Revenge in the House of Usher

Jess Franco made a hell of a lot of movies in his career, and rather unsurprisingly that has lead to a lot of respect from the cult movie community, and it also means that he made a lot of bad films - and unfortunately, Revenge in the House of Usher is right down there with the likes of Succubus as one of his very worst efforts! Edgar Allen Poe's story was made into a brilliant film in 1960 by the great Roger Corman, but unfortunately Jess Franco wasn't able to do likewise - mainly because he hasn't based this on the Poe story at all, but rather the common idea that stemmed from the classic Eyes Without a Face, and which he made did himself some years earlier with The Awful Dr Orloff, that being basing the film on a doctor who is trying to help his daughter and sacrificing a lot of other people in the process. The main problem with this film, aside from the fact that it has nothing to do with the story that it's supposedly based on, is the fact that it's BORING. I seriously was completely numbed for most of this movie and it did often make me wonder quite how anyone involved could have thought it was a good idea. Franco regulars Howard Vernon and Lina Romay star but neither has a good day and not even the atmosphere is worth commenting on. Don't bother with this one!

A traveler arrives at the Usher mansion to find that the sibling inhabitants are living under a mysterious family curse: The brother's senses have become painfully acute, while his sister has become nearly catatonic.

Why has this film been given the new name of "Zombie 5"? I mean, sure, it is a stretch to say it is based on Poe's "House of Usher", but it is an even bigger stretch to try to say this somehow fits in the Italian "Zombie" franchise... not even close.

People seem to hate this film, and I can see why. The effects are terrible: the poor use of a spotlight to simulate a hand-held light, the strange eyeball. One reviewer said they fell asleep twice in the first fifteen minutes. I did not find it nearly all that bad. Cheesy, sure, A bit weak on plot, certainly. But I have seen a lot worse than this, even from Jess Franco.

Director Jess Franco's REVENGE OF THE HOUSE OF USHER has little to do with the original Poe story. It's about the insane Dr. Eric Usher (Franco regular Howard Vernon) and his diabolical experiments.

When the visiting Alan Harker (Antonio Mayans) uncovers Usher's activities, involving female test subjects locked in his dungeon, Usher goes into an extremely lengthy explanation.

Said explanation includes 20+ minutes of "flashback" footage from an unrelated movie (Franco's THE AWFUL DR. ORLOF)! The rest of this film appears to be whatever happened to arise in the Director's mind at the time.

Sitting through this, like having your face stuffed into the world's biggest armpit, is pure misery...

Dr. Alan Harker (Robert Foster) receives an invitation and arrives at the house of his former professor at the Prague University, Roderic Usher (Howard Vernon), who lives with his housekeeper Helen (Lina Romay) in an old castle. Dr. Usher is insane, living with ghosts, and invites his former student Harker to proceed with his research. He tells to Harker that when his daughter Melissa (Françoise Blanchard) died many years ago, he had developed a means to reanimate her using the blood of prostitutes. Along many years, Dr. Usher and his assistant Morpho (Olivier Mathot) kidnapped and killed many young women to keep Melissa alive. But when Harker meets Dr. Seward (Daniel Villiers), who is the doctor of Dr. Usher, he explains that Dr. Usher is delusional. What is the truth about Dr. Usher and his secret?

"Revenge in the House of Usher" is a boring, lame and messy movie by Jess Franco based on the story of the Edgar Allan Poe. The plot is a senseless mess, the old castle is actually a preserved castle, there is no continuity in the edition in this forgettable film. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "A Queda da Casa de Usher" ("The Fall of the House of Usher")

When Dr.Alan Harker travels to the crumbling estate of his university mentor Dr.Usher,he finds the man plagued by a horrible paranoia-destroyed by his repeated attempts at awakening his comatose daughter.Haunted by ghosts of his dead family members,Dr.Usher is rushing toward madness,with only Harker left to save him.I can easily say that I'm a big fan of Jesus Franco,unfortunately "Revenge in the House of Usher" is breathtakingly awful.Those expecting gore and sex in a Eurohorror title(especially from Franco)will be sorely disappointed,because there is absolutely no nudity or blood in this one.The pacing is horribly slow and there are a lot of 'flashback' scenes taken from Franco's earlier horror classic "The Awful Dr.Orloff".Avoid this piece of stinking crap like the plague.