Edgar Allen Poe’s work presents the relationship between the world of the dead and that of the living in horrific ways. The 1962 film, Poe's Tales of Terror, is a horror motion picture with three sequences featuring Poe’s tales Morella, The Black Cat, and The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar. The first sequence in the film tells a story of a family haunted by its past that has sourly affected the relationship between the father and his daughter. As the sequence progresses, it emerges that the hateful relationship between the father and his daughter (Lenora) is controlled by the wishes of the spirit of the dead, Morella (wife and mother) (Arkoff, Nicholson & Corman, 1962). The situation is only remedied after the mother’s spirit initiates a cascade of events that claims the lives of both the father and daughter. The second sequence also depicts a strained family relationship that pushes the wife to engage in an illicit intimate relationship with her husband’s friend. The estranged and remorseful husband locks them in the basement of the house during one of their encounters, and the ensuing supposed spiritual noises attract the attention of the police investigators who discover the bodies of the lovers and the husband.
In the third sequence, a terminally ill man seeks the services of a mental therapist to help him bear the pain. After entering into a trance, with his consciousness oscillating between the worlds of the dead and the living, the doctor refuses the man’s pleas to release his body so he can die. When the therapist tries to force the man’s wife into marriage, the discomposing body of the man rises and kills the therapist. The short story, The Fall of the House of Usher , tells of the fate of the two surviving members of a haunted family. The story centralizes on the interaction between the two ailing members of the family and the narrator (Poe, 1839). Using the story, Poe establishes that somehow the family’s life is linked to the ancient world. The actions of the people in the house apparently, can summon the actual events of the ancient world as per the legend. Such was the case during the reading aloud of the novel, The Mad Trist, when the piercing shriek of the dying dragon and the unnerving clatter of the shield were, hear in the house.
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The film and the short story bring to the fore some gory themes and those that define social interactions between people. However, the focus is on the relationship between the world of the dead and the world of the living. The most dominant theme in the story and the film is on the power of the dead over the living. The author of the story from the film was adapted, and the novel tries to portray the dead as vengeful. In both cases, it is evident that the spirit of the dead lingers in the world of the living, planning, and waiting for the opportune moment to exact revenge for the wrongs committed against them that lead to death. Such is the case in the film’s three sequences. Through the relationship between the two worlds, the author appears to caution humanity of engaging in acts that lead to the death of others because such acts must be punished.
The media also depict the prevalence of mental problems, as shown using the themes of insanity versus rationality. The actions of the characters in the stories are founded on false believes and obsession. For instance, in the film’s first sequence, the husband’s obsession with the thought that the daughter was responsible for the death of his wife during childbirth and the resulting hatred almost drives him to insanity. He died by strangling by his wife after the exchange of spirits (Arkoff et al., 1962). A similar case is evident in the third sequence, where the hypnotist’s obsession with keeping the man’s spirit trapped in a trance leads to death. In the short story, Roderick’s decision to entomb his twin sister, Madeline, while still alive comes back to haunt him, eventually causing his death, and the sister’s spirits avenge her death (Poe, 1839). The incidents show that characters in the film and story make decisions that bode towards insanity, and rarely employ rationality.
Of the two media, I hold the belief that the film best accomplishes its purpose by using themes that give practical moral lessons. The sequences in the film depict events that can transpire in a person’s real life. For instance, false blaming of children, as the cause of death to mothers, is a common phenomenon, and intimate relationships that lead to the demise of one or both of the lovers also occurs frequently. The obsession of those mandated to care for the incapacitated people, such as the case between M. Valdemar and the hypnotist, Mr. Carmichael (Arkoff et al., 1962), cannot be ruled out. However, the film attempts to illustrate that such acts are evil. It goes the extra mile to demonstrate that the dead who get wronged usually obtain justice through revenge. In line with this, they enlist the use of spirits to affect events in the lives of the living culprits. Generally, both presentations are interesting and capture the attention of the audience. The expression of the intended themes are clear and can be easily deciphered.
References
Arkoff, S., Nicholson, J., & Corman, R. (1962). Tales of Terro r . American International Pictures.
Poe, E. A. (1839). The Fall of the House of Usher. Burton's Gentleman's Magazine.
