The Haunted Palace

About The Haunted Palace

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".

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.