Based on the classic works of Edgar Allan Poe – a unique spin on three of Poe’s popular stories (The Tell Tale Heart, Cask of Amontillado & Dreams). Directors Bart Mastronardi & Alan Rowe Kelly weave together a compelling and suspenseful anthology that will captivate Poe enthusiasts and horror fans alike!

What would happen if nearly every female horror icon came together under the direction of talented horror filmmakers to celebrate their love for one of America’s greatest writers of the genre?  You would end up with Tales of Poe, which is being released today on DVD and Digital HD. Taking an original approach, Tales uses three of Poe’s most notable stories and spins them to create something that is entertaining to say the least.

Divided into three chapters the film explores revenge, murder, and the afterlife as only Poe and his fans could.

The Tell Tale Heart

This opening chapter to the film is a great first act to the anthology. One that even the most casual fan of Poe’s work would recognize. Screenwriters Bart Mastronardi,  Alan Rowe Kelly, and Michael Varrati cleverly frame this classic story in an insane asylum as we come upon The Narrator (Debbie Rochon) recalling how she murdered her employer Miss Lamarr (Alan Rowe Kelly).

Miss Lamarr was a faded movie star with a wonky eye ala Norman Desmond. Bedridden she keeps her caretaker, The Narrator at her beck and call driving her to the brink of insanity.  The Narrator simply decides that, in order to get peace and get away from that awful eye of Lamar’s is to simply kill her. Sounds like a good plan. That is, until, her madness kicks in forcing her to reveal what she had done with Lamar’s body to a visiting police officer (Joe Quick).

Heart is chock full of some hilariously gory moments and scenery chewing performances.

The Cask

Fortunato Montresor (Randy Jones) and the magnetic Gogo Montresor (Alan Rowe Kelly) have just been married. As the guests gossip about the new wife’s motives, the possibly ailing Fortunate leads the intimate wedding party into his wine vault for a special announcement. Family friend Marco Lechresi (Brewster McCall) crashes the party and things seem to be going so well. That is until Fortunato collapses. 

The story twists and turns, leading to a murder, a deception, and of course the Poe-esque morality twist.  Certainly the most entertaining of the Tales, the delicious performance from Kelly carries this segment. Like a dark Charles Busch movie, Cask is campy dramatic fun with a nasty edge.

Dreams

In the most surreal of the stories, Dreams finds A woman (Bette Cassate) laying in bed drifting in and out of consciousness as two women tend to her.  One woman is warm and kind (Amy Steel), the other is cold and menacing (Adrienne King). Who are these two caretakers? What state is the woman in? As the visions of insanity tease the bedridden maiden we begin to wonder what the difference is between the real and imagined?

This piece is a showcase of the techniccal talent behind the camera of this film. The original score by composer Tom Burns is particularly effective and at times striking as it heightens the paranoid imagery.  The dazzling visuals from Cinematographers Azmi Mert Erdem, Bart Mastronardi, and Dominick Sivilli recal the likes of Susperia’s Luciano Tovoli‘s most hyper saturated work.

Dreams plays with imagery, and mood to convey the transient consciousness of a woman recalling her life at death. This is the story that requires the most patience and allowance for interpretation as it feels like a chinese puzzle box designed by David Lynch. It is enjoyable but a little too ponderous.

Tales of Poe has one major issue and that is pacing. While a dramatic rhythm commands moments of pause, there are segments of the two hour run time that easily could have been clipped to achieve greater impact. Cask features the most briskly moving plot and, hence, was the most entertaining. The other segments while good, would have benefited from the same treatment. Overall Tales of Poe is an impassioned love letter to Edgar Allan Poe clearly made by devotees of his macabre prose. Fans of Poe will get it and revel in the reimagining of his work while pedestrian horror fans may have to work a little.