The Raven

by Eunice Sudak, Philip J. Riley (Editor)

THE RAVEN - By Eunice Sudak- Volume 3 in Philip J. Riley's Nightmare Series THE MASTER - EDGAR ALLAN POE Who was the raven? What was his diabolical errand? Could anyone ignore the warning from beyond the grave? Do you dare to spend one night in Dr. Scarabus' sinister castle Will your heart stand the suspense? Is your stomach strong enough to bear the brutal torture of an innocent girl? And what of the wanton, lustful, beauty whose name was Lenore? Introduction by Richard A Ekstedt Featuring! THE MAKING OF THE RAVEN Interviews with Roger Corman, Vincent Price, Richard Matheson by Lawrence French "The Raven" was released by American International Pictures, 1963 and starred Boris Karloff, Vincent Price, Peter Lorre and a young Jack Nicholson

Genres: Horror

156 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

Reviews

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars
Oh boy, this was weird. I don't even know where to begin with the plot. I know this is a wildly loved movie, but I feel like they missed the mark when transitioning this to a book. It was a super short book and felt like the tone of the book felt more like a movie synopsis. I love the story itself, just the writing messed it up for me. This is a weird case where the movie was far better.

[John Peel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite Roger Corman films, and the novelization (of Richard Matheson's script) is a sheer delight. A magician obsessed with his dead wife has to aid a man transformed into a raven by a black magician, and then confront his own responsibilities. Great fun.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

📖

[Dominique Lamssies · Rating 2 out of 5]

I stumbled onto this book and, as a fan of the movie, was quite eager to pick it up.

Truth to tell, I'm not quite sure what they were thinking when they had this book written. The movie was a comedy using a couple Poe references and some random silly stuff. This book is advertised on the cover as straight horror, and, while it retains some of the humor, downplays it entirely. This causes the book to lose it's charm and just become something kinda seedy.

It doesn't help that it's actually not very well written. Sudak has a penchant for repeating herself. Like, a lot. And always in clumps. That can be a effective, but not when you do it every two seconds. Also, she makes just about every word possible an adverb. And there's a clear attempt to make the book as sensational as possible. The words "heaving bosoms" legitimately appear in a sentence in this book. And this book was written in 1963. The words "heaving bosoms" should not appear in a book written after 1900.

I don't actually think there's anything to recommend this book, honestly.