Night 20: ‘The Raven’ (1935)
This is part of the ‘31 Nights of Horror Classics’ series, which I’ll be doing for Halloween 2017. Every night of this month, I’ll be watching a horror film made before the 90s and I’ll be posting a short review here.
Don’t ever dear to cross a man in love! Especially if he is a devotee of Edgar Allan Poe.
Doctor Vollin (Bela Lugosi) is a talented professional who is obsessed with Poe’s story. One day, he is summoned to treat an emergency and save a young woman’s life. He does, and it becomes love at first sight for the Doctor. But the father of the girl refuses to accept an arrangement between them, pushing her instead towards a younger suitor. Vollin decides to take revenge by blackmailing one of his patients, Edmond Bateman (Boris Karloff) and calling upon the woman, her suitor and her father for what promises to be a very interesting evening.
The Raven is the third adaptation of Poe’s work with Bela Lugosi that has made it to my list of 31 classic horror films.
Unlike The Black Cat, the idea of The Raven does play a much important role in the story. Not only is the poem mentioned a couple of times, as well as appearing as a play in which Jean (Irene Ware) plays the raven itself, but it’s also linked to the idea of an obsessive love. An ailment that affects Doctor Vollin and ultimately leads him to create a murderous maze for his victims.
Oddly enough, the movie still reminded me of The Black Cat, where another evil man traps his victims in a house in order to fulfill his dark desires. This time, however, Lugosi and Karloff’s roles are reversed. Here, Lugosi is the vicious mad man, while Karloff plays the anti-hero whom ends up saving the day in the end.
Karloff’s character also adds an interesting layer of meaning to the film. While Vollin utilizes Bateman’s belief about physical ugliness reflecting internal malice to control him, Jean challenges this idea, managing to make him turn against his evil ‘creator’.
Jean and most of the secondary characters are interesting, and the actors gave strong enough performances to grab your attention.
Unfortunately, we don’t get enough time with our female lead nor Bateman, which hampers the effectiveness of both.
Another low point of the movie comes from the Doctor’s character arc. The line between Poe aficionado to full-on torture fan is crossed a little too fast. Although replicating Poe’s machines is a big hint about his interests, it simply doesn’t add up with his treatment of Jean by the end.
The Raven is worth a watch mostly due to the numerous little Easter eggs to Poe’s works, as well some very good cinematography. If you are interested in something with some thrills and no gore whatsoever, this is your film.
Grade: 6/10.
Scare Factor: a few scary images.
Gore/Violence: nothing graphic.
Nudity/Sexual Situations: none.
Previous Night: ‘The Devil Rides Out’ (‘68)
Next up: ‘The Haunting’ (‘63)
