THE HAUNTED PALACE [1963 / 2015] [Blu-ray] [UK Release]
What Was The Terrifying Thing in the PIT That Wanted Women!
Although recognised as part of Roger Corman’s Edgar Allan Poe cycle (its title comes from an Edgar Allan 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.”
Charles Dexter Ward is one of two characters played by Vincent Price, the other being Charles Dexter Ward’s great-great-grandfather Joseph Curwen, burned as a warlock 110 years before. When Charles Dexter Ward returns to the village of Arkham, Massachusetts, 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 H.P. Lovecraft’s legendary “Necronomicon.”
As before, Roger Corman and his team worked wonders with their modest budget, with Daniel Haller’s sets amongst the most elaborate in all the Edgar Allan Poe cycle, enhanced by genuinely creepy moments such as the crowd of deformed villagers still living under Joseph Curwen’s curse.
FILM FACT: The set for the village of Arkham, Massachusetts was quite small, and used forced perspective to appear larger. Both the front of the palace and the underground dungeon later appeared in Roger Corman's film ‘The Terror’ [1963] which was shot on sets from other American International Pictures films. Francis Ford Coppola provided additional dialogue for the film. Clips from ‘THE HAUNTED PALACE’ are among the stock footage from various Roger Corman features used for the Vincent Price film ‘Madhouse’ [1974], in which Vincent Price plays a horror film actor. The clips are presented as the early work of Vincent Price's character. This was Roger Corman's first film to use the then new zoom lens, which created issues as more light then normal had to be used on the set.
Cast: Vincent Price, Debra Paget, Lon Chaney Jr., Frank Maxwell, Leo Gordon, Elisha Cook Jr., John Dierkes, Milton Parsons, Cathie Merchant, Guy Wilkerson, I. Stanford Jolley, Harry Ellerbe, Barboura Morris, Darlene Lucht, Bruno VeSota and Jack Tornek (uncredited)
Director: Roger Corman
Producers: James H. Nicholson, Roger Corman, Ronald Sinclair and Samuel Z. Arkoff
Screenplay: Charles Beaumont (screenplay), Edgar Allan Poe (poem) H. P. Lovecraft (novel "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward") and Francis Ford Coppola (additional dialogue) (uncredited)
Composer: Ronald Stein
Cinematography: Floyd Crosby, A.S.C. (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p (Pathécolor)
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 (Panavision)
Audio: English: 1.0 LPCM Mono Audio,
Music and Sound Effects: 1.0 LPCM Mono Audio
English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English SDH
Running Time: 87 minutes
Region: Region B/2
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer / American International Pictures / Arrow Video
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: Although a few lines from Edgar Allan Poe's 1839 mood poem "The Haunted Palace" are heard being read by Vincent Price near the ending credits, there is no justifiable reason that American International Pictures could advertise this film as "Edgar Allan Poe's The Haunted Palace" because the story comes from another prolific American author of the macabre, H.P. Lovecraft. Producer/Director Roger Corman felt the need to change gears a bit and adapt the H.P. Lovecraft story entitled “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward.” Roger Corman later said that American International Pictures was "...having me have a little bit of freedom to move from Edgar Allan Poe to H.P. Lovecraft in-between the periods were about the same and it looked a little bit like a Edgar Allan Poe picture" but he later suspected that "I think they had planned to turn a H.P. Lovecraft story into a Edgar Allan Poe story all along."
In the film ‘THE HAUNTED PALACE’ [1963] Vincent Price is perfectly cast in a dual role as the fiendish warlock, Joseph Curwen and his descendent, the one and only Charles Dexter Ward. Nearly two hundred years prior, an angry mob of New England townsfolk burned Joseph Curwen to death as a means of stopping the strange diabolical man from practicing sorcery in a little town called Arkham in Massachusetts.
In the small New England town of Arkham, the townspeople discover Joseph Curwen [Vincent Price] has taken a local girl and is preparing to use her in blasphemous rituals to interbreed humans with the Elder Gods, something that will allow the Gods to have dominion over the Earth again. Joseph Curwen is dragged out and burnt at the stake. Joseph Curwen dies cursing the locals, saying that he will return to haunt their children’s children. 110 years later and Joseph Curwen’s descendant Charles Dexter Ward [Vincent Price] and his wife Ann Ward [Debra Paget] arrive in Arkham to inherit the Joseph Curwen mansion but are afforded a frosty welcome by the locals. In the mansion, the weak Dexter Ward’s mind is taken over by the evil spirit of Joseph Curwen, emanating from a portrait over the mantle. Using Dexter Ward, Joseph Curwen again sets about his blasphemous mission again, while taking revenge on the descendants of those that burned Joseph Curwen.
Young girls used to disappear in the middle of the night and end up in Curwen’s castle on the hill. The men of Arkham were going to have none of that. Not on their watch. There was even talk that Joseph Curwen was capturing them in order to breed their beautiful girls with a hideous monster, all in order to create a superhuman master race.
‘THE HAUNTED PALACE’ is often taken as one of the series of Edgar Allan Poe adaptations that Roger Corman made during the 1960s. While the film was billed as ‘Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘THE HAUNTED PALACE’ and has most of the production personnel behind all of Roger Corman’s other Edgar Allan Poe films, it is in fact based upon a novella by H.P. Lovecraft.
The Roger Corman production team are on very good form and there is a fine menacing atmosphere from the composers Ronald Stein film score. The brilliant Cinematographer by Floyd Crosby and production designer Daniel Haller make particularly good usage of drowned-out colour contrasts, especially with the house in muted browns, the town in greys, being strikingly lit up by the occasional flash of a red gown. The sets that were built by Daniel Haller so that Floyd Crosby can with great effect crank the camera right up to the ceiling over the sacrificial altar, or breathtakingly pan through the cavernous hallway of the house are totally excellent. There is a total classical elegance to Roger Corman’s direction and like the strangely ritualistic scene in the streets where the mutants surround Vincent Price and Debra Paget and move off at the tolling of a bell; or a sadistically nasty scene where Vincent Price douses Elisha Cook in fuel and then coldly tosses a match at him. Vincent Price overdoes his familiar creepy cringing thing as Dexter Ward, but the sinister smile as Joseph Curwen takes over has potency personality. What ‘THE HAUNTED PALACE’ principally lacks though is something to do once it has gotten its warlock back to life, thereafter only circling around cliché warlock’s revenge and sacrificial virgin plots.
The painting of Joseph Curwen both spellbinds and disturbs Dexter Ward, and in short order he is acting quite strangely, as the spirit of the damned warlock begins seizing control of his body for extended periods of time. Unbeknownst to Anne Ward, Joseph Curwen as Dexter Ward meets secretly in the bowels of the palace with Simon and another sickly-complexioned retainer, Jabez [Milton Parsons]. The diabolical trio labour to not only resurrect Joseph Curwen’s exhumed mistress Hester [Cathie Merchant], but also to complete the twisted ritual that was interrupted over a century ago by the little matter of the sorcerer’s lynching. The logistics of this rite are a bit unclear, but it culminates in the offering of a living woman to an abomination dwelling in a pit beneath the palace. Meanwhile, Joseph Curwen finds himself distracted by the fleshy opportunities afforded by his Dexter Ward guise, not to mention by his longing for a blazing revenge against his murderers’ families. There is also a somewhat neglected subplot about the strange deformities have proliferated in Arkham; in particular, Ezra Weeden’s descendent Edgar Weeden [Leo Gordon] is imprisoning the “Thing” that seems to be his own feral, misshapen child.
Vincent Price gives us a totally bravura performance in ‘THE HAUNTED PALACE,’ especially in the dual role, although the well-shaded takeover of the gentlemanly Charles Dexter Ward by his evil ancestor is somewhat undercut by too much ghoulishly-tinted facial greasepaint. Vincent Price was interviewed in 1987 by David Del Valle, and Vincent spoke well of ‘THE HAUNTED PALACE’ saying, "It wasn't bad. It was a good idea and a good film. I don't know why they just couldn't have left the H.P. Lovecraft title to it." For fans of classic horror, ‘THE HAUNTED PALACE’ offers a unique pairing of two of the great horror film icons Vincent Price and Lon Chaney, Jr., Vincent Price later said that "Lon Chaney Jr. was very ill at that time. I had admired him and always wanted to meet him. He was not very happy or very well, and I really didn't get to know him well. I spent a lot of time trying to talk to him and make him cheer up, but I couldn't do it. He was sick."
Vincent Price enjoys his double role, though the use of coloured make-up and lighting are at odds with his efforts at transformation through acting alone. Daniel Haller's huge dungeon set is the bigger star in the film, with its towering wooden staircase and impressive sacrificial pyramid. Debra Paget plays Vincent Price's wife as a very plucky actress, that Debra Paget adds a natural personality and humour throughout the film and give a very convincing disbelief in the supernatural in the early part of the story. Lon Chaney Jr, is in one of his last decent roles, plays a likeable handyman, but because his face is inexplicably green, and lit from below, the others are supposed to be frightened, but he’s just being used as a stereotype “monster man,” in the tradition of the original “monster man” who was of course his brilliant consummate professional father Lon Chaney.
American International Pictures not only used Edgar Allan Poe's name in the advertising for ‘THE HAUNTED PALACE,’ they also had a tag line that alluded to an earlier Edgar Allan Poe and Vincent Price hit: "What was the terrifying thing in the PIT that wanted women?" It was rather short-sighted of American International Pictures; instead of touting Edgar Allan Poe, they could have opened up a new avenue of exploitation by emphasising H.P. Lovecraft. The new element is that of the weird occult science of “Necromancy” (aka Black Magic) and its practitioners. It is this black magic that is exercised by warlocks and how an entire village is affected by one of the most horrible curses ever depicted in motion picture which is the basis of the H.P. Lovecraft story entitled “The Haunted Palace” and is brilliant and properly credited in the publicity in promoting this as a Roger Corman film.
What evil schemes does the resurrected spirit of Joseph Curwen have in mind? Does he even work for himself or for the old gods, those malevolent spirits of yesterday just waiting to reclaim their earthly inheritance? ‘THE HAUNTED PALACE’ is a strange meeting of mysterious minds, a gothic horror film that pays homage to H.P. Lovecraft, but of course it is ultimately an entirely Roger Corman and Vincent Price creation, especially with the confidence of Roger Corman's camera work, and the splendid thundering Ronald Stein music score, the beauty of Debra Paget and the wily charm of Vincent Price, will always stay with me forever and I have to say, the film works brilliantly and it is definitely and always worthy entry in Roger Corman's long, creative prolific career.
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Blu-ray Image Quality – ‘THE HAUNTED PALACE’ is presented to us courtesy of Arrow Video, with as usual a very pleasant and rewarding 1080p Pathécolor image quality, and of course an equally impressive 2.35:1 Panavision aspect ratio presentation. For the 1839 period the film is represented in the colours are generally nicely saturated to give it that air of sinister evil goings on, and especially the flesh tones gives it that feeling that something evil is about to reveal itself. This is a solid looking presentation that Arrow Video always does a very professional job, that as always gives you some very nicely saturated reds and blues, with especially very good fine detail, especially with the mutant make-up literally shows up really well, as well as a very natural layer of fine grain and which also has a generally very well defined image. So all in all this is a brilliant presentation that will show off the film in the best way possible. Please Note: Playback Region B/2: This will not play on most Blu-ray players sold in North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Learn more about Blu-ray region specifications.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – Once again Arrow Video features a totally brilliant original English: 1.0 LPCM Mono Audio, and English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo for the Blu-ray Special Features and Extras, plus: Music and Sound Effects: 1.0 LPCM Mono Audio especially with the gothic horror composed music film score by Ronald Stein throughout the film, which is very noticeable with the opening credits sequence that really sets the scene for this very spooky film, which gives us an offering of excellent fidelity and some very nice dynamic range of audio experiences.
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Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
High Definition Blu-ray 1080p HD presentation of the feature, transferred from original film elements by M-G-M
Original uncompressed 1.0 LPCM Mono Audio
Optional uncompressed 1.0 LPCM Mono Audio Isolated Music and Effects track
Audio Commentary by Vincent Price’s biographer David Del Valle and writer Derek Botelho: Just at the start of the film with the American International Pictures intro, David Del Valle and Derek Botelho introduce themselves. But before they get into the audio commentary, David Del Valle informs us that this is his favourite Vincent Price film. David Del Valle also informs us that this film is really a H.P. Lovecraft horror gothic film and at the time of the film’s release, not a lot of people knew about the gothic horror novelist H.P. Lovecraft. But of course since these Roger Corman films got released, more and more people got to hear about H.P. Lovecraft and especially searching out all of his novels, they got more knowledgeable about this author, but sadly at the time of people’s interest in H.P. Lovecraft, he did not see the success as sadly he passed away in 1937 at a very young age. As we really get into the film, David Del Valle informs us that this audio commentary should be dedicated to the actress Cathie Merchant, who only plays a small part in the film as the character Hester Tillinghast, who was a very close friend of David Del Valle, especially right up to her demise later on in her life. When you get to see Vincent Price tied to the tree and burnt alive, David Del Valle talks about all the other great characters that appear in that scene and throughout the film. Both David Del Valle and Derek Botelho talk about the H.P. Lovecraft films that were subsequently were made by the Italian Film Industry and were puzzled why the Italians loved H.P. Lovecraft so much and both David Del Valle and Derek Botelho talk fondly about the actor Leo Gordon who plays Edgar Weeden and Ezra Weeden in the film, who you see getting very irate in the Tavern, well we are informed that Leo Gordon was a great screenwriter and was involved in the film ‘THE TERROR’ [1963] and ‘Attack of the Giant Leeches’ [1959] and again is always a great character actor who was also involved with a great deal of Western films. When you see Vincent Price and Debra Paget first enter the Palace and walk up to the painting, although it is supposed to be Vincent Price’s ancestor, they mention that it looked more like the artist Vincent van Gogh. Both David Del Valle and Derek Botelho again talk about the late great actor Lon Chaney Jr. who makes some brief appearances in the film and they talk about the demise of this actor due to fact he was an alcoholic and after film ‘THE HAUNTED PALACE’ Lon Chaney Jr. went to work on a Henry Fonda’s Western film and at the end party Lon Chaney Jr. would not come out of his dressing room as he had sunk too much booze and when he looked in the mirror he looked totally distraught on how aged he looked and could not face the other actors. David Del Valle and Derek Botelho talk about the censorship problems that Roger Corman had when making his films at the time, because he had to make his films that were for the general public, but of course if they were made for today’s modern audience he would had much more explicit sexual scenes. Because of a previous upset between Roger Corman and Pathécolor, with the credits at the start of the film, Francis Ford Coppola’s name is spelt wrong. Another interesting information we hear about Vincent Price, is that when he made ‘THE HAUNTED PALACE’ he took an upfront fee of $60,000, but insisted on also taking a percentage of the profit and because of this he made a $1,000,000, but with Debra Paget, the actress decided to only take a fee of $60,000. David and Derek pay a great tribute to the artistic set designer, especially the scenes in the dungeon and David Del Valle mentions the big Aztec symbol you see on the wall behind Vincent Price when they open the coffin, which was also used in the film ‘Die, Monster Die!’ [1965] and ‘The Dunwich Horror’ [1970]. David also informs us that when he was 13 years of age he sent a fan letter to August Derleth who was an American writer and anthologist, who actually knew H.P. Lovecraft personally, and so David received a Telegram from August Derleth asking David Del Valle to visit him in Sauk City, Wisconsin where he lived and was also the place where the publishers Arkham House was situated and when David Del Valle arrived in a Silver Cloud Rolls Royce and inside it was August Derleth and offered to take David Del Valle to the publishers Arkham House, but David Del Valle ’s Mum was suspicious, but David Del Valle would have none of it and gleefully went with August Derleth in his Silver Cloud Rolls Royce and said August Derleth a really nice person and a very gentle soul. David Del Valle and Derek Botelho talk about the director Roger Corman and all the Edgar Allan Poe films he has done, and mentions a comment by Vincent Price, where his quoted as saying, “Roger Corman loves a good blaze and is also a fire bug.” Both David Del Valle and Derek Botelho point out that the film has a very dark edge to it and also a very sinister ending, especially just before the credits start to scroll up the screen, when Vincent Price turns round to look at the camera as the character of Charles Dexter Ward, where evil has triumphed, especially like the ending of ‘Rosemary Baby’ [1968]. All in all this audio commentary is very informative, and especially informing us the love of the film ‘THE HAUNTED PALACE,’ despite its many flaws throughout the film, it was still an enjoyable audio commentary, as both David Del Valle and Derek Botelho are very knowledgeable people and loved all the in-depth anecdotes we get to hear.
Special Feature: Kim Newman on H.P. Lovecraft [2014] [1080p] [1.85:1] [27:58] Critic and Novelist Kim Newman considers the relationship between H.P. Lovecraft and the Cinema, as well as the challenges faced when adapting his work. Here we find Kim Newman, with his ridiculous and old fashioned long hair, in his home talking about the gothic horror author H.P. Lovecraft and the connection with the film ‘THE HAUNTED PALACE’ and its link with the director Roger Corman. Kim talks about early Roger Corman films like ‘THE INTRUDER’ which was original novel by Charles Beaumont, which sadly was not a box office hit, which also lost a lot of money, which Roger Corman always disputes. With the film ‘THE HAUNTED PALACE’ was basically a poem by Edgar Allan Poe and has no real narrative, but has lots of atmosphere, but to expand on the poem Roger Corman had to look for another source to incorporate into expanding film ‘THE HAUNTED PALACE’ and out of the blue Roger Corman was drawn to the H.P. Lovecraft novel entitled “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward” to help expand the poem by Edgar Allan Poe to make the film ‘THE HAUNTED PALACE’ that was released in 1963. We find out from Kim that H.P. Lovecraft was a very strange person, who a lot of people who did not know what to make of him at the time, sadly he passed away at an early age to not find out there were massive fans of his gothic horror stories, so much so, friends and fans decided to produce the Arkham House Publishers, Inc. so to keep all of his works in print, and between the 1960’s and the 1970s that is when the zenith of H.P. Lovecraft work began great success, when especially they reprinted his books with psychedelic covers. Kim Newman talks in great detail all about H.P. Lovecraft’s monsters that are mentioned in all of his novels, which are not really shown properly in the H.P. Lovecraft adapted films, even with the film ‘THE UKNOWN’ they had to give the creature a name, which is never ever given a name in any of the H.P. Lovecraft gothic horror novels. It is also pointed out that whenever an H.P. Lovecraft hideous creatures are illustrated in the books they always look like demented sea creatures, and that is why H.P. Lovecraft always wanted to go literally beyond horror into a realm of something else and not to specify what that something is and that is why people who bring out gothic horror novels want to try to emulate H.P. Lovecraft novels. Kim new man then talks about the author Robert Bloch, who as we know was an American fiction writer, primarily of crime, horror, fantasy and science fiction, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who also liked to bring all his work in the style of H.P. Lovecraft novels and Kim feels there is enough material out there to bring about a revival of H.P. Lovecraft type films for a modern audiences and especially the genre of Roger Corman films and ‘THE HAUNTED PALACE.’ Kim gets around to talking about other film directors who have tried to adapt to turning H.P. Lovecraft novels into films and Kim points out a few examples like ‘The Shuttered Room’ [1967] and ‘The Crimson Altar’ [1968], but after that the H.P. Lovecraft type of genre films faded into obscurity and people started to make gothic horror films in another direction. But one bit of interesting information we hear about is that the film ‘GHOSTBUSTER’ had a very big influence of H.P. Lovecraft, but the inclusion of Doe Man was just a joke. But just lately Kim tells us that people have tried to bring H.P. Lovecraft style of films up to date with the likes of Guillermo del Toro and his films like ‘HELLBOY’ and especially ‘The Mountains of Madness’ [2014] and does not quite come off like the style of a Roger Corman film. But there was one successful H.P. Lovecraft style of film entitled ‘The Call of Cthulhu’ [2005] which was a silent film that really captured the style of a H.P. Lovecraft gothic horror novel. But Kim Newman then talks about Stuart Gordon who is an American director, writer and producer of films and plays who tried to bring H.P. Lovecraft style of film into modern times with films like ‘Re-Animator,’ ‘From Beyond, Castle Freak’ and ‘Dreams in the Witch-House,’ which did quite well, but they were not really true H.P. Lovecraft style of gothic horror films, because Stuart Gordon wanted to spice up his films by adding really kinky sex scenes, thinking the fans of these films would think they were really H.P. Lovecraft style of gothic horror films. But Kim Newman rattles of loads of titles of films that are supposed to be modern day gothic horror films, which there was far too many to mention here that were supposed to be in the genre style of H.P. Lovecraft, but feels sadly they failed to deliver and sort of satisfaction like the Roger Corman films. Kim Newman does mention particular genre gothic horror films that is in keeping with the genre of a H.P. Lovecraft style of gothic horror film and that is a YouTube Video Film entitled ‘It Is Beginning To Look Like Fish Men.’ And so ends a really fascinating and interesting look into the world of H.P. Lovecraft and Roger Corman and how the two of them influenced a whole generation of fans of these two iconic people and Kim Newman certainly knows his stuff and is well worth a view.
Special Feature: A Change of Poe [2003] [480i] [1.37:1] [11:16] Roger Corman discusses the making of ‘THE HAUNTED PALACE’ in an interview conducted in 2003. Here we get to see a very nice rare personal interview with the director Roger Corman, especially telling us that it was a strange experience filming ‘THE HAUNTED PALACE,’ and especially how the film came to brought about, especially with the help of American International Pictures, who were keen to make more Edgar Allan Poe films, especially directed by Roger Corman, who American International Pictures also asked Roger Corman to also incorporate the gothic horror novels of H.P. Lovecraft to enhance the film genre of the Gothic Horror scenario and so American International Pictures agreed with Roger Corman to go ahead with the project, but as always they were not keen to throw a lot of money towards the making of the film ‘THE HAUNTED PALACE,’ but at the same time they gave Roger Corman total freedom to make the film how he wanted to make it, as long as it was a combination of the Edgar Allan Poe poem and the H.P. Lovecraft novel "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward." Roger Corman informs us that initially the films main bulk of the film was the H.P. Lovecraft novel, because the Edgar Allan Poe poem was of very few words. At the same time he brought in the novelist Charles Beaumont as the main screenwriter, who had worked with Roger Corman on several other film projects and wondered how they could adapt the novel so it could be filmed and so Roger Corman suggested that several other novels by H.P. Lovecraft could be incorporated as well, to give the film much more depth and substance. But because Charles Beaumont moved onto other projects like the “Twilight Zone” TV series, because Roger Corman wanted to do some major script changes and so he brought in his old friend Francis Ford Coppola who as you know is normally known as an American film director to help Roger Corman out, especially as Francis is very hands on in helping out the actors which he especially did on this film and because Francis Ford Coppola was brought in, the film started to go in a different direction from its initial conception. Roger Corman also informs us that he wanted this film to have a much more realistic starker look with the lighting, to give it a much more realistic look of an Edgar Allan Poe film. As to the actor Vincent Price, Roger Corman really praises and says what a brilliant consummate professional actor he is, especially in all Roger Corman films, as he is a joy to work with, because Vincent price always took his parts in the films very seriously and it always helped because with most of Roger Corman films, it usually was a 15 days shoot and especially with this film. Roger Corman also informs us that he was always keen to have Lon Chaney Jr. in this film from the outset and of course Lon Chaney Jr. was equally keen to appear in this film and Roger Corman was more than pleased with his performance in the film. Roger Corman also had great praise for the brilliant composer Ronald Stein, who Roger felt he had done his best work composing the music for this film. Roger Corman also had great praise for the Make-up Artist Ted Coodley and was equally impressed on producing brilliant make-up effects on a very tight budget, and again was keen to have Ted Coodley as he has always worked on the other Roger Corman films. Roger Corman also gave a massive praise to the Art Director Daniel Haller who Roger felt worked total miracles again on a tight budget and of course Roger Corman was more than happy with results that looks so impressive on the film and of course the film ‘THE HAUNTED PALACE’ went onto to be a massive box office success and also made American International Pictures a great deal of money in the process with its massive success. And so there ends another really fascinating special feature, especially with the intimate interview of Roger Corman and especially with him talking extensively about the process that went into making ‘THE HAUNTED PALACE’ and well worth viewing. By the way, this was an M-G-M Home Entertainment Production.
Special Feature: Stills and Poster Gallery [2014] [1080p] [1.78:1] [0:30] Here we get to view 30 rare Publicity Posters and also lots of beautiful stunning Colour and Black-and-White Publicity Images of the principal actors in the film. To view all of the images, you have to keep pressing the right hand NEXT button on your remote control.
Theatrical Trailer [1963] [1080i] [2.35:1] [2:12] This is the Original Theatrical Trailer for the film ‘THE HAUNTED PALACE,’ that gives a great spooky presentation that really sets the scene for this glorious gothic horror film.
PLUS: Special Printed Reversible Blu-ray disc sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned illustration artwork by Matthew Griffin, who is an Irish illustrator and writer based in the town of Ennis, County Clare in the Republic of Ireland.
BONUS: Beautiful Printed Collector’s 24 page booklet containing new writing on the film by Roger Luckhurst entitled “STRANGE ECHOES AND FEVERED REPETITION.” It also contains sections on “ABOUT THE TRANSFER;” PRODUCTION CREDITS” and “SPECIAL THANKS.” It also contains some brilliant drawn colourful illustrations and a bonus of numerous original rare colour archive stills.
Finally, ‘THE HAUNTED PALACE’ reminds us that horror need not be gruesome or over the top, that it can be also at the same time done tongue in cheek, and especially with a wink to the audience, all the while raising issues about the ethics of science and, in this case, eugenics. This is a wonderful gothic horror film that is full of great spooky moments, especially Vincent Price's and is a definite a must have brilliant Blu-ray Disc, and especially by the equally brilliant professional Arrow Video Blu-ray Collection. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
