Edgar Allan Poe

A man's obsession with his dead wife drives a wedge between him and his new bride. Some years after having buried his beloved wife Ligea, Verden Fell meets and eventually marries the lovely Lady Rowena. Fell is something of a recluse, living in a small part of a now ruined Abbey with his manservant Kenrick as the only other occupant. He remains infatuated with his late wife and is convinced that she will return to him. While all goes well when first married, he returns to his odd behavior when they return to the Abbey from their honeymoon. The memories of Ligea continue to haunt him as well as her promise that she would never die. —garykmcd Erudite recluse Verden Fell is truck by a meeting with lady Rowena, daughter of country lord Trevanion, who reminds him of his late wife, Ligeia, both being somehow associated with a black cat and the wild fox the lord loves hunting. They fall in love, marry and resolve he leave the ruined abbey where he buried Ligeia. However Rowena's devoted gentleman friend Christopher Gough discovers it cannot be sold as Ligeia was never declared legally dead, making Rowena's marriage involuntarily bigamous. After a hypnotic session shows Ligeia possesses Rowena, strange things keep happening. Verden relapses in gloom and seclusion, but Christopher gets his loyal old manservant Kenrick to assist in an exhumation. In the abbey, things turn to a spectacular, dramatical conclusion for all concerned, yet not quite. —KGF Vissers A nobleman always dresses in black and is obsessed with his dead wife. He believes his new wife has been possessed by his dead wife's evil spirit. —frankfob2@yahoo.com

A magician, who has been turned into a raven, turns to a former sorcerer for help. In this tongue-in-cheek movie inspired by Poe's poem, Dr. Craven is the son of a great sorcerer (now dead) who was once himself quite skilled at that profession, but has since abandoned it. One evening, a cowardly fool of a magician named Bedlo comes to Craven for help - the evil Scarabus has turned him into a raven and he needs someone to change him back. He also tells the reluctant wizard that Craven's long-lost wife Lenore, whom he loved greatly and thought dead, is living with the despised Scarabus. —Ken Yousten <kyousten@bev.net> The magician Dr. Erasmus Craven, who does not belong to the brotherhood of magicians, grieves the loss of his beloved wife Lenore and lives in a castle with his daughter Estelle. One day, a raven knocks on his window and Dr. Craven learns that the bird is actually the magician Dr. Adolphus Bedlo that was turned into a raven after challenging the powerful magician Dr. Scarabus that was an enemy of his father. Dr. Craven makes a potion to turn Dr. Bedlo back to the human form and Dr. Bedlo tells that he has seen Lenore in the castle of Dr. Scarabus. Dr. Craven decides to go in his coach with Dr. Bedlo to visit Dr. Scarabus, and Estella and Dr. Bedlo's son, Rexford, decide to go with them. They find an amicable Dr. Scarabus who invites them to stay for the night. Was Dr. Craven's father wrong about Dr. Scarabus? —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Three tales of terror involve a grieving widower and the daughter he abandoned; a drunkard and his wife's black cat; and a hypnotist who prolongs the moment of a man's death. Three stories adapted from the work of Edgar Allen Poe. A man and his daughter are reunited, but the blame for the death of his wife hangs over them, unresolved. A derelict challenges the local wine-tasting champion to a competition, but finds the man's attention to his wife worthy of more dramatic action. A man dying and in great pain agrees to be hypnotized at the moment of death, with unexpected consequences. —David Carroll <davidc@atom.ansto.gov.au> "Tales of Terror" presents three adaptations of good stories by Edgar Allan Poe directed by Roger Corman. (1) "Morella": The twenty and something years old Lenora returns to the derelict house of her estranged father Locke. Her mother Morella died after giving birth to Lenora and Locke still grieves and blames Lenora for the death of his beloved wife. Lenora finds the corpse of Morella on her bed and Locke tells that he could not leave her in a coffin six feet under. Locke tries to make amends for abandoning Lenora but something supernatural happens. (2) "The Black Cat": The drunkard Montresor is an abusive man that spends the money that his wife Annabel earns working drinking wine in a tavern. He also mistreats her black cat. One day, Montresor meets the connoisseur of fine wines Fortunato Luchresi and he disputes his knowledge with him. Fortunato brings Montresor home and woos Annabel. When Montresor discovers that his wife is having a love affair with Fortunato, he plots an evil scheme to seek revenge. (3) "The Case of M. Valdemar": The wealthy Ernest Valdemar is terminal feeling great pain. He hires the hypnotizer Carmichael to relief his pain and asks his beloved wife Helene and his Dr. James to get married to each other after his death. However Carmichael controls his mind and Valdemar dies but his soul stays trapped in his body. Carmichael tells Helene that he let Valdemar go only if she marries him but his attitude brings tragic consequences. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Based on Edgar Allan Poe's story about a cataleptic Englishman obsessed with the fear of being buried alive. Emily Gault arrives at the Carrell mansion determined to rekindle an old relationship with Guy Carrell, despite the disapproval of his sister, Kate. Guy overcomes his all-consuming fear of being buried alive long enough to marry Emily but soon becomes obsessed again, building a crypt designed to guarantee that he will not fall prey to his most dreaded nightmare. Trying to prove that he has been cured of his phobia, he opens his father's tomb and is shocked into a catatonic state. His worst fears are realized as he is lowered into a grave and covered over, apparently never to learn that the treachery of someone very dear to him was directly responsible for his predicament. —Doug Sederberg <vornoff@sonic.net> The wealthy cataleptic painter Guy Carrell believes that he overheard his father, who also had catalepsy, crying in the crypt of his family when he was a kid and is obsessed by the fear of being buried alive. He leaves his fiancée Emily Gault and lives alone with his sister Kate Carrell in the family manor. However Emily seeks him out and convinces Guy to marry her, despite the disapproval of Kate, promising that she would never bury him without the certainty of his death by her friend, Dr. Miles Archer, and her father Dr. Gideon Gault. After the wedding, Guy does not travel in honeymoon to Venice, as he had promised to Emily, and builds a crypt with safety devices to avoid that he is trapped alive inside. However Emily and Miles convince him to demolish the building. Guy has nightmares and visions with the gravediggers and weird events happen in the mansion. He decides to prove that is cured of his fear and opens his father grave, but someone has moved his skeleton and Guy is diagnosed of heart attack. However he is catatonic indeed and is buried alive as he has always feared. Will be the end of Guy? Who might have caused the shock on Guy? —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

In the sixteenth century, Francis Barnard travels to Spain to clarify the strange circumstances of his sister's death after she had married the son of a cruel Spanish Inquisitor. Francis Barnard goes to Spain, when he hears his sister Elizabeth has died. Her husband Nicholas Medina, the son of the brutest torturer of the Spanish Inquisition, tells him she has died of a blood disease, but Francis finds this hard to believe. After some investigating he finds out that it was extreme fear that was fatal to his sister and that she may have been buried alive! Strange things then start to happen in the Medina castle. —Leon Wolters <wolters@strw.LeidenUniv.nl> After the mysterious death of Elizabeth Barnard Medina, her brother Francis Barnard travels from London to Spain and without previous notice he arrives at the castle of her husband Nicholas Medina. He is received by Nicholas' sister Catherine Medina that invites Francis to have dinner with her brother and her. Francis learns that their father Sebastian Medina was a cruel torturer of the Spanish Inquisition and Nicholas is a traumatized man that has witnessed the murder of his uncle Bartolome and his mother adulterer Isabella being tortured and killed by his father when he was a kid. During the dinner, the family's friend Doctor Charles Leon unexpectedly arrives and Francis discovers that his sister died of heart attack after visiting the torture chamber in the dungeons. Soon the place is haunted by strange events and Nicholas suspects of his servants Maximillian and Maria but Francis is convinced that Nicholas is the responsible for the death of his sister. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Francis Barnard visits the castle of Nicholas Medina, his late sister's husband, to pay his respects and find out how she died. The castle was used to torture victims during the Spanish Inquisition and that feeling of terror remains within parts of the castle. It appears that the spirit of his sister is haunting the castle. —grantss When his sister Elizabeth dies suddenly, Francis Barnard visits his brother-in-law Don Medina to find out exactly what happened to her. Don Medina lives a lonely life since his wife's death. He loved her dearly and can't explain what she died of. Francis clearly isn't welcome and it is only Don Medina's sister Catherine that seems to have an interest him. As Francis and Catherine explore the events surrounding Elizabeth's death, Francis learns of Don Medina's horrific childhood experiences and discover an attempt to drive him mad. —garykmcd