By Ray Walton
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Twice-Told Tales (1963) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐.5
Three horror stories based on the writings of Nathaniel Hawthorne. In the first story titled “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment“, Heidegger attempts to restore the youth of himself, his fiancee and his best friend. In “Rappaccini’s Daughter“, Vincent Price plays a demented father inoculating his daughter with poison so she may never leave her garden of poisonous plants. In the final story “The House of the Seven Gables“, the Pyncheon family suffers from a hundred year old curse and the Pyncheon brother returns to his home to search for a hidden vault.
Ever since I watched this in October, I have been debating whether or not I would consider this a good movie. Upon a second viewing, I don’t think I would necessarily call it good, but I do find it very endearing. This is one of those films geared toward a very niche audience. The film is obviously low budget, and the stories play out like a stage play,but it adds to the movie’s quirky charm. My first viewing of this inspired me to actually read some of Nathanial Hawthorne’s work. There are some big changes between the original three stories and their adaptations. The basic concept of Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment is there, but its execution is completely different. Rappaccini’s Daughter is a fairly faithful adaptation, but it does take some liberties translating it to screen. Seriously, the original story is beautiful. Little Shop of Horrors meets Romeo and Juliet, it’s way better than it has any right to be. As for The House of the Seven Gables, I don’t understand why they chose to do a super condensed version of the novel when Hawthorne still had a plethora of short stories to choose from, but it’s an entertaining little romp. Has much more of a B movie feel than the other two stories. This is a different type of high rating than I would give for my other 9/10 movies. Not necessarily good, but it’s heart is in the right place.
NightTide Magazine 
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