Movie Review: Extraordinary Tales (2015)

Extraordinary Tales (2015) written and directed by Raul Garcia based on works by Edgar Allan Poe

This movie is an anthology collection of several stories by Edgar Allan Poe, rendered in stylistic animation. The tales are narrated by various horror icons, the two outstanding ones being Christopher Lee, who narrates "The Fall of the House of Usher," and Bela Lugosi, with a scratchy recording where he dramatizes "The Tell-Tale Heart." Each tale has its own visual style, again with "The Tell-Tale Heart" being outstanding with its stark black and white visuals inspired by Alberto Breccia's work. They still work as a set thanks to the visual sensibility of the director and to having the same composer.

The tales are strung together through a framing device of Poe visiting a graveyard in the form of a Raven and having a conversation with Death about his obsession with death and morality and his desire for his writings to be remembered. The device doesn't work so well and leaves the viewer hoping it will be over quickly to get back to the next story.

The tales' only other flaws are two. The computer animation sometimes looks too much like computer animation. Second, there's an implicit assumption that viewers are already familiar with Poe and his writings (otherwise, some of the Poe/Death dialogue is not very comprehensible). Definitely read the stories before watching. The stories are:

• The Fall of the House of Usher narrated by Christopher Lee
• The Tell-Tale Heart narrated by Bela Lugosi
• The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar narrated by Julian Sands
• The Pit and the Pendulum narrated by Guillermo del Toro
• The Masque of the Red Death narrated by no one, it's just visual storytelling!

The movie is interesting as an interpretation of Poe and is certainly worth hearing Lee and Lugosi do what they do so well.

Mildly recommended.

Parental recommendation: in addition to dealing with death and the macabre throughout, "The Masque of the Red Death" sequence is explicit but not overbearing with the sexuality of the debauched people celebrating while the outside world is dying from the plague. I'd recommend teens and up.