Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

Tedfoldol everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Curt Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

ben hibburd The Haunted Palace Is directed by legendary B movie film-maker Roger Corman, and Is written by Corman's long term collaborator Charles Beaumont. The film Is an adaption of a novella by H. P. Lovecraft and and It's title taken from a poem by Edgar Allen Poe. The Haunted Palace tells the story of a necromancer named Joseph Curwen(Vincent Price). After performing a strange ritual on a young girl, the local townspeople accuse him of being a warlock. He Is then burnt alive by the villagers of Arkham. In his final moments Curwen vows to return and exact vengeance upon the townspeople, and places a curse on them.One hundred and ten years later his descendant Charles Dexter Ward(Vincent Price In a duel role), and his wife Ann(Debra Paget) arrive in Arkham after Inheriting the palace of Joseph Curwen. During their stay Charles begins to fall under the control of Josephs spirit, and begins to replicate his ritual of summoning a Demon with the use of the Necronomicon.I watched the Arrow Video blu-ray release, and they did a marvellous job of restoring the film, the picture quality breathes new life Into the film. The set design Is a fairly standard B movie Gothic town, but one that has a lot of charm, and has a good atmosphere In the fog ridden town, that Is plagued with fear and animosity from the malformed residents that have been effected by Curwen's curse.Vincent Price gives a fantastic commanding performance, which at times can feel a bit stagy, but works well when he's portraying two different personalities. The good direction from Corman never allows for any confusion as to who's currently inhabiting Wards body at any given time. Debra Paget also does good work In her final film role as Wards wife Ann. She becomes more robust, and hands on, In finding out what's happening to him as she notices the change In him. Paget along with Price bring a level of class to a film that could easily of felt silly. The film Is also helped along by good supporting performances from Lon Chaney Jr. as the Palace's caretaker, and Frank Maxwell the town doctor that helps Ann Investigate the strange occurrences.The film also contains of the best scores Iv'e heard from a Horror film. It's orchestral style waltz Is used to great effect. The only real complaints I have with the film was that despite It's excellent build up the film fell a bit flat In It's third act. Also despite this being a Lovecraft adaptation we only get one quick glance of the demon that was being summoned. This plot line was disappointing, It felt rushed and In the end was completely Inconsequential. For the most part this film worked better as a straight up revenge film, as Curwen begins bumping off the townsfolk. There Is a-lot of fun to be had with The Haunted palace, It's just a shame It's let down by the screenplay which had a- lot of potential but doesn't go anywhere with the more interesting supernatural elements.

GL84 Arriving in town to inherit a family-owned castle, a man and his wife find the local villagers warning them away in fear of a curse about an ancestor crucified and burned for being a witch, and they soon fear it has returned and set out to stop him from reliving his actions.This is one of Price's more underrated efforts. One of the most impressive elements here is that this one really joins the others in the others in the series by making the mood in here very apparent from the outset. The opening scene is extremely moody, with the large amounts of fog, the dark night, and the angry mob make for great Gothic undertones while parlaying the perfect set-up used for the story of witchcraft and secret curses displaying the right action for the sequence as well. That is also stated elsewhere, as the de-rigeur castle is one of the better ones from the time period that looks suitably spectacular with the long hallways leading off into the distance, the large elaborate and brightly-detailed paintings, cobweb filled rooms, candle-lit rooms and large, open Gothic chamber-spaces also adding to it's charm and are all mood- inducing ways of getting the best out of the film, and it works marvelously. Likewise, with the cliff-top locale and the constant, raging thunderstorm blaring away in the background it makes for quite an impressive effort. This is aided along nicely by the idea of the curse coming back to the present-day inhabitants which makes for a great overall viewing experience, and carries on the usual antics found in these types of Gothic efforts. It feels quite modern because of this, and it's hard to believe that it came from the early 60s by going far more into those traditional tropes featured here and even making this quite violent for it's time mixing between the supernatural antics of his curse and the mutants of the original story. The remains of the curse that was left is pretty gruesome to watch, and they have some impressive make-up work as well as seeing several people lit on fire, another is viciously killed, and a corpse is seen in all it's burnt glory which is all quite enjoyable. The ending is pretty exciting, from the secret experiments down in the basement with his resurrection spells leading into the by-now- usual ending of a burning down castle that makes for some nice action sequences as the flames get higher and higher with the fun of the approaching crowd and the chaotic action leading to a fine finale. Finally, getting together Price and Chaney is a great coup and allows for two greats of the genre opportunities for scenery- chewing performances, and both do commendable jobs. There's only one real factor to this one that holds it back which is the somewhat stumbling pace. It moves a little slow compared to most modern horror films as after the promising set-up, the film slows a bit down in the middle section with his gradual descent into possession following their exploration of the castle really taking up a bit too much time than normal. This is the only real complaint about this one.Today's Rating/PG-13: Violence

Hitchcoc Once again the wolfy, long-faced Mr. Price is married to a beautiful young woman, Debra Paget. He has returned to Arkham and although "The Haunted Palace" is a poem by Edgar Allen Poe, this is really based on "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" by H. P. Lovecraft. It has referenced to Yog Sothoth and Cthulhu and, of course, that old best seller, the Necronomicon. One hundred ten years earlier than his arrival, Price's ancestor had been burned at the stake for practicing black arts (necromancy) and put a curse on the town and the people responsible for his death. When the new Price arrives at Arkham, the natives tell him to get lost, but he has inherited the palace and feels he at least ought to go there. Once there, however, he sees a painting that is the spit and image of him and the image seems to connect with him, entering his body and becoming the original Price. Soon he is back doing his thing, burning people to a crisp (as he was) and terrorizing the rest of the populace. Poor Paget tries to stand by her man, but since he is Satanic, it's hard to feel romantic. Anyway, eventually the torches and pitchforks come out and the ending is a lot of fun.

moonspinner55 One hundred and ten years after his great-great-grandfather is burned at the stake for being a warlock, congenial husband Vincent Price inherits his ancestor's castle, which the tavern-dwelling townspeople tell him is cursed. Turns out they're right; Price becomes possessed by the ghost of his insidious relative, and hopes to mate his own wife with a creature dwelling down in the cellar. Adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's story "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" (with a title borrowed from a poem by Edgar Allan Poe), begins as a ghost story and revenge thriller (with Price eliminating names from a list) before morphing into a monster movie. It doesn't quite hang together, despite a decent production and Price having fun playing both good guy and villain. Less talk and more hocus pocus might have helped generate some excitement in this 'Palace'. Not even the (mild) twist ending makes much sense in the context of this muddled stew. **1/2 from ****