The Haunted Palace
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The Haunted Palace (1963) is an American International Pictures horror feature film starring Vincent Price, Lon Chaney Jr., and Debra Paget in a story about a village held in the grip of a cult. The film was directed by Roger Corman, and is usually listed as one in his series of eight films based on the works of American author Edgar Allan Poe. However, the film actually derives its plot from The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, a novella by H. P. Lovecraft. The film's only connection to Poe is its title, which derives from a poem by Poe published in 1839 and later incorporated into his horror tale, "The Fall of the House of Usher".
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Plot
The film starts on a dark, foggy night in 1765. The villagers in the New England town of Arkham are suspicious of the strange goings-on up in the manor overlooking the village. They suspect its inhabitant, Joseph Curwen, of being a warlock. After one of the girls in the village disappears, the terrified townsmen, torches raised, storm the castle and confront its mysterious owner. Convinced the girl has been bewitched, they tie Joseph to a tree outside his manor and burn him alive. Before dying, however, Joseph puts a curse on the men there and on the whole town of Arkham, saying he will rise from the grave years later to torment their descendants.
Flash forward a hundred and ten years in 1875. Charles Dexter Ward and his beautiful wife Anne arrive in Arkham. Charles has inherited the manor of his distant ancestor, the aforementioned Curwen, and has come to see it. The locals are obviously wary and inhospitable to him, as they believe the strange deformities (the couple witnesses a girl with no eyes as they arrive in the estate) the villagers have developed in the years since Joseph Curwen's burning to be part of the curse. They meet them first in the "Burning man" tavern, an ironic prelude for what is to come.
A deformed son is kept locked in a room at Weeden's house is referred as "it" and Weeden mentions that "it knows he has arrived". He refers to it as the "half-witted thing locked in the attic" when speaking to the doctor in the tavern. The couple encounters many deformed villagers missing eyes, limping and with other facial deformities in the village. The doctor reveals that they were gathered by Weeden in an attempt to scare the couple away. He also mentions that Curwen came to the village 150 years ago, making the year of his arrival 1725 and his age at the time abnormal as he appeared to be in his forties.
The Elder Gods are mentioned along with Cthulhu and Yog-Sothoth by the village doctor when he refers to the Necronomicon, along with advice to the couple to leave the village. The doctor also mentions that the villagers believed that Curwen wanted those beings to mate with mortal women to create a new race to rule the world.
There seems to be a creature in the pit under the palace but no information is revealed about it and it exists in the past and in the present. However Curwen mentions Torquemada the fifteenth century inquisitor and the palace may have been moved from Europe "stone by stone" as Weeden states in the tavern, perhaps Spain.
Once at the manor they meet the creepy housekeeper Simon Orne. Simon seems to know more than he's telling, but Charles is more interested in the eerie painting of Curwen, hanging over the mantle. That night he is overtaken by the spirit of his dead warlock ancestor as he gazes into the portrait and recognizes the caretaker for who he really is, his old assistant which informs him that 110 years have passed. His first step upon his return is to take revenge on the descendants of his murderers. Joseph has their names on a paper list which he tears as each one is slain. Weeden falls into the fireplace with his deformed son that Joseph releases. The second victim, Gideon, is doused in gasoline, burned alive as well. At the same time he succeeds in resuscitating his long dead mistress, using the infamous Necronomicon and even digs her corpse out of the grave to accomplish this. At first his hold on Charles is limited to the night, but as time goes on he grows stronger, eventually being in complete control. His wife, noticing the changes in her beloved husband, seeks solace in the advice of the town doctor, the one reasonable man in the village. Eventually he realizes what the possessed Charles is trying to do and foils him by burning the portrait of the dead warlock. Escaping the flames of the burning palace, Anne breathes a sigh of relief, believing the terror is finally over. But as the camera fades on Charles we realize that Joseph Curwen still inhabits his mind.
The creature in the pit
A creature with green skin, two arms, and two more limbs in his upper body seems to inhabit the pit in the underground chamber of the palace since at least 1765 and is shown three times in the film. Mortals are sacrificed to this being. The creature has huge black eyes with no pupils and growls incoherently.
Characters and cast
Characters are used anachronistically and the descendants of the past events are portrayed by the same actors.
- Joseph Curwen/Charles Dexter Ward portrayed by Vincent Price
- Anne, Ward's wife portrayed by Debra Paget
- Hester Tillinghast, Curwen's mistress and Weeden's betrothed, portrayed by Cathie Merchant
- Dr. Willet/Priam Willet portrayed by Frank Maxwell
- Simon Orne portrayed by Lon Chaney Jr.
- Jabez Hutchinson portrayed by Milton Parsons
- Ezra Weeden and his wife portrayed by Leo Gordon and Barboura Morris
- Gideon Leach/Mr. Leach portrayed by Guy Wilkerson
- Bruno portrayed by Bruno VeSota
Production notes
Roger Corman, at the time famous for his Poe-based horror films, wanted to do something different with The Haunted Palace by doing a Lovecraft story. American International Pictures had the name changed, against Corman's wishes, to keep in line with the popular Poe series. The only connection the film has with the poem is a brief quotation at the end of the film spoken by Vincent Price.
Francis Ford Coppola provided additional dialogue for the film.
The set for the village of Arkham was quite small, but was built in forced perspective so that it appeared on camera to cover more ground. Both the front of the palace and the underground dungeon appear in Corman's The Terror, which at that time was being shot piecemeal on sets from other AIP movies.
Reception
Awards and nominations
Trivia
Clips from The Haunted Palace are among the stock footage from various Corman features used for the 1974 Vincent Price film Madhouse, in which he plays a horror movie actor. The clips are presented as the early work of Price's character.
See also
