Sorry, this movie sucks

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

This is a stately, intelligent, three part horror omnibus feature adapted from stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It's good enough to compare favourably with the best films in the Price / Roger Corman / A.I.P. series of Edgar Allan Poe adaptations. The slow pacing and length of the film may not sit well for some people, but others will take delight in the atmosphere, the performances, the story telling, and all the trappings of the genre. This also benefits from some decent special effects and capable direction by Sidney Salkow (who also guided star Vincent Price in "The Last Man on Earth").In "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment", Price stars with Sebastian Cabot as they play elderly friends Alex Medbourne and Dr. Carl Heidegger. One dark and stormy night, they enter the crypt of Carls' long dead wife Sylvia Ward (Mari Blanchard), who is restored to life and youth by some miraculous, strange liquid seeping into the crypt. It also restores youth to Alex and Carl when they sample the liquid, but there are consequences for their actions - as well as some secrets that will be exposed. The single most enjoyable aspect of this segment is Cabots' wonderful, heartfelt performance.Price plays Giacomo Rappaccini in "Rappaccini's Daughter". In addition to his lovely daughter Beatrice (Joyce Taylor), Giacomo has a rather lush garden - and Beatrice has something in common with the dangerous plants and flowers in this garden. Well intentioned young Giovanni Guasconti (Brett Halsey) yearns to be her suitor, but Giacomo seeks to interfere. This portion of the picture can boast a clever and interesting premise.Price is the villain, Gerald Pyncheon, in an abbreviated version of "The House of the Seven Gables". (23 years earlier, he'd played the hero in a feature length adaptation of this story.) Gerald and his younger wife Alice (Beverly Garland) arrive at the family home so he can search for the treasures hidden on the premises. Alice is witness to supernatural phenomena and learns of a feud between the Pyncheon and Maulle clans. Handsome Richard Denning co-stars as the heroic Jonathan Maulle. Garland is very appealing, and Price has fun just as he always did with his villainous roles.Fans of old school horror, anthologies, and the actors involved will likely have a good time with "Twice-Told Tales". While Salkow and company dare to take their time with the pacing, patient viewers will be pleased with the results.Eight out of 10.

Here we have yet another film I have not seen in years, watching it again after all these years I found the film quite good - even better than I recalled it to be. Three stories based on Nathaniel Hawthorne's Twice-Told Tales - all three a excellent! Dr. Heidegger's Experiment - I quite enjoyed Sebastian Cabot heartbreaking performance as Dr. Carl Heidigger. It is a sad romantic tale of a man who was to be married but his wife died the night before the wedding. He remained in-love with her for 38 years. One night he and his long time friend Alex Medbourne (Price) discover a secret - a type of fountain of youth. That same night Dr. Heidegger also discovered another secret - a 38 year old dark secret.Rappaccini's Daughter - Dr. Giacomo Rappaccini (Price) wife was an adulteress - he only wanted to protect his daughter from the pains of adultery and to make sure she did not make the same mistake her mother did. Rappaccini's Daughter, Beatrice (Taylor), falls for a young man and he falls for her. But how can they marry when Beatrice can kill him with one touch of the poison her father inoculates her with? The House of the Seven Gables - Gerald Pyncheon (Price) and his sister Hannah Pyncheon (deWit) have inherited the haunted house and a family curse. There is more to their inheritance than this if they can find the vault. But will Mathew's ghost allow them to? All three of the tales are good but of the three it is Dr. Heidegger's Experiment that I found was the best, saddest and most horrifying of all.9/10

Another triple play of Poe/Price, like Tales of Terror, but without Corman, and not quite as good. The stories are a bit too nice... a bit melodramatic and drawn out. The tales are Heidegger's Experiment, Rappaccini's Daughter and The House of Seven Gables, and the stories are really the stars. Heidegger's explores that nugget of eternal life, Rappaccini's is about the relationship of poison and purity and Seven Gables is a twisted ghost/blood feud with lots and lots of blood. All three are certainly unusual topics, but I'd say Heidegger's and Rappacini's were my favourite. Again, the sets and design were fantastic, if limited in scope and the actresses beautiful (especially Garland and Taylor). The attention to detail is remarkable. Still, it's something only a Price/Poe fan will love, which is fine by me.

Missed this 1963 film classic with Vincent Price doing his usual thing after his big stardom started to fade away and he turned to horror films and made a very outstanding contribution to the greats like Boris Karloff and many more. This film features the writing of a very famous author, Nathaniel Hawthorne who will hold your interest in which Vincent Price plays all three main actors in all the tales which involves very strange behavior of a father to wants to protect his daughter from the sins of the world and has given her a secret power which destroys everything she touches. You will definitely enjoy all of these tales and the acting is outstanding by Beverly Garland and Sebastian Cabot. Enjoy.