Talky adaptations, lacking action
Vincent Price joined Roger Corman in the 1960s to star in a series of movies adapted from Edgar Allan Poe tales. In 1963, Price headed over to United Artists to appear in “Twice Told Tales,” a trilogy based on three gothic works by Nathaniel Hawthorne — the short stories “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” and “Rappaccini's Daughter” and the novel “The House of Seven Gables.” Each episode begins with a couple of skeleton hands opening a book with the title on the cover.<br /><br />“Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” features two elderly, longtime friends, Dr. Carl Heidegger (Sebastian Cabot, “The Time Machine”), and Alex Melbourne (Vincent Price, “The Raven,” “House of Usher”) discussing their lives on the occasion of Heidegger’s birthday. Carl’s fiancée, Sylvia (Mari Blanchard, “McClintock!”) died on the eve of their wedding 38 years ago. He is still in love with her memory, and he has never married. When a storm blows open the entrance to Sylvia’s crypt, the men are amazed to discover that her body is perfectly preserved. Heidegger sees that water has been dripping onto her coffin and seeping inside. Surmising that the water has prevented her from decaying, he collects some and drinks it. In an instant, he regains his youth. Alex then drinks the magical liquid and becomes young again. Heidegger believes the water can bring Sylvia back to life. His experiment succeeds, only for him to learn an unpleasant truth about the woman to whose memory he has devoted his life.<br /><br />“Rappaccini’s Daughter” is the beautiful Beatrice (Joyce Taylor, “Atlantis, the Lost Continent”), daughter of the noted botanist Giacomo Rappaccini (Price). To prevent Beatrice from becoming like his unfaithful wife, now deceased, he has cultivated a deadly plant and acclimated her to frequent injections of its poison so that anyone who touches her will instantly die. Young university student Giovanni (Brett Halsey, “Return of the Fly”) sees his lovely new neighbor in her garden from his flat next door and is instantly smitten. Beatrice refuses to admit him in order to protect him. He doesn’t understand and tries to persuade her to so he can get closer to her. Observing Giovanni’s repeated pleas that Beatrice let him in and her increasing attraction to him, Rappaccini invites Giovanni to see if things can be worked out, and events take a strange, dark turn.<br /><br />“The House of the Seven Gables” finds Gerald Pyncheon (Price), returning to his family home with his new bride, Alice (Beverly Garland, “The Mad Room”) despite warnings of the curse on the New England house. He wants to find the treasure rumored to be hidden in a vault somewhere in the house. Gerald’s great-grandfather accused an innocent man of witchcraft and made sure he was convicted in order to steal his property and build the house on it. From then on, all Pyncheon men have been cursed. Alice comes to realize from a series of bizarre events that the house exudes evil.<br /><br />Though all three tales have an element of the macabre, they are tame in terms of horror, talky, and padded. At two hours, the film is too long. Each of the stories should have run no longer than 30 minutes for greatest effectiveness. As is, they overstay their welcome. Sidney Salkow (“Chicago Confidential”), primarily a TV director, paces the film sluggishly and does little to make it visually interesting. The film suffers from blandness.<br /><br />Price shores up this shaky trilogy with his usual distinctive performance. He is a reliable actor and always enjoyable to watch. But here he’s given no chance to inject a good quip occasionally or even to raise an eyebrow. He plays all three roles straight and comes off stodgy and dull. His character is secondary in the first two episodes — a waste when one of the screen’s foremost masters of the macabre is relegated to second banana.<br /><br />Of the supporting cast, Sebastian Cabot turns in a respectable performance, but Halsey, Garland, and Taylor go through the motions and are unconvincing. Garland is embarrassing with her amateurish portrayal of a woman increasingly terrified of manifestations in the house. Her weak, theatrical screams fail to convey genuine terror.<br /><br />Screenwriter Robert E. Kent has truncated “The House of the Seven Gables” so much that only a few bare bones of Hawthorne’s novel remain, fleshed out with as much as possible of Poe’s “Fall of the House of Usher.”<br /><br />Horror aficionados will likely be disappointed by the quantity of exposition, lack of action, and paucity of genuine scares. “Dr. Heidegger…” and “…Seven Gables” take place mostly indoors, but “Rappaccini’s Daughter” was an opportunity to shoot outdoors in a garden filled with richly colored flowers. Instead, the garden is a sound stage set and looks it, with washed-out flowers, fake grass, and studio lighting that in no way replicates natural sunlight. A wind machine could have at least suggested a gentle breeze. A limited budget is understandable, but when corners are cut to such a degree, the story suffers.<br /><br />Bonus materials on the unrated Blu-ray release from Kino-Lorber include the following:<br />Audio Commentary by film historians Richard Harland Smith and Perry Martin<br />Several Theatrical trailers<br /><br />“Twice Told Tales,” with its mundane adaptations, is far from top-tier horror. Its attempts to convey gothic tales with eerie, occult elements may be more cautionary than chilling horror. They are overly talky and never create adequate suspense to sustain interest. Vincent Price does the best with the script, but is hampered by its dreary dialogue.
The movie title "Twice Told Tales," available on Movies & TV, has received an average rating of 4.5 from 310 reviewers. 
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 {"Genre": "Horror", "Contributor": "Edith Evanson, Vincent Price, Sebastian Cabot, Abraham Sofaer, Beverly Garland, Jacqueline deWit, Joyce Taylor, Brett Halsey, Mari Blanchard, Sidney Salkow, Richard DenningEdith Evanson, Vincent Price, Sebastian Cabot, Abraham Sofaer, Beverly Garland, Jacqueline deWit, Joyce Taylor, Brett Halsey, Mari Blanchard, Sidney Salkow, Richard Denning  See more", "Language": "English", "Runtime": "2 hours", "Aspect Ratio": "1.66:1", "MPAA rating": "NR (Not Rated)", "Product Dimensions": "7 x 5 x 1 inches; 2.82 Ounces", "Director": "Sidney Salkow", "Run time": "2 hours", "Release date": "September 6, 2022", "Actors": "Vincent Price, Sebastian Cabot, Brett Halsey, Beverly Garland, Mari Blanchard", "Studio": "KL Studio Classics", "Country of Origin": "USA", "Number of discs": "1"}

Here is a brief synopsis of the title : A Terrifying Trilogy of Passion, Poison and Possession! It’s spine-tingling terror—in triplicate! Virtuoso of horror Vincent Price (The Raven, The Tomb of Ligeia) dials up the depravity in this spellbinding trilogy of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s (The Scarlet Letter) chilling classics! Dripping with demented genius, poisonous plants, oozing blood and a corpse in a wedding gown, Twice-Told Tales spins three gripping, diabolical nightmares of madness, mayhem and murder most foul. Price stars in all three stories, including “Dr. Heidegger's Experiment,” about a scientist who finds the fountain of youth...and lives to regret it; “Rappaccini's Daughter,” the twisted tale of a demented father whose love for his daughter turns poisonous; and “The House of the Seven Gables,” the ghostly legend of an ancient cursed family who lived for power...and died for greed. The stellar cast includes Sebastian Cabot (The Time Machine), Brett Halsey (Return of the Fly), Beverly Garland (Chicago Confidential) and Joyce Taylor (13 Frightened Girls!)..