer
Victim running from killer inexplicably falls
Toilet stall scene
Shower/bath scene
Car stalls or won't start
Cat jumps out
Fake scare
Laughable scare
Stupid discovery of corpse
Dream sequence
Hallucination/Vision
No one believes only witness
Crazy, drunk, old man knows the truth
Warning goes unheeded
Music detracts from scene
Death in first five minutes
x years before/later
Flashback sequence
Dark and stormy night
Killer doesn't stay dead
Killer wears a mask
Killer is in closet
Killer is in car with victim
Villain is more sympathetic than heroes
Unscary villain/monster
Beheading
Blood fountain
Blood hits camera
Poor death effect
Excessive gore
No one dies at all
Virgin survives
Geek/Nerd survives
Little kid lamely survives
Dog/Pet miraculously survives
Unresolved subplots
"It was all a dream" ending
Unbelievably happy ending
Unbelievably crappy ending
What the hell?