Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #23343 in VHS
• Released on: 1997-09-16
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Formats: Black & White, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 61 minutes

Customer Reviews

One very spooky movie
Never mind the acting or the plot in this short hair-raising exercise.

There are at least 4 elements in The Raven that contribute to its being one of the most frightening movies ever made, terrifying not so much for their immediate impact as for their subconscious effect.

1. The idea of going to a plastic surgeon to change your face & having him horribly disfigure you & using that to manipulate & control your behavior.

2. The idea of an elegant & comfortable bedroom actually being an elevator that is locked & lowered into a dungeon chamber.

3. The scene where the fiance goes to rescue the woman in the bedroom, only the bedroom is gone & he nearly drops into nothingness.

4. The walls of the elevator/bedroom closing in to crush the occupants trapped inside.

I'm glad no one took me to see this when I was 8 years old. Disappearing bedrooms in particular would have taken years of expensive therapy to expunge from my dreams.

Bela at his best..without a shadow of a doubt!
'The Raven'...along with 'Son of Frankenstein'....are Lugosi's two best films....by far in my opinion! We need to forget literary allusion here. We also need to overlook other cinematic criteria such as...other members of cast, production values, makeup...even dare I say it? Plot. The film refers and alludes to Poe...(ie. the torture chamber, the talismanic stuffed crow, the 'Lenore' stuff and also perhaps even a very subtle reference to Poe's own personal demons)....invoked in the Vollin character? Who knows?. For me the 'Black Cat' simply left me cold....too wordy, and nowadays feeble as horror. Its biggest letdown was not featuring Lugosi's talents. Karloff is technically a masterful actor...but he simply does NOT exude menace! Thus any film which gives Karloff the beefier part is doomed to fail. I actually fell asleep during the Black Cat. 'The Raven' is...by the country mile....a much superior vehicle for both Bela and Boris. We have here the perfect blend of both talents. Karloff bringing sublime pathos to Bateman.....(he brought a tear to a glass-eye with that....'hey i'm ugly but i really do have a heart routine'). A fantastic performance from Boris... I rank it one of his best. Ultimately though we are left to critique Lugosi playing the 'ultimate megalomanaical fruitloop'. And he does it like no other! I am very much a Lugosi fan but this video Rocks. Its simply his best..along with his Igor from Son of F. One scene in particular will be indelibly etched on my brain....prolly word for word. "Ill soon be krid of myee tortuure......krid of it".... then the eyebrows raise and the eyes become ecstatic. "THEN....ill be the sanest man who ever lived". Cue the maniacal laughter that only really Lugosi can do. Many have tried to emulate....there are none though like Lugosi are there? This film is simply a classic. Seminal viewing for horror fans and....although locked into the Universal themes of the day.....it's one worth buying and cherishing. It has set a standard for me. Go buy it NOW!!! Bwuhahahahahahah....lol.

If a man looks ugly he does ugly things!
So utters poor Boris Karloff just before he becomes disfigured in a deliberately botched operation by the one and only mad doctor Bela Lugosi. "The Raven" is a famous title for a not so famous classic horror film teaming of two of the greats, Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff. It has used the title of a poem by Edgar Allan Poe but there the resemblance ends and what we have is a very chilly tale about a Mad doctor , Dr. Richard Vollin who has an obssession with the writings of Poe and who in his spare time recreates the torture instruments employed in some of his short stories and poems such as "The Pit and the Pendulum". The role of the mad doctor is a field day for Bela Lugosi who has rarely had such a showy part as this after his famous role as Dracula.

The film literally reeks with creepy goings on and Boris Karloff once agin proves his worth as an actor in the role of Edmond Bateman a bearded fugitive newly escaped from San Quentin who comes to Dr. Vollin's in the hope of getting a "new face" but finds much more in the way of sinister dealings. What unfolds is probably the most macabre part of the film whereby the totally insane Lugosi further pulls Bateman into his web of terror by performing a disfiguring operation on his face which literally turns him into a monster. His new "look' is unveiled in a mirrored chamber where his horrible appearance is multiplied 6 times over to his absolute horror and he then goes on a rampage shooting his reflection with a gun to Lugosi's delight from a viewport above. Lugosi states "Your monsterous ugliness creates monsterous hate....I can use your hate!!" Which he proceeds to do. He is forced to assist the mad Lugosi in a scheme to win the hand of Jean Thatcher (Irene Ware) a young woman he assisted after a car accident, by removing any opposition to the match, her father in particular Judge Thatcher (Samuel S. Hinds).

The wonderful scenes of torture by swinging blade and compressing walls of a room are pure hokum but succeed in really giving "The Raven" a startling sort of quality that makes the film stick in your mind. Certainly Bela Lugosi has never been better and his continental accent which served him so well in countless horror efforts over the years really helps add a perfect sinister quality to his character here. Karloff comes across with the by far more sympathetic character and in the end he helps save Lugosi's potential victims at the cost of his own life.

Karloff's makeup throughout "The Raven" really is quite extraordinary and as repulsive as he becomes after the operation, his character still projects a sad quality in much the same way as his superb "Frankenstein" did.

Production values of this effort are ok. The film was not one done with a huge budget but nevertheless the scenes in Lugosi's eerie mansion, the torture chamber and the scenes in the wild storm that take up most of the last half of the films running time make it a very engrossing viewing experience. The unique opportunity "The Raven" offers to see a teaming of two 1930's horror greats in Karloff and Lugosi makes this film a viewing must for all horror fans. Enjoy!