The Haunted Palace (1963) on Netflix
Charles Dexter Ward and his wife Ann come to Arkham in 1875 to claim the palace he inherited from Joseph Curwen, a warlock burned alive in 1765. The villagers want them gone.
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- Netflix3.6/5
- IMDb6.7/109,962 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes75%
Trailer
Plot summary
In 1765 the people of Arkham, Massachusetts, suspect that Joseph Curwen, who lives in the palace above the town, is a warlock. A young woman walks to the palace in a trance, the townspeople storm the building, and though she is returned to them unharmed, they believe she has been made to forget what happened. They burn Curwen at a tree, and he curses the town and the families of those who took him. One hundred and ten years later his great-great-grandson Charles Dexter Ward and Ward's wife Ann arrive to claim the palace they have inherited. The villagers are hostile, and many of them are deformed; the caretaker Simon urges the couple to stay. Dr. Willet tells them of the Necronomicon, a book of black magic Curwen was believed to possess, and advises them to leave the town.
Cast
- Cathie Merchantas Hester Tillinghast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Haunted Palace (1963)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Roger Corman first conceived the project while making The Premature Burial for Pathe and planned to cast that film's stars, Ray Milland and Hazel Court, plus Boris Karloff; when the rights went to American International Pictures, all three were replaced by Vincent Price, Debra Paget and Lon Chaney Jr.
- Lon Chaney Jr.'s role in The Haunted Palace was originally meant for Boris Karloff, who had contracted an illness while making Black Sabbath in Italy.
- The Haunted Palace was Roger Corman's first film to use the then-new zoom lens, which created problems because more light than normal had to be used on the set.
- Debra Paget retired from acting after completing The Haunted Palace, her last film, and Lon Chaney Jr., famous for playing the Wolf Man, made this his only appearance in a Roger Corman film.
- The production built a small set for the village of Arkham and relied on forced perspective to make the town look much larger than it actually was.
