Influencing everyone from Peter Greenaway to Stephen King via Martin Scorsese, the first in Roger Corman's Edgar Allan Poe cycle remains terrific stuff.
Armed with a smart script by Richard Matheson, Corman mines perceptible unease from the tale of a family, headed up by a masterfully creepy Vincent Price, struck by a bizarre curse in a malevolent mansion which itself becomes a tangible character.
If occasionally the supporting cast - Myrna Fahey as Price's sister, Mark Damon as her suitor - are as creaky as the old house, the mixture of English Gothic, French Grand Guignol and American low-budget thrills make for an intoxicating brew.