From B-movie production company American International comes The Haunted Palace (1963), directed by Roger Corman and starring Vincent Price. Based on the HP Lovecraft novella The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, The Haunted Palace is chock full of delicious gothic set pieces and some great necromantic sorcery. What stood out immediately was the color palette: bright blues and dingy browns but most distinctively was the hint of brilliant, sickly green that just oozes evil. Vincent Price gives a performance that is somewhere between pure evil and hammy (he seems quite comfortable with those kind of roles). Debra Paget is gorgeous as his wife. The supporting cast includes mediocre performances from Lon Chaney Jr. and Elijah Cook Jr, among others. Surprisingly, the budget doesn't show through much. Corman maintains an ominous atmosphere and peppers in a few nice shock moments. The film dragged a bit towards the end, but it's definitely worth a watch.
7/10
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