- Director: Roger Corman
- Writers: Robert Towne
- Stars: Vincent Price, Elizabeth Shepherd, John Westbrook
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 22 Minutes
- Link: https://amzn.to/33bPBIq
Synopsis
“You cannot bury her in consecrated ground!” Shouts the preacher. She will lay in my ground, says Verden Fell. “I will her not to die!” He says. They argue, and a cat jumps on the coffin, making the dead woman open her eyes. The priest leaves in anger, and we see that the woman is Ligeia, and she’s being buried in the tomb. Credits roll.
We return to the middle of a fox hunt. Rowena and Christopher break away from the pack to explore a ruined abbey. It’s a big old place with crumbling stone walls, a huge number of graves, the tomb of Ligeia, still guarded by that damned cat. The cat scares the horse, which throws Rowena to the ground. She looks up and spots Verden Fell, who scares the crap out of her.
Verden wears funky sunglasses since he has a bad reaction to sunlight. He carries Rowena home to mend her hurt leg. He has a gigantic house right near the cemetery. Rowena’s father, Lord Travanion comes in with the dead fox, but the fox goes missing. Rowena’s foot is fine, so they all leave Verden alone.
The next day, Rowena finds an excuse to visit Verden. He attacks her until he gets a good look at her. “Never, never come here unannounced!” He gives her a good scare. He’s afraid of some woman who will arrive unannounced. They argue, but they’re clearly attracted to one another. They’re about to kiss when the cat attacks and claws Rowena. Just then, Christopher arrives.
Verden’s house is filled with Egyptian artwork and relics. He explains to Christopher that most of them are copies. Rowena asks Kendrick the butler about Ligeia, but he won’t say anything on the topic.
Verden and Christopher go out to see the tomb, and the date of her death has been cut out. He thinks that it’s a sign of Ligeia’s return. Rowena follows the black cat to retrieve Verden’s sunglasses. She climbs all the way up to the top of the bell tower. The bell starts to ring, and the men have to rescue Rowena. One thing leads to another, and Rowena and Verden get married. Verden puts the abbey up for sale.
Christopher, a lawyer, points out that there was never a death certificate for Ligeia, and the abbey is in her name. He can’t be rid of the place until the problem is solved. The status of the marriage to Rowena is also in question.
They have a little dinner party, and the conversation turns to hypnosis, as so often happens at dinner parties. They set up a demonstration. Rowena’s mother died when she was three, so he hypnotizes her and asks questions about her nearly unknown mother. She remembers a lot under hypnosis, but then her voice changes. She starts talking in a different voice, that of Ligeia.
That night, Rowena dreams of the dead fox, the cat, the dungeon, and Ligeia. When she wakes up, the dead fox is on her chest, which is good for yet another scream. When she goes back, it’s gone. Rowena comes to the conclusion that Ligeia is alive somewhere in the abbey.
Christopher comes looking for Verden, but he’s not home and Kendrick won’t tell them where he is. He also won’t tell where Ligeia is; he doesn’t insist that she’s dead, which is odd. Christopher orders the tomb of Ligeia to be dug up.
Meanwhile, Rowena is locked in her bedroom with the evil cat, who screams and flies all over the place. She breaks a mirror and finds a passage on the other side. Christopher finds the woman in the tomb is made of wax and Rowena finds Verden’s inner sanctum along with a bed containing Ligeia’s corpse.
Christopher and Kendrick come in and explain that Ligeia has done this to Verden. She controls him from beyond the grave. Rowena pretends to be Ligeia and uses the hypnosis commands to release him. Then she falls down dead.
Verden snaps out of it finally. He picks up Ligeia’s corpse and throws her into the fire. He then picks up Rowena and puts her in Ligeia’s bed. Then, Ligeia walks in and the two fight, and he kills her, but it turns out that he killed Rowena. Verden then decides to kill the cat, so he chases it all over the room. The cat claws his eyes out, and then he accidentally sets the house on fire.
The roof collapses on Verden and the cat. Outside, Rowena wakes up.
Commentary
Roger Corman said this was the biggest and most exciting of his Poe films; it is also the last of them. The setting, Castle Acre Priory in Norfolk, UK, is perfect. It’s expansive, ancient, and creepy. Actors are barely needed beyond that place!
There’s little to no humor here, and it’s all pretty serious. That’s gotta be the meanest cat ever put on film. This probably is the best (maybe because it’s the most serious) of the Price/Corman/Poe collaborations.