Directed by Gordon Hessler
Evil lurks in the gloomy house at Markham Manor where a deranged Sir Edward is the chained prisoner of his brother Julian. When Sir Edward escapes, he embarks on a monstrous killing spree, determined to seek revenge on all those whom he feels have double-crossed him.
呪われた棺, El ataúd (La caja oblonga), Le Cercueil vivant, La rossa maschera del terrore, Im Todesgriff der Roten Maske, Fortiden hævner, 矩形箱子, O Ataúde do Morto-Vivo, Продолговатый ящик, La caixa oblonga
USAPG 
Germany18 
France France12 France Germany USA 
It’s been a few years since I watched this and whenever I can’t sleep or concentrate on sleep because of life’s bullshit I love popping in movies like this. The perfect (for me) distraction movie featuring Poe, Price, Lee, and Hessler at the helm in a disfigured maniac, grave robbing, voodoo jam—a winning combo that makes for a tasty late night swill, add in a hazy 3am revisit while being freaked out by weird noises in my 200+ year old house and yeah... fun time!
Edward Markham has been disfigured in an African voodoo ceremony for some crimes against the natives. His brother Julian (Vincent Price) keeps him locked up, telling people he is protecting the town. Sir Edward escapes by faking his own death and then all kinds of convolution ensues involving bodies and revenge.
This was pretty decent, but plodded on rather heavily. It has both Vincent Price and Christopher Lee, though sadly they only share one brief moment.
There are lots of racist tropes involving African tribal culture that might bug some. That kind of thing was in a lot of horror literature back then, especially in the earlier 19th century stuff.
This is an E.A. Poe adaptation, but other than shades…
Producer: We think we can get Christopher Lee.
Vincent Price: Fine but I get top billing.
Producer: Of course.
Vincent Price: Give him a "Special Appearance by" credit or something.
Producer: Sure, Mr Price.
Vincent Price: And I want to share little to no screen time with him.
Producer: I think we can accommodate that.
Vincent Price: One last thing...
Producer: Yes?
Vincent Price: Give him a stupid looking wig.
The Oblong Box takes its title from the Edgar Allan Poe short story of the same name, and claims to be an adaptation; but in reality its more of a mish-mash of common Poe tropes including premature burial, murder and graverobbing wrapped around a story involving witchcraft in Africa. The plot focuses on a pair of plantation owning brothers, one of whom has been disfigured after apparently angering a tribe. He's kept chained in his room, but hatches a plan to escape and seek help for his condition. There's plenty going on in this one, but somehow it still manages to feel rather stale. The story is very slow moving, and the many strands to it means it often lacks…
The Surrealist movement was born exactly 100 years ago… no, running away is useless, all the exits are barred. But do not worry: this introduction is useful only to say that as it was an iconoclastic movement, Surrealism preferred 20th-century pulp over official culture: the gothic, the obscure, perversion in the oneiric dimension, violence, sex, masked criminals, the undergrounds of the big cities as metaphor for the subconscious, and, above all, slapping morality in the face. Many of us could cry “Surrealism belongs to us”. The first of the four gothics that Gordon Hessler filmed for the AIP, “The oblong box”, could be a Surrealist manifesto in disguise. Cinematic gothic was dying: horror had been embodied by contemporary neurosis, zombies…
1st Gordon Hessler
Hello everyone! The Geek Show got me reviewing a new Blu-Ray release, this time of the Price/Lee/AIP flick The Oblong Box. As someone who's seen more Gothic horror films than he's had hot dinners (and that's a lot of hot dinners), I relished the chance to dive into one I'd not yet seen. I hope you enjoy my review! You can find it here!
“Do you realize the penalty for bodysnatching is hanging?”
Opinion is greatly divided hereabouts about The Oblong Box, and you’ll have to include me in the disappointed bunch. The results might have been different had Michael Reeves lived to direct it, but with Gordon Hessler at the helm, it just meanders along, with no style or memorable visual moments. A brothel scene is badly staged and goes on and on, one of several scenes lacking the necessary rhythm. Ostensible star Vincent Price is on screen surprisingly little, and he and co-star Christopher Lee, who seems disengaged throughout, have only one brief scene together. Michael Balfour, he of the distinctive visage, as Vinnie’s servant, Hilary Heath, as Vinnie’s fiancee, and Sally…
The plus is we got to see Vincent Price and Christopher Lee, but here comes the negative. The film seems to stutter and meander along. It is not deciding what it wants to be. Even with all the voodoo, grave robbing, and murder, it still remains average. Lastly, I like the word "Oblong," it's a good word. But I have to say a coffin is not an oblong; it has six sides, man! Now a casket, then yes, that is an oblong. He clearly, however, used a coffin in the film.
Odd film, combining a multitude of crazed pulpy concepts with the frantic pace of a rhinoceros in a coma. Price is watchable as always, and the end's charming enough.
The Oblong Box is an interesting feature with the promise of classic horror icons Vincent Price and Christopher Lee in a Poe adaptation. What is most interesting is the film’s use of suspense-techniques most notably used in Jaws and Halloween (ie not revealing the villain’s visage until necessary, POV shots, etc), and the progression of horror cinema is clearly seen. The film is extremely dated now, and clearly suffers due to its low budget, but has enough substance to keep it entertaining.
I’m not sure what's up with all the extreme close-ups that Gordon Hessler uses to dramatize moments of tension, but this is still a solid late period Poe/Price AIP joint. Price is shell-shocked from a voodoo encounter on his African plantation, but he doesn’t have it as bad as his deformed brother who spends the movie in a crimson hood after supposedly dying.
It’s a shaggy movie with lots of subplots but some pretty good suspense and kills, plus motherfucking Christopher Lee, even if he doesn't get to do as much as you'd hope. It plods along for a lot of the running time (it’s too long) but it’s got some interesting ideas about colonialism as a return of the repressed, and the gothic stuff creeps along nicely.
The macabre consequences of colonialism as Vincent Price's brother played by Allistair Williamson's face is disfigured to the point where he must wear a red velvet piece of fabric to hide the hideousness. The coffin refers to buried while not dead, and to body snatching, too, from fresh graves for specimens sold to surgeon Christopher Lee for his demented research. Interesting how The Oblong Box manages to relate the parts to the whole. Price mourning the death of his brother to a small group before his burial is pretty vintage material and the actual burial scene is pretty classic as well. Williamson comes back with the red cloth searching for revenge and gets into a bit of the Red Light District with some saucy scenes in a pub with "wenches". It's definitely a film that spreads itself pretty thin but still holds together.
