American Gothic Week: They have failed to procure the slightest clew

MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE

1971

Directed by Gordon Hessler

Written by Christopher Wicking and Henry Slesar (based on the story "The Murders In the Rue Morgue" by Edgar Allan Poe)

Spoilers: moderate

American Gothic Week: It was many and many a year ago, in a kingdom by the sea

NIGHT TIDE

1961

Written and directed by Curtis Harrington

Spoilers: moderate

American Gothic Week: For every sound that floats from the rust within their throats is a groan

CRY OF THE BANSHEE

1970

Directed by Gordon Hessler

Written by Tim Kelly and Christopher Wicking

Spoilers: moderate

American Gothic Week: The next morning he was quite recovered, so far as regarded his mere bodily health. Of his mind I say nothing, of course.

THE OBLONG BOX

1969

Directed by Gordon Hessler

Written by Lawrence Huntington and Christopher Wicking (based on the title by Edgar Allan Poe)

Spoilers: moderate

American Gothic Week: The discovery of witches

WITCHFINDER GENERAL

aka The Conqueror Worm aka Matthew Hopkins: Witchfinder General

1968

Directed by Michael Reeves

Written by Tom Baker and Michael Reeves

Spoilers: moderate

American Gothic Week: The waves have now a redder glow—the hours are breathing faint and low

WAR-GODS OF THE DEEP

1965

Directed by Jacques Tourneur

Written by Charles Bennett, Louis M. Heyward, and David Whitaker

Spoilers: moderate

American Gothic Week: In the intensity of her wild desire for life—for life—but for life—solace and reason were the uttermost folly

THE TOMB OF LIGEIA

1964

Directed by Roger Corman

Written by Robert Towne (based on the story "Ligeia" by Edgar Allan Poe)

Spoilers: moderate

American Gothic Week: From a mere eccentricity to a dark mania

THE HAUNTED PALACE

1963

Directed by Roger Corman

Written by Charles Beaumont (based on the novella "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" by H.P. Lovecraft plus eight lines of the poem "The Haunted Palace" by Edgar Allan Poe)

Spoilers: moderate

American Gothic Week: Forgotten lore

THE RAVEN

1963

Directed by Roger Corman

Written by Richard Matheson (with several lines taken from the poem by Edgar Allan Poe)

Spoilers: moderate

American Gothic Week: The notion of that identity which at death is or is not lost for ever, was to me, at all times, a consideration of intense interest

TALES OF TERROR

1962

Directed by Roger Corman

Written by Richard Matheson (based on the stories "Morella," "The Black Cat," "The Cask of Amontillado," and "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" by Edgar Allan Poe)

Spoilers: moderate

American Gothic Week: The rigid embrace of the narrow house

PREMATURE BURIAL

1962

Directed by Roger Corman

Written by Charles Beaumont and Ray Russell (based on the story by Edgar Allan Poe)

Spoilers: moderate

American Gothic Week: I felt every fiber in my frame thrill as if I had touched the wire of a galvanic battery

PIT AND THE PENDULUM

1961

Directed by Roger Corman

Written by Richard Matheson (with one scene toward the end somewhat based on the story by Edgar Allan Poe)

Spoilers: moderate; high for the original short story

American Gothic Week: A countenance not easily to be forgotten

THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER

1960

Directed by Roger Corman

Written by Richard Matheson (based on the story by Edgar Allan Poe)

Spoiler alert: you read this in 9th grade and presumably recall that the title is not metaphorical, but somehow still only moderate