Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 - October 7, 1849) is my favorite American author! His poems ("The Raven", "A Dream Within A Dream") and short stories ("The Tell-Tale Heart", "The Black Cat", "The Pit and the Pendulum") are what turned me on to reading around 8th grade and made me want to be a writer. I have my favorite poems and stories but there have also been a number of movies made based on his works (some loosely based and some faithful) and Chernobog's Lair presents the Top 10 Edgar Allan Poe Movies:#9 Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932) Béla Lugosi plays Dr. Mirakle, a mad scientist experimenting with combining ape and human blood in this very loose adaptation of the story.
#8 The Tomb of Ligeia (1964) Vincent Price plays Verden Fell, who is haunted by his dead wife's memory.
#7 The Oblong Box (1969) Vincent Price plays Sir Julian Markham, an aristocrat who keeps his disfigured brother locked in a tower!
#6 The Black Cat, "Masters of Horror" (2007) Jeffrey Combs plays Edgar Allan Poe himself in this 1-hour made for cable horror series. Later, Combs would appear again as Poe in his one-man stage show "Nevermore: An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe".
#5 The Raven (1935) Béla plays Dr. Richard Vollin, a doctor obsessed with Edgar Allan Poe who creates elaborate torture devices.
#4 The Black Cat (1934) Boris Karloff plays Hjalmar Poelzig opposite Béla Lugosi in this macabre story of murder and satanic ritual. The scene at the end when Béla is skinning Boris alive in shadow is particularly disturbing for it's time!
#3 The Pit and the Pendulum (1961) Vincent Price plays Nicholas Medina who is tortured by his ancestor who was involved in the Spanish Inquisition.
#2 The Masque of the Red Death (1964) Vincent Price plays Prince Prospero, a Satanic ruler who terrorizes his peasants while using his castle as a refuge from the Red Death!
#1 The House of Usher (1959) Vincent Price plays Roderick Usher the eccentric last survivor of an old family who goes insane and buries his sister alive as his house crumbles around him!
