Christmas has come early for Vincent Price fans (like myself) and aficionados of Roger Corman's 1960s-lensed films inspired by the feverish imaginings of Edgar Allan Poe, as Arrow Films unwrap their Six Gothic Tales Blu-ray box-set (due out on 8 December).
Included in the box-set is 1960's The Fall of the House of Usher and 1961's The Pit and the Pendulum (both released separately earlier this year); 1962's Tales of Terror (which adapts Poe’s Morella, The Black Cat and The Facts in the Case of Mr Valdemar); 1963's The Raven (a comic take on Poe's poem co-starring Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre); 1964's The Haunted Palace (the first screen adaptation of a HP Lovecraft story); and the necromantic masterpiece The Tomb of Ligeia, which ended the Poe/Price/Corman cycle in 1965.
This limited edition run of just 2000 copies features all six features in high definition Blu-ray (based on the MGM HD masters, with additional restoration overseen by Arrow), with original uncompressed mono PCM audio and optional English subtitles. The special features are pretty impressive (click here for the full list) and there's a hardback collector’s book which features full repros of three comic tie-ins as well as some insightful essays on the films.
While there are no plans for any Steelbook releases for these titles, unlike The House of Usher and The Pit & the Pendulum, Arrow will be releasing The Haunted Palace and The Tomb of Ligeia as standalone Blu-ray releases on 23 February 2015, featuring some wicked cover designs; while Jacques Tourneur's 1963 spoof The Comedy of Terrors (one of my favourites) will be out on 16 February. The Raven will also be released in 2015, but no date has been set, and the same goes for Tales of the Terror.
And if you are wondering why Masque of the Red Death isn't included in this box-set - ask StudioCanal. They own the print and denied Arrow's request to sublicence it for this release. Silly them! Don't they know there are some serious completists out there (me included).
I'll be posting reviews of the box-set and its contents shortly, so watch this space!
Amazon Order Link Here £61.25 Arrow Video Order Link Here £69.99 Zavvi Order Link Here £59.99
