The Haunting of Morella

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!

You could be mistaken that The Haunting of Morella was a Charles Band movie because it follows a very similar formula of his movies. The acting wasn't very good, often it sounds like they are reading their lines off the page. The movie itself was well directed and storyboarded.

It's not quite soft core porn but it wasn't far from it, very fleshy which really pushed the romance angle of the movie about as far as you can.

There was a bit of an Edgar Allen Poe spirit left in the story but again this movie would be more appreciated by the Band fans. Ultimately it was the script that lacked depth and continuously killed off any development of suspension of disbelief.

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.

This movie was a total farce. They used Edgar Allen Poe to get several young women out of their clothes. No different then your typical stupid slasher film. The only difference is that it is based off a short story by Edgar Allen Poe. Don't watch this movie

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!