Great opening, but a disappointing Poe
Based on an 1844 short story by Edgar Allan Poe about a sea voyage and a mysterious pine box, “The Oblong Box” film adaptation altered the plot considerably and featured the first screen pairing of horror legends Vincent Price and Christopher Lee.<br /><br />A frightening African tribal ritual (featuring the amazing Oh! Ogunde Dancers) that opens the film results in the permanent disfigurement of Sir Edward Markham (Alistair Williamson) for unknown reasons. His brother Julian (Price) manages to get Edward and himself back to their estate in England. There, Edward must remain confined to a locked room to protect others from his violent outbursts and to prevent anyone from seeing his horrifying face. Edward escapes confinement and enlists the help of family lawyer Samuel Trench (Peter Arne) to obtain a potion that will make him appear dead. Not all goes according to plan and Edward is buried alive, but local grave robber Dr. Neuhartt (Lee) digs up the grave and discovers that Edward is far from dead. Wearing a red hood to hide his disfigurement, Edward sets in motion a plan of vengeance against Julian and all those close to him.<br /><br />Though the combination of Vincent Price and Edgar Allan Poe suggests the earlier successes of “House of Usher,” “The Raven,” and “The Pit and the Pendulum,” “The Oblong Box” never strikes the right tone and plods along with a minimum of suspense and dramatic tension. Price is rather restrained, considering his earlier Poe roles, likely because of an uninspired script by Lawrence Huntington with additional dialogue credited to Christopher Wicking. The opener is riveting but once the action shifts to England, the narrative slows. Edward is supposed to be frightening because his ordeal has not only disfigured him but also driven him to violent madness of his implied madness, but the masked character never achieves the heights of a true horror villain.<br /><br />Christopher Lee has an underwritten role as Dr. Neuhartt, the grave robber who becomes an accomplice to Edward in the name of scientific experimentation. Neuhartt is the resident mad scientist, yet he appears too urbane and elegant to fit the stereotype. In a role that calls out for occasional histrionics, Lee is subdued throughout the film and adds little excitement with his presence.<br /><br />Alistair Williamson has the misfortune of playing Edward without ever showing his face until the very end. His portrayal depends solely on bodily gestures and his voice, and they fail to convey Edward’s madness and drive for vengeance. The revelation of his face at the end of the movie is a real letdown, since he looks more like someone in need of a good dermatologist than a man tortured and scarred by vengeful African natives. The film builds toward this unveiling but when it occurs, rather than shock it elicits a shrug. "Is that all there is?,” to quote a lyric in a Peggy Lee song.<br /><br />Visually, John Coquillon’s cinematography does little to enhance atmosphere. He does takes advantage of the color red in many key scenes, keeping the rest of the palette fairly dark. With few tracking shots or moving camera moments, the film often resembles a stage play. There’s an abundance of dialogue providing exposition that would be better shown.<br /><br />The script indicates that Julian is guilt-ridden because Edward was tortured when he himself should rightfully have been the target of the natives’ hatred. Yet we never know exactly what his crime was until the very end of the picture, which introduces a whole other thematic level. In any case, after an outburst in Africa in which Julian shouts in anguish that his brother has paid for his own misdeeds, Price fails to convey that guilt once he gets back home, where he comes off more as jailer than savior to his unfortunate brother. Price always had the knack of adding quirky gestures or phrasings that gave his characters distinction but as Julian, he is restrained and fails to deliver the eccentricities of performance that his fans love.<br /><br />Bonus materials on the R-rated Blu-ray releases from Kino-Lorber include the following:<br />Audio Commentary n<br />Edgar Allan Poe’s Annabel Lee Narrated by Vincent Price<br />Radio Spots<br />Theatrical Trailers<br /><br />“The Oblong Box” was not as successful as the American-made Poe adaptations. With Price and Lee — two giants of the horror genre — one would assume their teaming would be box office dynamite. But neither of them gets to infuse their unique touches into their characters. The script owes more to Poe’s “The Premature Burial” than to “The Oblong Box,” which is a completely different story. More violent than earlier Poe adaptations, it is one of the earliest horror films to dwell on graphic images to elicit chills.
The movie title "The Oblong Box," available on Movies & TV, has received an average rating of 4.4 from 286 reviewers. 
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This title falls under the categories of Movies & TV, Featured Categories, Blu-ray and Horror. 
The additional details include the following in key-value format :
 {"Aspect Ratio": "1.85:1", "MPAA rating": "R (Restricted)", "Product Dimensions": "7 x 5 x 1 inches; 4 Ounces", "Director": "Gordon Hessler", "Run time": "1 hour and 36 minutes", "Release date": "September 6, 2022", "Actors": "Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, Alister Williamson, Uta Levka, Rupert Davies", "Studio": "KL Studio Classics", "Country of Origin": "USA", "Number of discs": "1"}

Here is a brief synopsis of the title : Coffins, blood and live corpses! A gasping, gnawing, heart-stopping evil lies buried in The Oblong Box. Do you dare unearth its wrath? Vincent Price (The Raven, Twice Told Tales) and Christopher Lee (The Crimson Cult, House of the Long Shadows) are at their terrifying best as a plantation owner with a shocking family secret...and a wealthy doctor desperate to continue his morbid experiments on human flesh in Edgar Allan Poe’s (The Tomb of Ligeia) classic tale of the living dead! Price returns to his English manor from an African trip with his mad, mutilated brother and buries his chained-up sibling alive. When the body is exhumed, the madman—somehow still alive—begins a systematic search for vengeance. Co-written, produced and directed by horror great Gordon Hessler (Scream and Scream Again, Cry of the Banshee) with top-notch cinematography by John Coquillon (Straw Dogs, The Wilby Conspiracy)..