Another trio of stories starring Vincent Price, this time they are loosely based on stories by Edgar Allan Poe. In the first story, we have Price being visited by his adult daughter whom he blames for killing his wife in childbirth. In the second, Peter Lorre is tormented by his wife, her cat, and her lover in life and in death. And in the last, Basil Rathbone is a hypnotist who captures Price at the point between life and death in order to take advantage of him and his wife. There are neat special effects and bits of horror sprinkled between all three. The second tale is the best of the lot, infusing a bit of humor between Price and Lorre in between the tension.  

Vincent Price is again an aging actor murdering people and it’s just as fabulous as the previous times. Here he’s a Shakespearean actor out to get the critics who denied him the accolades he feels he deserves. The gimmick this time is that he uses the plays of Shakespeare to inspire each killing. The production quality here is a bit better than say the likes of the Dr. Phibes series and Price delivers yet another high caliber performance with costumes and monologues galore. Diana Rigg also gives a lovely performance as Price’s adult daughter.  

A collection of stories written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, all three feature our man Vincent Price. The first Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment was probably my favorite of the set. Price and Sebastian Cabot are friends who meet up for dinner one evening. Secrets are revealed and regrets are made. Vincent as a controlling father standing in the way of his daughter’s romantic life in Rappaccini’s Daughter is creepy and has some wonderfully dated color effects that I still enjoyed. The last is a version of The House of the Seven Gables, about a cursed home and the feud that caused it. The story is told a bit differently than the full length feature from 1940, also featuring Price. It’s also creepy, but a bit too condensed to give the story justice.  

Rocky V is bad fan fiction that any Rocky fan can just ignore exists. Instead after Rocky IV, turn this one on instead. A retired and widowed Rocky is challenged by the current and unpopular heavyweight champion after Rocky is shown to beat him in a simulated fight. The side stories regarding Rocky Jr.’s daddy issues and the young girl from the original Rocky are wholly filler and unnecessary, but the rest of the film is an almost perfect conclusion to Rocky’s character arc as a boxer. 

Vincent Price is perfectly evil as1600s witchfinder Matthew Hopkins who is more than happy to use the powers given to him to get and do whatever the hell he wants. He terrorizes the residents of a few villages, particularly one young woman whom he fancies until she becomes tainted in his mind. There’s not much to the story other than constant brutal torture, but Price is capable of encapsulating the character perfectly.