Six Gothic Tales

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Review added by
Michael Campbell

Certificate: 12
Running Time: 507mins
Retail Price: £69.99
Release Date: Now
Content Type: Movie

Synopsis:
From the Merchant of Menace, Vincent Price, and the King of the B’s, Roger Corman, come six Gothic tales inspired by the pen of Edgar Allan Poe. Arrow Video is thrilled to announce the limited edition release of this Six Gothic Tales box set. Limited to a run of just 2000 copies, this much-anticipated release will include The Fall of the House of Usher, Tales of Terror, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Raven, The Haunted Palace and The Tomb of Ligeia.

In keeping with Arrow Video tradition, this limited edition box-set will host a wealth of new bonus features sure to please Price, Corman and Poe fans alike. The set will include various new featurettes such as Kim Newman on Edgar Allan Poe, in which the novelist and critic looks at Poe’s influence on the big screen and Kim Newman on H.P. Lovecraft, a look at the relationship between Lovecraft and the cinema. In the featurette Cats in Horror Films, critic, novelist and Cats on Film blogger Anne Billson discusses the genre contributions of our feline friends.

Alongside these newly commissioned featurettes, various other documentaries will be included such as The Two Faces of Peter Lorre (1984), the English-friendly debut of acclaimed filmmaker Harun Farocki’s career-spanning portrait of Lorre’s early days through to his untimely death. And The Directors: Roger Corman, an hour-long episode from the TV series on the filmmaker featuring contributions from James Cameron, Martin Scorsese and Ron Howard will also be included.

Other standout bonus content includes all-new interviews with The Tomb of Ligeia crew members including co-writer/production assistant Paul Mayersberg (who would go on to write The Man Who Fell to Earth and Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence among others).

The Haunted Palace features a newly recorded audio commentary by Vincent Price's biographer David Del Valle and Tales of Terror will include Rob Green's acclaimed short film from the nineties, The Black Cat (1993) and The Raven will include his other short The Trick, (1996).

The set will be rounded off with a 200-page book containing a wealth of new writing on each of the films, an interview with Roger Corman, and reproductions of tie-in comic books for Tales of Terror, The Raven and The Tomb of Ligeia originally published in the sixties.

Special Features:
THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER
• Audio commentary with director and producer Roger Corman
• Legend to Legend: An interview with director and former Corman apprentice Joe Dante
• Interview with author and Gothic horror expert Jonathan Rigby
• Fragments of the House of Usher: A Specially-commissioned video essay by critic and filmmaker David Cairns examining Corman’s film in relation to Poe’s story
• Archival interview with Vincent Price
• Original Trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys


THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM
• Optional Isolated Music and Effects Track
• Audio commentary with director and producer Roger Corman
• Audio commentary by critic Tim Lucas
• Behind the Swinging Blade – A new documentary on the making of The Pit and the Pendulum featuring Roger Corman, star Barbara Steele, Vincent Price’s daughter Victoria Price and more!
• Added TV Sequence – Shot in 1968 to pad out the film for the longer TV time slot, this scene features star Luana Anders
• An Evening of Edgar Allan Poe with Vincent Price [52 mins] – Price reads a selection of Poe’s classic stories before a live audience, including The Tell-Tale Heart, The Sphinx, The Cask of Amontillado and The Pit and the Pendulum (with optional English SDH)
• Original Trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx


TALES OF TERROR
• The Directors: Roger Corman, an hour-long documentary on the filmmaker featuring contributions from James Cameron, Martin Scorsese and Ron Howard
• Cats in Horror Films, critic and novelist Anne Billson discusses the contributions of our feline friends to genre cinema
• The Black Cat, a 1993 short film adaptation of Poe’s classic tale directed by Rob Green (The Bunker)
• Kim Newman on Edgar Allan Poe, the novelist and critic looks at Poe’s influence on the big screen
• Original Theatrical Trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Dan Mumford

THE RAVEN
• Peter Lorre: The Double Face, Harun Farocki’s 1984 documentary, subtitled in English for the first time
• Richard Matheson: Storyteller, an interview with the legendary novelist and screenwriter
• Corman’s Comedy of Poe, an interview with Roger Corman about making The Raven
• The Trick, a short film about rival magicians by Rob Green (The Bunker)
• Promotional Record
• Stills and Poster Gallery
• Original Theatrical Trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Vladimir Zimakov

THE HAUNTED PALACE
• Audio commentary by Vincent Price’s biographer David Del Valle and writer Derek Botelho
• Kim Newman on H.P. Lovecraft, a look at the relationship between Lovecraft and the cinema, and the challenges of adapting his work
• A Change of Poe, an interview with Roger Corman
• Stills and Poster Gallery
• Original Theatrical Trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Matthew Griffin

THE TOMB OF LIGEIA
• Audio commentary by director and producer Roger Corman
• Audio commentary by star Elizabeth Shepherd
• All-new interviews with cast and crew members including co-writer/production assistant Paul Mayersberg, first assistant director David Tringham, camera assistant Bob Jordan and composer Kenneth V. Jones
• Original Theatrical Trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by the Twins of Evil

200-PAGE BOOK LIMITED EDITION EXCLUSIVE
• Limited edition 200-page collector’s book containing new writing on all films, an interview with Roger Corman, extracts from Vincent Price’s autobiography and full reproductions of tie-in comic books for Tales of Terror, The Raven and The Tomb of Ligeia originally published in the sixties.