The Haunted Palace (1963)

 "One becomes accustomed to the darkness here."

Not many films have been made adapting the works of H.P. Lovecraft, writer of cult horror stories evoking the nameless, ancient horrors that lurk behind everyday reality... and, er, massive racist, by the standards of his own time, let alone ours. Imagine my surprise, then, that this- the first ever cinematic adaptation of a Lovecraft tale (his only full novel, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward)exists... and was helmed by Roger Corman himself in the style of the Poe films he was also busy making. 

Naturally, the title is pinched from Poe, we end with some verses from Poe, and the style absolutely evokes the Poe films, with Lovecraft very much downplayed. Yet this is, nevertheless, full-on Lovecraft, full of delightfully overwrought existential dread, and explicit mentions of not only the Necronomicon and the Great Old Ones but specifically of Cthulhu and Yog-Sothoth.

And it's really rather splendid, with Vincent Price hugely entertaining as both the eponymous Ward and his depraved warlock of an ancestor. We have unspeakable horrors from the past; unfriendly locals in a tavern aside from one scientifically minded individual; "satanic" rituals"; disturbing body horror with the mutated locals (particularly the girl born with no eyes!) and a perfectly paced horror movie that ends up feeling very similar indeed to Corman's Poe films.

There is an extremely uncomfortable scene featuring attempted marital rape, which is not exactly the right kind of disturbing. But there are angry villagers with torches. There's a snake and a tarantula. There'sa creepy old portrait with terrifying eyes. And the whole things just so damned entertaining.