An alternate title add's "Edgar Allen Poe's" to the beginning of the title, though fans of Poe's stories will be a tad confused to say the least because these stories are only broadly inspired by his stories. For example, the tale BLACK CAT is actually created by morphing Poe's "The Black Cat" with "The Cask of Amontillado" and allowing the writers to add and hack away a lot of material. Unfortunately, American International Pictures (never a place of "high art") used the titles but often little more of Poe's stories for a batch of movies starring Vincent Price. Some of them are very watchable and good, but they usually have contempt for the original material--straying extremely far from the original in most cases. Often, the public thought they were seeing a Poe tale, but it was really an all-new story from start to finish.
Despite this, this is still a pretty good film--particularly the third tale of the trilogy. I would score them as follows: the story about Morella (4), The Black Cat (6) and The hypnosis segment (9). So, as you can see, the stories got progressively better. The one about Morella just didn't make much sense and was dull. The Black Cat was, for me, too comedic in tone to be anything other than ordinary. But, the segment starring Basil Rathbone and Vincent Price was exciting and the only negative was the gross and silly melting special effect. Many will like it, but I think it was a bit too much. As for the acting and production values, they were pretty good for an AIP movie. Nothing to get excited over, but for fans of horror, I am sure you won't be disappointed.
Despite this, this is still a pretty good film--particularly the third tale of the trilogy. I would score them as follows: the story about Morella (4), The Black Cat (6) and The hypnosis segment (9). So, as you can see, the stories got progressively better. The one about Morella just didn't make much sense and was dull. The Black Cat was, for me, too comedic in tone to be anything other than ordinary. But, the segment starring Basil Rathbone and Vincent Price was exciting and the only negative was the gross and silly melting special effect. Many will like it, but I think it was a bit too much. As for the acting and production values, they were pretty good for an AIP movie. Nothing to get excited over, but for fans of horror, I am sure you won't be disappointed.