- Director: Roger Corman
- Writers: Richard Matheson
- Stars: Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 26 Minutes
- Link: https://amzn.to/3eXY7AC
Synopsis
Dr. Craven “draws” a raven in the air with his magic to entertain himself. He gets up and goes into the shrine room for his dead wife, Lenore. We see that he’s a little nervous and more than a little clumsy. His daughter Estelle says Lenore has been dead for two years now, and Craven needs to start getting over it.
Not long after, he hears a tapping, a rapping at his chamber door. No— it’s at the window. It’s a big black bird, and Craven lets it inside. “Are you some dark-winged messenger from beyond?”
“How the hell should I know?” Answers the Raven. “Would you give me some wine?” The bird explains that he’s Dr. Bedlo, and he’s been enchanted. Can Craven restore him to his rightful form? Bedlo mentions the ingredients they need for a spell, and Craven thinks maybe those items are in his dead father’s old laboratory. They go down there and start mixing things. The raven starts to drink the concoction, and BOOM! Now he’s Dr. Bedlo, who looks a lot like Peter Lorre.
Bedlo explains that Dr. Scarabus was the one who enchanted him. Scarabus does magic only using his hands; gesture magic is the most advanced sorcery. They don’t have enough of the potion so they have to rob Craven’s dead father of some “dead man’s hair.” The old corpse moans, “Beware!”
Finally, Bedlo is human again, but he needs to go back to Scarabus’ castle to retrieve his magical equipment. Bedlo notices a picture of Lenore and mentions that he saw her at the Scarabus place earlier that very evening. Craven decides he’ll accompany Bedlo to the castle. Before they leave, Craven’s servant is possessed and turns against them, but Craven shoots him with magic, which snaps him out of it. They are joined by Rexford, Bedlo’s son, and Estelle, Craven’s daughter.
They arrive at the castle and go inside. Scarabus introduces himself, and he seems very friendly. Scarabus calls his maid, who does resemble Lenore, but it’s not her. Scarabus offers them dinner. Craven thinks Scarabus and his father were bitter enemies, but Scarabus denies that. Then they start to talk shop, going on about hand manipulation magic. Bedlo wants his magic equipment returned, and he drunkenly challenges Scarabus to a dual— for the second time tonight.
Bedlo attacks Scarabus, and he’s useless. Scarabus makes a fool out of him, but that doesn’t take much effort. Scarabus turns him into bubbling raspberry jelly. They all go to their bedrooms after that, but Craven sees the real Lenore outside his window.
Scarabus and Lenore talk. She faked her own death to be with him because he’s rich and powerful. Rexford goes to warn Craven but finds his father instead, still alive. We soon see that Bedlo has been working with Scarabus all along.
They all end up in the main room together. Craven is turned to stone and Bedlo is wrapped in ropes. Scarabus turns against everyone. He turns Bedlo back into a bird. Bedlo comes back, he was only pretending to be a traitor. Bedlo frees Craven.
Craven and Scarabus have a duel to the death. They shoot comical spells at each other, snakes, bats, knives, and lightning bolts. Scarabus loses, and Lenore claims that she was mind-controlled by Scarabus, but he doesn’t fall for it. The castle catches fire, and everyone rushes to the exit. Later, we see Scarabus and Lenore crawling out of the wreckage; he’s lost most of his powers.
Commentary
That was a really well-trained bird they used for this. This has all the usual horror-trope set pieces and themes, but there’s not a bit of it taken seriously. The music alone is the standard comedic bouncy stuff you hear in a comedy. The magic effects at the end are pretty good for the time period, but it’s no Harry Potter.
Price and Lorre are both terrific here. Karloff is too old to get much action, but he’s fine too. Edgar Allen Poe, on the other hand, is still spinning in his grave.