The Haunting of Morella (1990)

Simply Perfect

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Morella (Eggert) is found guilty of witchcraft and murder after she ritually kills her staff. The town people capture her and crucify her but not before she vows to return. 17 years later, her daughter Lenora (Eggert in a dual role) begins acting strange as the spirit of her mother invades her soul and takes over. This period piece boasts some impressive sets and design as Roger Corman's company makes the movie look good. The slow moving tale doesn't do anything with the slick look of the film and not much action or terror is achieved. Characters are introduced simply to be slaughtered. Over flowing with tons of nudity from great looking women, this movie is easy to watch but unsatisfying as a horror film. Nicole Eggert handles her dual role well, but when the film has to rely on a cat jumping in the window for a jump scare, you know you're in trouble.

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!

At the start of The Haunting of Morella, I wondered why it's won itself so many negative reviews. The film has a great Gothic atmosphere, and while the story is highly derivative of a great many other films; it fits well with the tone of the film and leads you to believe that you're in for something decent. However, it soon became clear why this film isn't well liked - and that's because it doesn't really go anywhere. The story is based on a short by the great Edgar Allen Poe, and follows the burning of a witch somewhere in America. She leaves her husband and daughter behind, but promises to return several years later. She plans to do this, of course, by taking over the body of her newly matured daughter. The Gothic atmosphere soon becomes little more than a slight distraction from the dull central plot, and by the end; the film was actually reminding me of a bad music video. Chopping Mall proved that Jim Wynorski isn't the best director, and this film does nothing to disprove that; as the action is dull and sluggish, and a good potential for a nice horror flick is wasted. Overall, this film may appeal to Poe completists (although I doubt it), and everyone else should stay clear!

Not a bad version of Poe's short story. There seemed to be some lesbian overtones I didn't catch in the book, but that's okay. Beautiful women and a fairly spooky plot. I liked it.