MovieChat Forums > The Tomb of Ligeia (1965) Discussion > This Poe film deserves more recognition

This Poe film deserves more recognition


I am not sure why this Poe classic has never received as much recognition as some of the other Poe films. The writing was excellent, as well as the acting. Elizabeth Shepherd was especially fantastic as the Gothic heroine. I truly hope a remake is made soon.

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whats with the remake craze??? this is a great classic, and would only be ruined by remake!! as so many others have been! REMAKES SUCK!

"Monsters are such interesting people, my stars, the places you must go, the people you must meet!"

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Sadly, they did try a remake, and it's dreadful={ It's not a period film, and they threw in some "yucky" stuff for the dirty old men (probably some younger ones, too). Blech!

"Ligeia" aka "The Tomb" (2009) is definitely worth MISSING! I wish that I had; I just kept thinking it would get better, but it never did.

From IMDb:
Successful writer and scholar Jonathan Merrick falls under the spell of the irresistible, bewitchingly beautiful Ligeia. She's fighting a fatal illness and she will stop at nothing to defeat death, her one true enemy. She steals other people's souls and on her quest to immortality she tricks Jonathan into supporting her work, breaking him apart from his fiancé Rowena and pulling him into her dark, mysterious world. They settle down in an old manor by the Black Sea where Ligeia's everlasting presence slowly drives Jonathan to madness...


*** The trouble with reality is there is no background music. ***

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Here's the trailer for the 2009 version, for anyone who's interested: https://www.imdb.com/video/vi2958400537?playlistId=tt1038011&ref_=tt_pr_ov_vi

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(spoiler)



basically,





Price was having sex with the corpse of his dead wife... ....right??
Supposedly while under a trance that she put on him on her death bed. He was bringing her food at night and acting as if she was still alive.

As most of these stories seem to be, it can be interpretted as being just in his head, or as a supernatural thing maybe.
And she was speaking thru his new wife at times, and seems to have possesed the cat.


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I agree. This film was indeed quite good and spooky. Vincent Price gave a superbly sinister and understated performance as the tormented protagonist. Elizabeth Sheperd was likewise outstanding in her juicy dual roles.

"We're all part Shatner/And part James Dean/Part Warren Oates/And Steven McQueen"

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Not only did Edgar Allan Poe have a very dark side, but probably a very sick one. Or maybe he was completely healthy and simply very original. He did marry his 13 year old cousin and wrote an obsessing poem about her. That kind of story is more accepted today then prior to 1850?

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Funny anyone should say that as it's commonly regarded as among the best of Corman's Poe series, along with its British-lensed brethren Masque of the Red Death (1964). It's a fan favorite!

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Sure does, considering it's the only Corman horrorshow that's actually genuinely creepy and sort of haunting. Some exquisitely eerie sequences there and Vincent Price also manages to make significant cuts in the ham department to make for an authentic, chilling anti-hero of sorts, both naughty and tormented. A really effective spook story, this, proving that when Corman decided to take things a little more seriously, he could deliver as well as when churning out the campy product (one doubts that in a blind test, no one would recognize The Intruder as a Corman flick).



"facts are stupid things" Ronald Reagan

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Wonderful settings and decor, outdoors, and that initial walk through the ruins of the abbey.

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That abbey is a few miles from where I live. Although it is actually called a priory. Just to think Vincent Price was there in 1964. He had to wear dark sunglasses. I expect he was not used to being out in the light.

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It absolutely deserves more recognition but certainly doesn't need a remake. If we want to watch crappy gaudy Gothic there's always Crimson Peak.

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I agree. It is very underrated.

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