Tribute to the Late Roger Corman and His ‘Poe Cycle’ of Films

Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Due to yesterday’s Memorial Day holiday here in the U.S., I decided to move this week’s post to today. The Book-To-Movie (BTM) review series is going to be on hiatus a little while longer. I'm still gathering more stories and films in my library of  “To Read” and “To Watch” so I can make a lineup. Also, I'm trying to play catchup on my two latest books which I'll talk some about later. First, I want to commemorate Roger Corman who died earlier this month, May 9th. He was 98. Because he directed several movie adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe’s stories, I’ve provided a list of those movies below. 

Corman was one of my favourite filmmakers of science fiction and horror. Known by many as the "King of Cult" movies, he was a leader in directing and producing B-rated movies, many of which were horror, science fiction, action/adventure and crime. Among his horror films, and the best in my opinion, were his adaptations of Poe's works. In a big way, Corman brought, though maybe not intentionally, Poe’s stories to the B-Movie crowd of the 1960s through his movie adaptations. Because I've always been a fan of Poe and I like to think that both of these great artists of two different mediums (film and literature) were influences on my own writing in science fiction and horror, I want to pay tribute to Corman and his “Poe Cycle” of films, as they’re collectively known as. So, below, I've listed in chronological order all eight of those films. The listings without descriptions are ones reviewed in past BTMs which I've linked to. So, for details on those, click on the links. 

The 8 Films of Roger Corman’s ‘Poe Cycle’ 

1. House of Usher, 1960 

2. The Pit and the Pendulum, 1961 

3. The Premature Burial, 1962 

4. Tales of Terror, 1962 

5. The Raven, 1963 

6. The Haunted Palace, 1963: The title is from Poe's poem of the same name, but the story is mostly based on an H.P. Lovecraft story, "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward". However, the script was structured around several lines of the poem so in that way, it can still qualify as a Poe adaptation. The story is that Charles Dexter Ward inherits the estate of an evil warlock ancestor.

7. The Masque of the Red Death, 1964 

8. The Tomb of Ligeia, 1964: A widower who remarries is obsessed with his dead wife, believing that she will reunite with him. 

Roger Corman made several other horror and science fiction movies, many of which were really good at least as entertainment films if not high-quality ones. But out of all his horror movies, the best and most well-made have been his Edgar Allan Poe adaptations. We'll miss him but we'll always remember him in his work. Thank you, Mr. Corman, for such awesome films! 

Books-In-Progress and Newsletter

For my upcoming short story collection, "Bad Apps", I've been working on the grammar and mechanics revisions for one story, "Game Night". For another story for the collection, I've been rewriting and adding scenes. For a second book, which will actually release before "Bad Apps", I sent the manuscript to the formatter last week. It's a very short book but one with plenty of suspense and creepiness. For more details on both of these books, subscribe to my free author's newsletter, "Night Creatures' Call". The May edition went out only about a week ago and I will be making it available to new subscribers for the next three weeks. 

Have you seen any of the movies from Roger Corman's “Poe Cycle”? Have you seen any other movies by him? 

Until next time . . .