This must-see horror comedy from Vincent Price and Boris Karloff from 1963 has an 83% on Rotten Tomatoes despite criticism from critics

The 1963 adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s gothic poem The Crow it starred some of the most iconic horror actors of the 1960s and was one of eight Poe-inspired films released in just five years. Since Poe is most famous for writing horror, it may be surprising to learn that he also wrote comedies, which often featured puns. The Crow The film also mixed horror with humor, transforming its gothic horror film premise into one of the first horror comedies. While The Crow Bombed among critics at the time, it became a cult success, obtaining an 83% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

The Crow is about a trio of rival wizards. Horror legend Vincent Price plays Erasmus Craven, who is mourning the death of his wife, Lenore. Its titular crow is Dr. Bedlo, a bewitched sorcerer played by Peter Lorre, who often improvised the funniest lines. Boris Karloff is the final member of the trio, playing the evil Scarabus, who cast the spell on Bedlo and possibly kidnapped Lenore. Writer Richard Matheson found it difficult to turn a poem into a film, so he turned it into a comedy, and the resulting campy atmosphere caused The Crow unmissable.

The Raven unites several horror legends

The Raven also features brilliant actor Jack Nicholson in an early role

Vincent Price is still one of the most iconic horror film actors of all time, having starred in 37 horror films, including other adaptations and films inspired by Poe’s horror stories. Price was at the height of his career in the 1960s and teaming him with Karloff, already famous for playing The Mummy and Frankenstein’s monster, ensured that audiences of all ages would enjoy seeing The Crow. Early “scream queen” Hazel Court played Lenore in her second Poe adaptation, and even young Jack Nicholson appeared in The Crow in a very early role.

Jack Nicholson has acted in relatively few horror films throughout his long career, but his performance as tortured writer Jack Torrance, as Poe, in the psychological horror film The Shining is often considered one of the most defining moments of his career. Nicholson began his acting career starring in Westerns, low-budget films, and the occasional horror film, and appearing alongside a cast of established horror film legends in The Crow it might have been scary. However, he was probably in good hands since Nicholson played Rexford Bedlo, son of veteran actor Peter Lorre.

The 1963 film is the second adaptation of The Raven with Boris Karloff

Both Raven adaptations are worth watching, but they are extremely different

In 1935, director Lew Landers made his own adaptation of The Crow, which, although very different from the later version, also starred Boris Karloff. Karloff plays a bank robber on the run from the policewho knows a very dangerous doctor. This doctor is a Poe devotee, who performs surgeries on Karloff’s character, and is played by veteran horror actor Bela Lugosi, best known for playing Dracula. 1930s The Crow It’s still scary today, despite being 90 years old, and doesn’t feature the comedy elements later seen in the 1963 adaptation.

No adaptation of The Crow is faithful to Poe’s poem about a man who is visited by a talking crow as he mourns the death of “the lost Lenore.“1963 The Crow There’s a talking crow and a “lost” Lenore, but it is a horror comedy, unlike the poem. The 1935 The Crow features Poe staples like terror and mutilation, but no raven. Still, both The Crow the adaptations are creative and worth watching in their own right. The All-Star Cast of the 1963 Horror The Crow It’s especially compelling to see the young Nicholson alongside so many horror film legends.