Simply Perfect

Just perfect...

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The Haunting of Morella (1990) ** (out of 4)Based on the Poe story, Morella (Nicole Eggert) is put to death for being a witch but before dying she passes off a curse in front of her husband and baby daughter. Seventeen years pass and the daughter (also played by Eggert) begins to have strange visions and soon a possession begins.Jim Wynorski's THE HAUNTING OF MORELLA deserves a lot of credit. It was a Roger Corman produced cheapie but you have to give it credit for at least looking like an authentic period piece. I must admit that I was really shocked to see how good the film looked. More times than not these low-budget movies update the setting to where they don't have to worry about costumes and other things like that but that's not the case here. I thought the director did a very good job at delivering a nice atmosphere and the setting was perfect.As far as the film goes, I wouldn't call it a complete success but there are enough interesting moments to make it worth sitting through. As you should expect from the director, the horror elements often take a back seat to the nudity and sexuality. There's plenty of both here but the horror elements aren't too bad for what they are. There are a couple bloody moments that will have fans of the genre happy.David McCallum offers up a good performance in his role. Eggert is simply okay in her part. Lana Clarkson stands out in the role of the friend and you've also got Gail Thackray in a small part. THE HAUNTING OF MORELLA isn't a complete success but it's certainly entertaining enough to make it worth watching.

Morella (Nicole Eggert) is killed in the opening minutes for murder and witchcraft as her husband Gideon (David McCallum) looks on with their infant child. 17 years later, the child Lenora (Eggert again) is all grown up and soon to receive an sizable trust fund on her 18th birthday. But she is also the target of her teacher Coel (Lana Clarkson), who was Morella's accomplice back in the day, and hopes to put her old friend's soul in this new body. Loosely based on Poe's "Morella" short story, this feature runs only 82-minutes (the film ends at 78 minutes) but seems to go on a lot longer than that. Director Jim Wynorski gives the story what every critic of Poe thought it was missing - lots of topless women running around. To be fair, it succeeds on an exploitation level, but you'll never confuse this with a 1960s Corman Poe adaptation. And it is a nice looking production because this is back when Wynorski gave a damn. Eggert was "hot" off CHARLES IN CHARGE at the time so this must have seemed edgy for her. Regardless, she uses an obvious body double during her nude scenes. It is hilarious seeing her and Clarkson on screen as there is over a foot height differential, which leaves Eggert level with Clarkson's chest. Concorde staple Maria Ford has a smaller role as a servant. The film ends with the ridiculous on screen words "I still live!"

Absolutely atrocious "horror" movie. A witch is put to death in colonial America leaving behind an infant daughter. 17 years later she tries to return through the body of her now grown up kid.As you can see this has nothing to do with Poe's classic short story. This is a very obvious story full of bad acting and unintentionally hilarious dialogue. The only reason this was made was to show as much female nudity as possible in a R rated film. The women are truly beautiful here but have zero acting ability. When see a horror movie I expect to see just that--not a skin flick. Lousy sets too. The crypt at the end looks like it was made out of cardboard! It's really sad to see a talented actor like David McCallum reduced to making dreck like this. I guess he was desperate for work. Boring and stupid and an insult to Poe. Even the VERY frequent nude scenes can't save this. A 1 all the way.

If the blind recluse Gideon Locke seems a tad depressed and bewildered in 1990's "The Haunting of Morella," I suppose he's got reasonable enough cause. Seventeen years earlier, his beautiful wife Morella had been crucified and eye-gouged to death for the crime of witchcraft (in an opening scene that still pales in comparison with the similar one in Mario Bava's 1961 horror classic "Black Sunday"), and now, his look-alike daughter Lenora is beginning to show signs of possession. This by-now-familiar storyline has been padded out with gratuitous (but always welcome!) nudity, lesbianism, mucho gore and various gross-out FX to the point where any resemblance to Poe's short short story "Morella" is glancing at best. This being a Roger Corman production, the film has been put together on the cheap, but typical for Corman, still manages to look handsome enough. In her dual roles as Morella and Lenora, Nicole Eggert proves something of a mixed blessing. She is OK in the evil witch role, but hardly seems a proper young 19th century British lass; more like a whiny Valley girl. As her towering and murderess governess, Lana Clarkson literally stands out in this cast. Her nighttime waterfall tryst with servant girl Maria Ford is a hoot and a half, as I'm not certain that Frederick's of Hollywood existed 200 years ago! Best of all, of course, is my main man, David McCallum, as Lenora's reclusive father. Blind, unkempt and constantly rattled, he is here as different a character as can be imagined from supercool U.N.C.L.E. agent Illya Kuryakin. Anyway, while nothing great, "The Haunting of Morella" should prove just fine for an evening's entertainment. Oh...I just love the name of the actor who passes sentence on Morella in the film's opening scene: Clement von Franckenstein!