Mike Flanagan’s latest Netflix series, “The Fall of the House of Usher,” which premieres on Netflix on Oct. 12, blends several Edgar Allan Poe stories into a dark tale of a wealthy family’s decline and destruction.
If you need a crash course on the works of Poe beforehand, or want to do a deeper dive after you binge the series, here are the most essential film adaptations of the macabre master’s work.
If you want to pare the list down even more, start with Roger Corman’s fantastic series of Poe films from the 1960s, most of which starred horror legend Vincent Price.
“The Raven” (1935)
This classic is not based on a specific story, but features a Poe-obsessed Bela Lugosi as brilliant neurosurgeon Dr. Richard Vollin, who has several torture devices in his basement. He falls in love with a woman whose life he’s saved, but when she prefers another, he plots his terrible revenge. He’s reluctantly aided by an escaped killer (Boris Karloff) who unwisely sought Vollin’s services for a new face and is dependent on the doctor to alter his now-hideous visage back to something less gruesome.
Stream on Peacock or The Roku Channel
“Murders in the Rue Morgue” (1932)
In this Pre-Code thriller based on the story of the same name, Bela Lugosi is the evil Doctor Mirakle. The carnival showman and scientist is trying to make a human-ape hybrid by abducting women and given them blood infusions from his gorilla, Erik. Poe’s Detective Lupin is here a medical student who investigates when the victims are found in the Seine… and who must save his fiancée from the mad doctor’s clutches.
Stream on The Roku Channel or Criterion Channel
“The Tell-Tale Heart” (1953)
While there are many film adaptations of this story, this expressionistic Oscar-animated short — narrated by James Mason — gets to the (ahem) heart of the matter much more quickly and more chillingly.
Stream on YouTube
“House of Usher” (1960)
Roger Corman’s first Poe adaptation sets the perfect Gothic tone, with a blond Vincent Price as the aristocratic Roderick Usher. He and his sister Madeline (Myrna Fahey) are the last of their distinguished family: Roderick is tormented by his overly acute senses and Madeline is subject to catalepsy, fainting spells that make it seem she is dead. And, of course, their spooky family home has a crypt in the basement.
Stream on Pluto or rent on Amazon Prime Video or Apple TV+
“The Pit and the Pendulum” (1961)
Corman and Price reunite for an even more disturbing Poe tale set in 16th Century Spain. Price has a dual role as Nicholas Medina and his torture-loving late father Sebastian. Nicholas’ wife (Barbara Steele) has a plan to drive him mad and she succeeds, but she’s the one who pays the price.
Stream on Freevee, Hoopla or Pluto or Tubi
“The Premature Burial” (1962)
Ray Milland plays a man who is so terrified of being buried alive, he builds an elaborate tomb with several methods of escape. What could possibly go wrong? This often psychedelic adaption is also directed by Roger Corman.
Stream on Crackle, The Roku Channel or Tubi
“Tales of Terror” (1962)
The second segment of this anthology film, which stars Vincent Price and Peter Lorre, combines “The Black Cat” and “The Cask of Amontillado” in a fairly lighthearted way.
Stream on Pluto or rent on Vudu or Apple TV+.
“The Masque of the Red Death” (1964)
In what many consider the best of Roger Corman’s Poe films, Vincent Price plays the cruel Prince Prospero, who wants for nothing while the people of his kingdom are left to starve and die of the Red Death. Prospero is safe behind his castle walls… until a certain red-robed figure crashes his decadent party.
Stream on Pluto or rent on Amazon Prime Video or Apple TV+.
“The Tomb of Ligeia” (1964)
Hermit-like widower Vincent Price meets future bride Rowena (Elizabeth Shepherd) at the grave of his first wife, Ligeia. But he’s still haunted by Ligeia, whose spirit may or may not be in a malevolent cat that frequents her grave.
Rent from Vudu
“Toby Dammit” (1968)
In the anthology film “Spirits of the Dead,” Federico Fellini directs the installment based on Poe’s satirical tale “Never Bet the Devil Your Head.” Terence Stamp stars as a washed-up actor filming a movie in Rome who keeps seeing a mysterious little girl with a white ball.
Stream on The Criterion Channel
“Two Evil Eyes” (1990)
George Romero and Dario Argento each film a segment in this two-part anthology: “Suspiria” helmer Argento puts his spin on Poe’s “The Black Cat,” in which a crime scene photographer named Rod Usher (Harvey Keitel) takes an instant dislike to his girlfriend Annabel’s new kitty. The gruesome tale also includes elements of “The Pit and the Pendulum” and “The Cask of Amantillado.”
Stream on Prime Video, The Roku Channel or Tubi
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