★ 7 / 10
**_Eerie cinematic style and beauty with Wes Bentley_**
Wuchak
**_Eerie cinematic style and beauty with Wes Bentley_** An engaged professor at Washington University in eastern Missouri (Bentley) finds himself attracted to…
**_Eerie cinematic style and beauty with Wes Bentley_**
An engaged professor at Washington University in eastern Missouri (Bentley) finds himself attracted to a mysterious woman of dark beauty (Sofya Skya) as the shadowy events wind up near the Black Sea.
“The Tomb” (2009), also known as “Edgar Allan Poe's Ligeia,” is loosely based on Poe’s macabre short story from 1838. It transfers the characters to the modern day while switching the locations from England (as well as the Rhine in the heart of Europe) to greater St. Louis in middle America and Ukraine on the Black Sea.
If you want gory horror, I’d give this a pass. It’s more artistic and Gothic in the manner of “Bram Stoker’s Dracula,” “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein,” “THE ETERNAL Kiss of the Mummy” (1998) and Coppola’s later “B’Twixt Now and Sunrise” (aka “Twixt”). Costing $8.8 million, it lacks the blockbuster budget of the first two, but it had a little more money to work with compared to the latter two, which cost $4 million and $7 million respectively (not factoring inflation).
Like those four films, the sumptuous Gothic ambiance is worth the price of admission. There's a dark, mysterious beauty to the proceedings, which makes the flick a pleasure to watch even if the story is confusing, dreary or dull, as some criticize. It’s clear that the writer & director were aiming for art more than common horror thrills.
Blonde beauty Kaitlin Doubleday is a highlight as Rowena, as is petite brunette Mackenzie Rosman as Lorelei. While the latter might look 15-16 years-old, she was actually almost 19 during shooting. Raven-haired Sofya is yet another highlight, of course.
Lastly, Wes reads Poe’s poem “The Conqueror Worm” during the end credits, which is a nice touch. It’s followed by the quality song “Ligeia’s Bed” by Jon Kahn and star Sofya Skya.
The film runs 1 hour, 28 minutes, and was shot in the St. Louis area of Missouri (Washington University, University City, Kirkwood and Maplewood), as well as Crimea, Ukraine, which is the peninsula on the north-central coast of the Black Sea.
GRADE: B/B-
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★ 5 / 10
OK but not great
drama59
Liked the cast. Too many credits as usual. OK beginning but lacked a sense of urgency. It just didn't move along like a good horror movie should. Interesting…
Liked the cast. Too many credits as usual. OK beginning but lacked a sense of urgency. It just didn't move along like a good horror movie should. Interesting plot line but fell short. The ending seemed jumbled and disjointed. I wanted more. I would not go out of your way to rent this one, but if you are a alone and nothing else to watch then why not.Poe is one of my favorites but this is NOT one of my favorite stories of his. They tried to make it interesting but for true gore horror fans I would skip this one...I would say it was well cast. I would say the locations are lovely but as a great horror movie..I would have to say um "No". Once again this is NOT one of my favorite Poe short stories and did not make a great horror movie.
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