The Tomb of Ligeia in '60s Horror and Sci-Fi Forum

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The Tomb of Ligeia

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Jonatwork		#81	[-]
Mar 24 11 5:00 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	TomWeaver999 wrote: A generation ago, we'd have called this the "Boy, does DRACULA [1931] suck, or what?" moment. Tom Weaver, One of my clients told me my taste in movies "sucks" because I didn't like TRANSFORMERS, so I think time is leaving me behind. And to answer the question you posted, yes, it does. “The more elaborate our means of communication, the less we communicate.” Joseph Priestley
Frank The Giant Bunny		#82	[-]
Mar 25 11 6:55 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	The new Transformers films, or the cartoon series?
Jonatwork		#83	[-]
Mar 25 11 7:17 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Frank The Giant Bunny, The first of the Michael Bay Transformer movies. Haven't seen any other form, though I can't imagine the cartoon series is some great work of art I've missed out on. “The more elaborate our means of communication, the less we communicate.” Joseph Priestley
DocMoreau		#84	[-]
Mar 25 11 12:44 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Jonatwork wrote: In my ongoing purchasing of the Midnite Movies series i finally got CONQUEROR WORM, which has been made out to be the CITIZEN KANE of 60's horror, and when it was over I thought, "That it? That's the movie everyone's been cheering about?" I felt the same way. Nothing about it really impressed me, it just seemed tepid to me. Dudley Do-Right and Snidely Whiplash stuff. >> H. R. Sauertieg Get away from those cages! Facebook
Rick		#85	[-]
Mar 25 11 12:57 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I won't go as far as you guys on WITCHFINDER GENERAL/CONQUEROR WORM, but almost. I saw it at the drive-in before anybody had the chance to tell me how great it was. And I thought it was okay. Glum and gray, but okay. I did think Vinnie's performance was one of his best. When I read the first comments on how terrific it was, I assumed it was just some minority opinion that would blow over. Now I shake my head and wonder what it's all about. I still think it's okay. I still like the job Price does. I don't see anything earth-shaking about it.
Azazel02		#86	[-]
Dec 29 11 6:48 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Just watched Tomb of Ligeia and despite it being overly-ponderous, liked it very much. Great performances, beautifully shot and with spades of atmosphere. I think the Masque of the Red Death is a stronger movie but still rated this one very highly.
vayapues		#87	[-]
Dec 29 11 11:15 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I like WITCHFINDER GENERAL but also find it strangely overrated. Having said that, I think its lofty rep is a little less bewildering in the context of AIP's other post-Corman (so-called) Poes of the era -- those Gordon Hessler pix are so dreadful & chintzy that, just by comparison, the Reeves film feels like a real achievement of sympathy, tension, & historical fidelity on a budget. (Kind of like a Lewton movie, but nowhere near as finely-wrought & poetic as that would imply.) Alas, I saw it once in 1969 & hoped the current Midnight Movies release would redeem it as per the legend, but it was still just a big fat OK.
Azazel02		#88	[-]
Dec 30 11 11:13 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I think Witchfinder's status lies in its truly bleak nihilsim about the human condition and the fact that the hero is ultimately transformed by hate into a savage murderous brute (in some ways, no less vile perhaps than Price's character) . I've rarely seen that in a horror film and as a sixties flick its outlook anticipated much of the 70's horror to come.
vayapues		#89	[-]
Dec 31 11 9:26 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Azazel, I certainly wouldn't argue with your summation; WITCHFINDER came of age in an era & a sensibility very different than that of the previous decade & hints at the deepening pessimism of the decade to come. But for me...not so sure that its nihilistic tone (if that's what it is) ennobles the film to quite the degree that you suggest. As far as a dark end note that brilliantly extends & illuminates both the film itself & the reality (Vietnam, racism, domestic discord) swirling around it, I would nominate the following year's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. But all this is crazily straying away from TOMB OF LIGEIA -- which film, incidentally, I love until the fairly out-of-control, now-whadda-we-gonna-do? ending. Last Edited By: vayapues Jan 1 12 3:30 AM. Edited 1 times.
Azazel.shoguntotalwar		#90	[-]
Jan 1 12 3:39 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Not having seen Night of the Living Dead (certainly no bad thing I think as I'm such a fan of the genre its always nice to have a few well-regarded classics up my sleeve to experience for the first time) I can't comment on the comparison you make. However, I will say that Witchfinder offers no supernatural element to make it a full-blown horror - unless you count the presence of religion as a motivating power behind the atrocities that take place. Its central character is all too human and well-documented as historical fact. In my opinion, this helps sets it apart from the more fantastical works of the era. As for Ligeia, the ending is definitely where it loses its grip. And how many times has Price died by fire in a Poe flick? Despite the oft-repeated collapsing barn footage, though, I think the FX work depiciting the burning exterior of the building is quite well done.
vayapues		#91	[-]
Jan 27 12 6:18 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Hey Azazel, a belated reply. I think you're right. As a non-fantasy WITCHFINDER's horror derives not only from its documented historical atrocities but from the chilling apathy of most of the "normal" folk to Hopkins' deeds; it's their conformity & non-resistance that enable his violence to reign unchecked, & which make the film feel occasionally too close for comfort. I would be surprised if Reeves were not selfconscious about that he was constructing a kind of parable for more recent, or then-current, 20th-century horrors like the Nazi Holocaust, civilian massacres in Vietnam, etc, etc. But there's also a quality of youthful sensationalism about some of its crude violence that makes Reeves' undoubted higher goals a little suspect, or maybe mixed at best. Regardless, as a whole, coherent piece I think (repeating myself) that it towers above the other AIP English films of the period. Re NIGHT/LIVING DEAD, that will be quite a belated discovery! I envy your encountering it for the first time. Just try to put out of your mind the million-&-one elaborations of it that have since carpeted the landscape. Hope you get to see a good edition of it soon. Wonder how you'll respond to it & to the nihlistic tone you find therein. Please let us know. Last Edited By: vayapues Jan 27 12 6:21 PM. Edited 2 times.
Azazel.shoguntotalwar		#92	[-]
Feb 2 12 4:10 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Hi Vayapues. As it happens, your recommendation of Night Of The Living Dead pushed the movie higher up my watch list last month. I then, coincidentally, came across a fascinating BFI book on the film at the library which was such a great read I decided to splash out on the blu-ray release. I'll post my thoughts on a modern day viewer's first encounter with Romero's movie in the appropriate thread. As for Ligeia, already the details are beginning to escape me and what I'm left with largely is an impression of the atmosphere and an image of Vincent Price in those remarkable sunglasses. So not an entirely memorable film perhaps but one that's very strong on mood which is probably in keeping with something adapted from a work of Poe's.

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