An interesting experiment in animation. This movie presents six computer-animated shorts that each deliver a classic tale by Edgar Allen Poe in a different style, tied together by a wrapper dialogue between Poe (represented by a raven) and Death in a cemetery. The first story is the best, “The Fall of the House of Usher,” narrated by the late great actor Christopher Lee; the second story, “Tell-Tale Heart,” illustrates Poe’s tale with stark black-and-white animation and a scratchy recording by classic horror actor Bela Lugosi, and the others—“Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar,” “The Pit and the Pendulum,” and “The Masque of Red Death” remain mostly faithful to the original stories but don’t go much beyond being intriguing artistic experiments. Kudos to the moviemakers for trying, though. Recommended for animation buffs, cineastes and Poe fans; otherwise, you probably won’t find the work all that engaging.

Not For Kids

Extras:

• Poe’s work, with its florid 19th-century wording and relative lack of dialogue, is hard to translate to the screen, and the best film adaptions—specifically those by director Roger Corman in the 1960s—took Poe’s ideas, extended them and built upon them to produce fully developed stories. Corman “appears” in “Extraordinary Tales” as the voice of the king (Prospero) in the last tale, “The Masque of Red Death.”
• I loved Christopher Lee’s narration. An irreplaceable actor who passed away in 2015, he is missed.
• The second tale, “Tell-Tale Heart,” was executive produced by Lugosi’s son, Bela G. Lugosi, a lawyer in the entertainment industry.
• True to the original story, the movie’s “Pit and the Pendulum” has lots of realistic rats in it. So a note of caution for those sensitive to that kind of thing.