Tales
Of Poe (2014/Wild Eye DVD)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: D Film: C
Classic
Edgar Allan Poe short stories are brought to life with a modern twist
in the new horror anthology film Tales of Poe (2014), which
stars scream queens Adrienne King (Friday the 13th, Friday
the 13th, Part 2), Caroline Williams
(Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Zombie's Halloween 2), Amy
Steel (Friday the 13th, Part 2, April
Fool's Day), Debbie Rochon (Model Hunger, Hell Town),
and Lesleh Donaldson (Happy Birthday to Me, Funeral Home).
Tales
of Poe is divided into three chapters including The
Tell-Tale Heart, The Cask of Amontillado, and
Dreams and is directed by Bart Mastronardi and Alan
Rowe Kelly. The strongest piece in my opinion is The Telltale
Heart, which features Debbie Rochon (one of my favorites) as
a twisted nurse who can't seem to deal with the dead eye of her
elderly patient'. The Cask has some great gore effects
that make you feel pretty bad for the main character and Dreams
is a pretty lucid and interesting piece. Overall, the gory film is
well-shot and decently acted but at times, the material doesn't
translate to screen as well as it did on page.
The
standard definition transfer looks fine on DVD with an anamorphic
widescreen aspect ratio of 1.78:1 that could definitely benefit from
a high definition upgrade. Much of the film is dark with high
contrast shadows where some detail is lost due to DVD - some details
are a bit softer than they should be, but overall the film looks fine
for the format. Bet Blu-ray would resolve the darkness more
effectively. A lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 track makes up the audio,
which sounds good on a home surround sound system, but nothing to
necessarily write home about.
The
only extras are trailers.
If
you're a fan of indie horror and/or the works of Edgar Allan Poe,
then you may want to give this film a look. It's nice to see these
Scream Queen actresses back onscreen and some of the special effects
here aren’t half bad. I wouldn't say these compare, however, to
the Roger Corman Poe films by any stretch.
-
James Lockhart
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/
