The Oblong Box
Reviews
John Chard
Curse of the Crimson Hood. the Oblong Box is directed by Gordon Hessler and adapted to screenplay by Lawrence Huntington and Christopher Wicking from the short story written by Edgar Allan Poe. It stars Vincent price, Christopher Lee, Rupert Davies, Alister Williamson, Uta Levka, Sally Geeson and Peter Arne. Music is by Harry Robertson and cinematography is by John Coquillon. Aristocrat Julian Markham (Price) keeps his disfigured brother, Sir Edward (Williamson), locked in a tower of his house. Occasionaly Sir Edward escapes and causes havoc around the town. Edgar Allan Poe's work had already been mined for consistent rewards, normally with Price in the lead role, unfortunately this one became a step too far (it's loosely adapted). It was blighted with the original director, Michael Reeves (Witchfinder General), committing suicide during production. In came Hessler, whose subsequent directing CV smacks of a lack of quality, and here it's a flat production straining to gain any horror momentum. Thematically there's interest, with witch doctors, drugs that simulate death, double-crosses and a crimson hooded murderer on the loose. There's also the whiff of British Colonialism pulsing away in the mix. Sadly the "unmasking" of the killer is a damp squib of poor make up, the twin horror greats of Price and Lee don't share screen time together, and the finale drifts aimlessly into a nothing worthwhile twist. Not a dead loss as such, but really it's bottom tier of the Poe horror adaptations. 5/10
Wuchak
_**Vincent Price, Hilary Dwyer, Gothic horror and Voodoo in 19th century London**_ In 1865 England, an aristocrat (Vincent Price) locks his brother (Alister Williamson) in the attic because he was hideously scarred by a Voodoo revenge ritual in Africa. While the Lord woos nubile Elizabeth (Hilary Dwyer) the caged sibling is able to escape with the assistance of his lawyer and a witchdoctor, eventually hiding out with an unscrupulous doctor (Christopher Lee). When the hooded man ventures out of the house horror ensues. While "The Oblong Box” (1969) utilizes several Edgar Allan Poe themes, it is nothing like Poe’s East Coast sea voyage story from 1844 and simply borrows the title for a tale of Gothic horror in 19th century London. Producers at AIP thought linking Poe to a film would sell more tickets, which is why they dubiously renamed “Witchfinder General” “The Conqueror Worm” for American audiences a year earlier. Since “Witchfinder” was a surprise hit (for such a low-budget flick) producers hired the same director, Michael Reeves, and three members of the cast for this project (Price, Dwyer and Rupert Davies). Unfortunately, Reeves fell ill during pre-production and was replaced by Gordon Hessler. The young, promising director was found dead of an accidental overdose less than three months later at the age of 25. The cast is fine, the ambiance of Gothic horror is superlative and the females are appealing (Dwyer, Sally Geeson and Uta Levka). Regrettably, the script is filled with nonsensical bits and vagueness. For instance, how is it that no one at the aged brother’s funeral knew what he actually looked like? If Edward’s disfigurement is the result of a Voodoo ceremony, how does it morph into a contagious disease at the end? Sorry, but weak writing like this doesn’t make for great movies. Yet I suppose you can sorta put the pieces of the puzzle together if you use your imagination and it’s still worth checking out if you like movies such as Corman & Coppola’s “The Terror” (1963) and the aforementioned “Witchfinder General.” But this is the least of these IMHO. The movie runs 1 hour, 36 minutes and was shot at Shepperton Studios, just west of London. GRADE: B-/C+
CinemaSerf
Upon return from a mysterious trip to Africa, "Julian" (Vincent Price) has to keep his elder brother "Sir Edward" (Alister Williamson) locked in a suite at the top of their country pile. A visit from "Trench" (Peter Arne) gives us some idea of just how dangerous the man is, but also suggests that the two may be colluding on the man's escape. Before any of that can happen, though, "Sir Edward" is found dead in his room. His brother has a problem. He cannot allow his disfigured brother to lie for people to see, yet it is the inalienable custom - so he tells "Trench" and his witch-doctor friend "N'Galo" (Harry Baird) to find a solution. Fortunately, nobody in the village seems to notice that the stunt-double body they provided bore no resemblance to the deceased - nor to his brother - and so the problem appears to have been solved. Thing is, though, local doctor "Neuhartt" (Christopher Lee) has engaged the services of some bodysnatchers to enable him to further his research. Yep, two and two go together with a district shock for all to follow. It takes quite a while to get up an head of steam, this, but the last half hour is actually quite watchable as things come to a rushed, but quite entertaining, denouement. Lee only features sparingly, but often enough to add a bit of extra richness to what is essentially a single hander from the adequate Price doing what he does best with the Poe short story. Not great, no - but it has elements of mysticism, black magic and grave robbing - what's not to like?
Movie Recommendation
Dracula Has Risen from the Grave1968-11-07In the shadow of Castle Dracula, the Prince of Darkness is revived by blood trickling from the head-wound of an unconscious priest attempting exorcism. And once more fear and terror strikes Transylvania as the undead Prince of Darkness stalks the village of Keineneburg to ensnare victims and satisfy his evil thirst.More...
Super Stooges vs the Wonder Women1974-04-11Three men with supernatural powers interfere in a tribal warfare to prevent evil Amazons destroying the inhabitants of a village.More...
The Masque of the Red Death1964-06-24A European prince terrorizes the local peasantry while using his castle as a refuge against the "Red Death" plague that stalks the land.More...
The Tingler1959-07-29A pathologist experiments with a deaf-mute woman who is unable to scream to prove that humans die of fright due to an organism he names The Tingler that lives within each person on the spinal cord and is suppressed only when people scream when scared.More...
House of Usher1960-06-18Convinced that his family’s blood is tainted by generations of evil, Roderick Usher is hell-bent on destroying his sister Madeline’s wedding to prevent the cursed Usher bloodline from extending any further. When her fiancé, Philip Winthrop, arrives at the crumbling family estate to claim his bride, Roderick goes to ruthless lengths to keep them apart.More...
The Devil's Wedding Night1973-03-14The 1800s: scholarly Karl Schiller believes he's found the ring of the Nibelungen, which holds great power. It's at Castle Dracula. His twin, Franz, a gambler, asks if vampires frighten Karl; Karl shows him an Egyptian amulet, which may protect him. Franz takes the amulet and sets out ahead of his brother, arriving at the castle first. There he finds a countess who invites him to dine. Later that night, Karl arrives. Coincidently, it's the Night of the Virgin Moon, a night that falls every fifty years and draws five virgins from the surrounding village to the castle not be heard from again. Can Karl protect his brother, find the ring, and rescue any of the women?More...
The Magic Sword1962-04-01The son of a sorceress, armed with weapons, armour and six magically summoned knights, goes on a quest to save a princess from a vengeful wizard.More...
Jack in the Box2010-04-12Find a chair and you can stay, But if you don't you'll go away. The last survives another day... Pop Goes the Weasel. Welcome to Junior's world where six invited guests, trapped in a room, play a deadly game of musical chairs for their lives. Every ten minutes "Pop Goes the Weasel" signals the start of another round, and the horrific end of another player. Sit you live, stand you die- this is Junior's simple, twisted rule. Jack in the Box is a gripping study in psychological terror, unfolding in real-time, as Junior's desperate "guests" struggle with themselves, and each other, for survival. Seven begin the game, only one will end it. Who will it be? Grab a chair and find out. The answer will shock you.More...
Breakdown1997-05-02On their cross-country drive, a married couple, Jeff and Amy Taylor, experience car trouble after their SUV breaks down. Stranded in the New Mexico desert, the two catch a break when a passing truck driver offers Amy a ride to a nearby café to call for help. Meanwhile, Jeff is able to fix the car and make his way to the café, but Amy isn't there. He tracks down the trucker ― who tells the police he's never seen Jeff or his wife before. Jeff then begins a desperate, frenzied search for Amy.More...
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre1974-10-11Five friends head out to rural Texas to visit the grave of a grandfather. On the way, they stumble across what appears to be a deserted house, only to discover something sinister within. Something armed with a chainsaw.More...
Venom: Let There Be Carnage2021-09-30After finding a host body in investigative reporter Eddie Brock, the alien symbiote must face a new enemy, Carnage, the alter ego of serial killer Cletus Kasady.More...
Joker2019-10-01During the 1980s, a failed stand-up comedian is driven insane and turns to a life of crime and chaos in Gotham City while becoming an infamous psychopathic crime figure.More...
Darkman II: The Return of Durant1995-07-11Darkman and Durant return and they hate each other as much as ever. This time, Durant has plans to take over the city's drug trade using high-tech weaponry. Darkman must step in and try to stop Durant once and for all.More...
Titanic1997-11-18101-year-old Rose DeWitt Bukater tells the story of her life aboard the Titanic, 84 years later. A young Rose boards the ship with her mother and fiancé. Meanwhile, Jack Dawson and Fabrizio De Rossi win third-class tickets aboard the ship. Rose tells the whole story from Titanic's departure through to its death—on its first and last voyage—on April 15, 1912.More...
Oppenheimer2023-07-19The story of J. Robert Oppenheimer's role in the development of the atomic bomb during World War II.More...
Return of the Fly1959-07-22Fifteen years after his father's experiments with matter transmission fail, Philippe Delambre and his uncle François attempt to create a matter transmission device on their own. However, their experiments have disastrous results, turning Philippe into a horrible half-man, half-fly creature.More...
Dragons Forever1988-02-11A hot-shot lawyer is hired by a Hong Kong chemical plant to dispose of opposition to their polluting ways. But when he falls for a beautiful woman out to stop the plant, he is torn in a conflict of interest and asks his trusty friends Samo and Biao to help out at least until they discover the true purpose of the plant.More...
Honey, I Blew Up the Kid1992-07-16Wayne Szalinski is at it again. But instead of shrinking things, he tries to make a machine that can make things grow. As in the first one, his machine isn't quite accurate. But when he brings Nick & his toddler son Adam to see his invention, the machine unexpectedly starts working. And when Adam comes right up to the machine, he gets zapped along with his stuffed bunny.More...
The Psychic1977-08-10A woman with psychic powers has a vision of a murder that took place in a house owned by her husband.More...
The Next Karate Kid1994-07-18Mr. Miyagi decides to take Julie, a troubled teenager, under his wing after he learns that she blames herself for her parents' demise and struggles to adjust with her grandmother and fellow pupils.More...
Similar Movies
A Nightmare on Elm St...
1984-11-09Teenagers in a small town are dropping like flies, apparently in the grip of mass hysteria causing their suicides. A cop's daughter, Nancy Thompson, traces the cause to child molester Fred Krueger, who was burned alive by angry parents many years before. Krueger has now come back in the dreams of his killers' children, claiming their lives as his revenge. Nancy and her boyfriend, Glen, must devise a plan to lure the monster out of the realm of nightmares and into the real world...Creepshow
1982-11-10Five grisly tales from a 1950s-style comic, including a murdered father rising from beyond, a bizarre meteor, a vengeful husband, a mysterious crate's occupant, and a plague of cockroaches.Beneath
2007-08-07Christy returns to her hometown years after a car accident that disfigured her older sister. Haunted by the accident in which she was the driver, she learns that her worst nightmares have either come true ... or are about to.The Vanishing
1993-02-05The boyfriend of an abducted woman never gives up the search as the abductor looks on.Ghutan
2007-06-08Ravi Kapoor (Aryan Vaid) manages a company owned by his wife Catherine (Hina Rehman), whom he doesn't love and constantly cheats on. And he now has his eyes on his secretary, Priya (Pooja Bharti). When Catherine learns what's going on, she confronts him. In the heated argument that follows, Ravi hits her and believes she's dead. Together with his friend, Jaggi (Tarun Arora), they take her body to the graveyard. Just as they're about ready to put it in the grave they realize Catherine isn't dead so they bury her alive. Catherine's ghost then returns for revenge.The Witch
2024-04-26During the period of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, a woman who reluctantly went to a gloomy Istanbul mansion as a bride, and the mysterious owner of the mansion, will go on a journey to the dark secrets of the past together.The Mighty Gorga
1969-07-19A circus owner and a lady trapper trek into the African jungle to capture a giant gorilla for his circus.A Nightmare on Elm St...
1988-08-19Freddy Krueger returns once again to terrorize the dreams of the remaining Dream Warriors, as well as those of a young woman who may be able to defeat him for good.A Nightmare on Elm St...
1989-08-11The pregnant Alice finds Freddy Krueger striking through the sleeping mind of her unborn child, hoping to be reborn into the real world.A Nightmare on Elm St...
1985-11-01A teenage boy is haunted in his dreams by deceased child murderer Freddy Krueger, who is out to possess him in order to continue his reign of terror in the real world.A Nightmare on Elm St...
1987-02-27A psychiatrist, familiar with the knife-wielding dream demon Freddy Krueger, helps teens at a mental hospital battle the killer who is invading their dreams.The Serpent and the R...
1988-02-05A Harvard anthropologist is sent to Haiti to retrieve a strange powder that is said to have the power to bring human beings back from the dead. In his quest to find the miracle drug, the cynical scientist enters the rarely seen netherworld of walking zombies, blood rites and ancient curses. Based on the true life experiences of Wade Davis and filmed on location in Haiti, it's a frightening excursion into black magic and the supernatural.Sleepy Hollow
1999-11-19Skeptical young detective Ichabod Crane gets transferred to the hamlet of Sleepy Hollow, New York, where he is tasked with investigating the decapitations of three people – murders the townsfolk attribute to a legendary specter, The Headless Horseman.Alraune
1952-10-22In the 1800s, a stormy love relationship develops quickly between a young medical student and a woman believing herself to be the daughter of his scientist uncle, the student having never heard of her before their chance encounter and both unaware that she is the result of the scientist's illegal experiments with artificial insemination..Polaris
No data for this movieIn 1890s Alaska, an ice photographer meets the Devil.I Know Who Killed Me
2007-07-27An idyllic small town is rocked when Aubrey Fleming, a bright and promising young woman, is abducted and tortured by a sadistic serial killer. When she manages to escape, the traumatized girl who regains consciousness in the hospital insists that she is not who they think she is and that the real Aubrey Fleming is still in mortal danger.Vampire Wars
2017-07-16In the wake of the American Civil War, two vampires rise and fight to reclaim their land from the inhabitants of a sleepy Southern town.The Damned
2025-01-03In the 19th century, a young widow named Eva manages a remote winter fishing outpost in an Arctic bay, which she inherited after her husband, Magnus, was shipwrecked. The nearest settlement is three days' march away and inaccessible due to deep snow on the mountain trails. The outpost faces a harsh and brutal winter with rapidly dwindling supplies. Eva and her crew are already living on bait as their fishing catch declines. One morning on the beach, they witness a Basque whaling ship sinking far out near the cliffs known as "the Teeth," which rise steeply from the sea. Eva now faces an impossible decision, as any attempt to rescue the survivors risks depleting the last supplies for her and her men even faster.Mary Reilly
1996-02-23A housemaid falls in love with Dr. Jekyll and his darkly mysterious counterpart, Mr. Hyde.Tales of Terror
1962-07-04Three stories adapted from the work of Edgar Allen Poe: 1) A man and his daughter are reunited, but the blame for the death of his wife hangs over them, unresolved. 2) A derelict challenges the local wine-tasting champion to a competition, but finds the man's attention to his wife worthy of more dramatic action. 3) A man dying and in great pain agrees to be hypnotized at the moment of death, with unexpected consequences.