American Gothic Week: In case any of you are afraid of being bored, I promise you it won't take long—it's only a small tribute

MADHOUSE

1974

Directed by Jim Davis

Written by Ken Levinson and Greg Morrison (based on the novel Devilday by Angus Hall)

Spoilers: highish

American Gothic Week: To take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them

THEATRE OF BLOOD

1973

Directed by Douglas Hickox

Written by Stanley Mann, John Kohn, and Anthony Greville-Bell

Spoilers: moderate

American Gothic Week: You cannot threaten the dead with death, my friend!

DR. PHIBES RISES AGAIN

Directed by Robert Fuest

Written by Robert Blees and Robert Fuest

Spoilers: moderate

American Gothic Week: Nine eternities in doom!

THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES

1971

Directed by Robert Fuest

Written by James Whiton, William Goldstein, and Robert Fuest

Spoilers: mild

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: Help! I'm being disorientated!

SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN

1970

Directed by Gordon Hessler

Written by Milton Subotsky and Christopher Wicking (based on the novel The Disorientated Man by Steven V. Francis and W. Howard Baker d/b/a "Peter Saxon")

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: And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all

THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH

1964

Directed by Roger Corman

Written by Charles Beaumont and R. Wright Campbell (based on the stories "The Masque of the Red Death" and "Hop-Frog" by Edgar Allan Poe)

Spoilers: what part of "illimitable dominion" is unclear? (high)

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: No longer of God's making, but the monstrous offspring of man's depraved fancy, glowing with only an evil mockery of beauty

TWICE-TOLD TALES

1963

Directed by Sidney Salkow

Written by Robert E. Kent (based on the stories "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment" and "Rapaccini's Daughter" and the novel The House of Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne)

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: When we are alone for a long time, we people space with phantoms

DIARY OF A MADMAN

1963

Directed by Reginald Le Borg

Written by Robert E. Kent (based on the stories "Diary of a Madman" and "The Horla" by Guy de Maupassant)

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: Determined to prove a villain

TOWER OF LONDON

1962

Directed by Roger Corman

Written by Leo Gordon, F. Amos Powell, and Robert E. Kent

Spoilers: the Plantagenets don't make it

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