They are classifying this movie as "Horror"-it is not horror, it is more mystery than anything else.
It looked good for its days and the acting was great but I wish there was more, the best one was the last segment with Terrance Stamp with his new Ferrari.
I just thought it was mostly a bore.
4 out of 10.
Not exactly boring. I watched all three segments and was intriqued by all three. It is, however, a disappointment ultimately because none of the tales is really good and their resolutions are weak. Still, beacause of the source, the directors, and the actors, I'd recommend it.
shareI would recommend it too. I wasn't bored at all but then again I have a special affection for Continental cinema and for Edgar Allan.
The Fellini segment was rather pretentious and had no sense that he had even read a page of Poe. The little-girl femme fatale is probably the only cinematically important bit from the Fellini segment. He has taken the little-girl temptress/devil from Bunuel's SIMON OF THE DESERT and pushed her into the bloody-gothic realm, with a full castration image. Of course this murderous little girl becomes a key figure in horror schlock in more recent cinema.
As a whole, the objective is to make a thriller, not a horror film. Poe's stories are thrillers with dashes of gothic horror thrown in. I was intrigued by the "Metzengerstein" because it is one of my favorite Poe stories. Hard to capture--the figure on the tapestry was laughable. It should have been a smaller, more mysterious image buried in an intricate design. The live horse was very intriguing (an Andalusian or Lusitanian, I would guess). Vadim went camp instead of going for the subtlety of the Poe story. However, I liked the way it connected Poe to the Sadean tradition of libertinage, then extended this tradition into European New Wave cinema. It's an achievement on a metafilmic level, and I enjoyed this richness.
"William Wilson" was quite masterful. Great reading of Poe with excellent timing as the anti-hero descends into narcissism and sadism. Admirable restraint on the part of the actors. Too bad the dummy used for the fall looked so cheesy!
Things kind of fall apart in "Toby Dammit." Too much of a cheapskate replay of LA DOLCE VITA. As stated above, only a few images (misogynistic in typical Fellini fashion) from this segment rise above the dreck. Unfortunate that the film ends on this low note.
in the beginning it was so unexpected to see all these actors in a movie with short stories, but i was very disappointed to find out it wasn't english speaking, that just killed it for me, after expecting an enjoyable horror bit like "torture garden". but its hard to deny jane fonda is kind of a knockout in this, and she changes appearance, clothing, hairstyle alot!, so if you like jane fonda this is one to get, believe me. anyway, i can't tell you about the rest of the movie cause i won't sit through a two hour movie not understanding a word of what the great actors are performing reading subtitles to the end.
travelin circus in the night came rollin to town,
like a colourful tent set up reaching the sky,
a ticket for my soul on a rollercoaster ride,
with lucy and madeleine west and east of me hit the jackpot,
like a two armed bandit walkin in the green joy park,
blinkin lights no place i would rather be than in this tivoli,
a big mac for my soul cotton candy treat for fantasy my favorite darlins,
around the amusement park sparks fly,
like a magician sawing me in two bits for each one,
throat blowin flames painting my soul as a clown.
This is the type of slow mystery that I enjoy. With three segments I wouldn't call it boring. Had just one of the stories been extended into a feature it would have risked that. This is Edgar Allan Poe but that doesn't really make it horror. I liked the doppelganger theme of the William Wilson segment.
shareI also felt this movie was boring
my rating 5/10