CheerupSilver Very Cool!!!

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

sol- Inspired by (rather than based on) Edgar Allan Poe's poem of the same title, this Universal horror film stars Bela Lugosi as a surgeon whose obsession with Poe has led to him building torture devices as described in the author's writings. While the devices only exist for display, Lugosi nevertheless sets about putting them into action in a scheme to separate the woman he loves from the man she plans to marry. This plot element could have done with a bit more work as it always seems like a rushed, ill-conceived and illogical scheme, but the chief sell point of the movie is a subplot involving Boris Karloff as a murderer on the run. Things turn rather grisly as Lugosi disfigures Karloff's face on purpose with the promise of only fixing his face if he helps him in his torture scheme, and both Karloff and Lugosi excel in their respective roles. In fact, with the way Lugosi so eloquently quotes Poe while clearly growing crazier and crazier, a good case could be made for this being his very finest performance. The same cannot be said for the rest of the cast with Irene Ware especially underwritten as the love interest who goes from being smitten with Lugosi to being prepared to settle for another man within minutes. Overall though, this is arguably a better paced and more wacky horror film than 'The Black Cat', which is often cited as Lugosi and Karloff's greatest collaboration.

Nigel P Bela Lugosi, second billed, plays Doctor Vollin, a genius surgeon, accomplished musician and devotee of Edgar Allan Poe. He seems to be held in high esteem, is charming and talented. However, when he's wearing his surgeon's mask, the camera focuses on those sinister eyes, and we really don't know quite what is going on inside the old scoundrel's head.He seems besotted with Jean Thatcher (Irene Ware), whose life he has just saved in a delicate operation. And yet she is promised to ultra-suave, moustachioed Jerry (Lester Matthews – fresh from playing a similarly disapproving, debonair gent in 'Werewolf of London' earlier that year). We then meet Bateman (Boris Karloff), bearded and shadier than a factory full of umbrellas. Every movement, stance and rolling of the eyes tells us Bateman is a villain through and through, and here he is on Vollin's doorstep, asking the surgeon to 'change his face'. Bateman has had a lifetime of rebuttal; "Maybe if a man is ugly, he does ugly things." Karloff, billed first, is not well cast here. His lisping English lilt doesn't convince when given lines like "I don't want to do bad things no more." There was always a studio-managed rivalry between him and Lugosi, but here, Lugosi's theatricals are far more impressive.Vollin does as he is asked and changes Bateman's face, but the result is a grotesque deformity. Bateman is promised another new face if he accedes to Vollin's villainous wishes – which begin with Bateman assuming the role of unsightly butler for a dinner party Vollin is hosting. Being such a fan of Poe, it's not entirely surprising Vollin has a torture room filled with devices taken from Poe's tales, chiefly 'The Pit and the Pendulum'. Vollin doesn't just torture people, he takes time to describe exactly the agonies his victims are facing, with Bateman as his henchman.If this were released today, it would surely fall under the category of 'torture porn'. Seen that way, 'The Raven' was ahead of its time; possibly this proved to be its downfall. Following disappointing returns and heavy criticism, it hastened the premature ending of horror film production (the feint hearts of the UK critics fuelled this too), at least until 1939, when 'Son of Frankenstein' proved there was still an audience for the macabre.To say that Lugosi fails to resist the temptation to go wonderfully over the top towards the film's close is an understatement, whereas Karloff's villain becomes a Monster-esque misunderstood, maligned good guy - and too quickly after the villains have received their just desserts, 'The Raven' comes to an end with a briskly light-hearted ending.Outrageous, but glorying in its outrageousness, this is not Universal's best horror, but possibly it is their best vehicle for Lugosi, who owns every scene he is in. Were it not for the gleeful ham on display, the subject matter could have been deeply unsettling. The censors and critics who were appalled by Vollin's vow to be "the sanest man who ever lived" took it all far too seriously, with dire consequences for Lugosi and horror films in general.

Rainey Dawn Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven. The movie The Raven is not the poem on film but rather about a neurological surgeon, Dr. Vollin (Lugosi), who is a huge fan of Poe and is stark-raven-mad (pun intended). He falls in love with Jean Thatcher and looks at her as Poe's Lenore.Karloff plays the criminal Edmond Bateman that wants to hide his looks by having Dr. Vollin (Lugosi) to make him look nice and different. He is forced to do Vollin's dirty work for him.The movie falls into a kind of madness that is highly entertaining and worth watching for fans of horror, Poe, Lugosi and/or Karloff.9/10

TheRedDeath30 There have been many films over the years to claim to be based on Poe works. This was one of a number of horror films in the 30s to make that claim and, of course, there were the Roger Corman films in the 60s. There have been many more, but very few are really based on any events in the Poe stories. Instead, they take a little nugget of the story and use the title for instant cred. This movie is no exception as it has little to do with the Poe poem, although it does come in in several places early in the film. They, also, make an attempt to tie Poe into the story, as Lugosi seems to be very obsessed with the author and has gone to lengths to duplicate some of his torture devices, which will come into play later in the movie.I think that this movie is notable for a few reasons. For one, it would be a long time before audiences would see another horror movie like this one. Hollywood was pushing the envelope with what it could get away with in terms of subject matter and movies like this and THE BLACK CAT the year before led directly to horror being banned outright in England and being censored heavily in the States. Though little is actually shown, the descriptions and scenes of torture and madness in this movie were too much for the protectors of our innocence to bear and thus censorship was put into place.The main reason I think this is so notable is for the spotlight on Lugosi. There were many movies made in this era featuring both Karloff and Lugosi to capitalize on their fame. In almost every case, Lugosi also played a minor role or second-fiddle to Karloff. Here, though, he is allowed to shine in a major role. In the years to come, he would be the star of many Poverty Row horrors, but few of them could match the quality of this movie. Thus, besides Dracula and WHITE ZOMBIE it may be one of his best horror roles. He absolutely eats up the scenery in this movie, going over the top with maniacal glee as he enacts his master plan. At first, dark and boding, his character descends into cackling insanity by the end of the flick.That is not to say that Karloff is not equally great here, though his role at times skews too closely to Frankenstein, for me, with some of the vocalizations and hand gestures that he's making. That minor quibble aside, though, he plays again a villain with some hidden heart, who ends up saving our heroes in the end. I also really enjoy the early use of Poe's pendulum as a torture device, along with the closing room, both of which have been used over and over in the history of horror, but may well see their first screen presence here (at least to my knowledge).If you want the best of the Lugosi/ Karloff movies, that is THE BLACK CAT, in my opinion. However, this is easily one of the best horror movies of the golden age and well worth the hour run time.