like so many hollywood film supposedly base on a poe story and this one only similarity be the title . american international and roger corman make a ton of poe inspire film like this and but this time it would universal picture appropriate a title . it also the first film to unite boris karloff and bela lugosi . they go on to make seven more film together and several of them be brilliant classic and such a the raven and the body snatcher . the film involve revenge . it seem that an insane and evil general ( karloff ) be hat by a man ( lugosi ) whose life be ruin by him . together and they both plot and posture until a final bizarre showdown in karloff torture chamber . interestingly enough and in the raven such a confrontation also occur and but this time lugosi be the evil guy . this be a good film in many way . the acting be great lugosi and karloff be great ( i particularly like karloff cool hairdo ) . the atmosphere be chill and weird and the end be quite exciting and creepy . however and the middle portion and the section involve the satanic cult seem like it wasn not fully hash out like the script still need some work to make the film seem more credible . the bad part be that karloff have a huge group of evil satanic minion and the next and they be go and lugosi seem to have win sort of like a scene miss here card should have be insert here . plus and and it a small complaint and i think the background music be a bit too ever present and sometimes dominate the scene a bit too much . still and with an amazing creepy mood and it not a bad film to watch provide you do not think too much about the convoluted plot .