American Gothic Week: That motley drama—oh, be sure it shall not be forgot! With its Phantom chased forevermore by a crowd who seize it not

THE COMEDY OF TERRORS

1964

Directed by Jacques Tourneur

Written by Richard Matheson (based on his own imagination! wow!)

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: 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

Steven Spielberg, part XI: Not only of sight and sound, but of mind

TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE

Plumbing his childhood once again, we find Spielberg teaming up with his pal John Landis, as well as Australian action-monger George Miller and rising schlockmeister Joe Dante, in order to bring their beloved TV show back to life.  You'll soon find yourself intently wishing that Spielberg, and especially Landis, hadn't bothered at all.  But then again, there's Miller and Dante, and what you wind up with is an anthology movie that averages out to legitimately awesome—particularly if you don't look too closely at any of the math you used to arrive at that conclusion.

1983

Directed by John Landis (Prologue, "Time Out"), Steven Spielberg ("Kick the Can"), Joe Dante ("It's a Good Life"), and George Miller ("Nightmare at 20,000 Feet")

Written by John Landis (Prologue, "Time Out"), George Clayton Johnson, Richard Matheson, and Melissa Mathison ("Kick the Can"), Jerome Bixby and Richard Matheson ("It's a Good Life"), and Richard Matheson ("Nightmare at 20,000 Feet")

With...

Prologue: Albert Brooks (The Driver) and Dan Akroyd (The Passenger)

"Time Out": Vic Morrow (Bill Connor)

"Kick the Can": Scatman Crothers (Mr. Bloom)

"It's a Good Life": Kathleen Quinlan (Helen Foley) and Jeremy Licht (Anthony)

"Nightmare at 20,000 Feet": John Lithgow (John Valentine)

...and Burgess Meredith (The Narrator)

Spoiler alert: moderate

Steven Spielberg, part I: Never give a trucker an even break

DUEL

Duel is the best TV movie ever made by a first-time film director in 13 days with practically no dialogue that isn't one guy talking to himself.  More importantly, it's also one of the supreme chase movies of all time.  (Plus, it has about thirty posters and many of them are just awesome, but I think I like the one above most of all.)

1971

Directed by Steven Spielberg

Written by Richard Matheson (based on the short story)

With Dennis Weaver ft. Dale Van Sickle (David Mann) and Cary Loftin (The Truck Driver)

Spoiler alert: severe

Note: this is the re-edited text of a review written in April 2015; I assure you that my feelings have not changed a bit. but I repost it for completeness in the context of this, our Steven Spielberg retrospective, which begins right here and right now.

Never give a trucker an even break

DUEL

Duel is the best TV movie ever made by a first-time film director in 13 days with practically no dialogue that isn't one guy talking to himself.  More importantly, it's also one of the supreme chase movies of all time.  (Plus, it has about thirty posters and all of them are just awesome.)

1971
Directed by Steven Spielberg
Written by Richard Matheson (based on the short story)
With Dennis Weaver ft. Dale Van Sickle (David Mann) and Cary Loftin (The Truck Driver)

Spoiler alert: severe

Cardboard Science: There is no zero

THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN

The single best science fiction film of the 1950s may even be the single best film of the 1950s, period, and one of the most emotionally resonant motion pictures in the medium's history.  Plus: the return of Tamara the Tarantula, because that's the kind of thing you'd expect in a movie billed as the "best" anything.

1957
Directed by Jack Arnold
Written by Richard Matheson and Richard Allan Simmons (based on the novel The Shrinking Man by Richard Matheson)
With Grant Williams (Scott Carey), Randy Stuart (Louise Carey), Paul Langton (Charlie Carey), April Kent (Clarice), Orangey (Butch), and Tamara (an extremely large black widow)

Spoiler alert: high