Scene from Roger Corman’s Masque of the Red Death (1964)

One of the most entertaining film series of the 1960s consists of the eight Edgar Allan Poe titles directed by Roger Corman and, for the most part, starring Vincent Price. In order by year, these consist of:

• The House of Usher (1960)
• The Pit and the Pendulum (1961)
• The Premature Burial (1962) starring Ray Milland
• Tales of Terror (1962)
• The Raven (1963)
• The Haunted Palace (1963) actually based on H. P. Lovecraft
• The Masque of the Red Death (1964)
• The Tomb of Ligeia (1964)

All the films are very loosely based on Poe originals (except for The Haunted Pa;lace, which is very Poe-like). Last Wednesday, I sat through The Pit and the Pendulum, The Raven, and Masque of the Red Death on Turner Classic Movies’ tribute to Roger Corman, who died earlier this year.

Although some regard him as the ultimate schlockmeister, Corman knew how to make an entertaining film that came in on time and under budget. So what if they were not quite faithful to Poe’s (or Lovecraft’s) originals: They were fun to watch, even if we felt superior to them.

I remember some other likeable Corman classics like Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957), in which the eponymous monsters looked like a crumpled old knapsack, and Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961), in which the creature looked like an overgrown stuffed animal. The first named film is one of Martine’s all-time faves, such that she obtained a signed still from Beverly Garland, the star.

And yet at least two of the titles—The Raven and Masque of the Red Death—are, to my mind, two of the best American films produced in the 1960s.