Leofwine_draca Do you ever have low expectations of a film only to thoroughly enjoy it? This was the case with this film for me. Wherever I've looked, all I've seen are bad reviews about THE OBLONG BOX, but I'm happy to say that this is a nice little shocker in Hammer's finest tradition. Ignore the critics and go watch it, that's what I say; you definitely won't be disappointed.Many people have complained that this film is overlong and dull. This is simply not the case. How can a film be dull when a masked murderer goes about all the time, cutting people's throats? There's a overly-complex plot to get your teeth into and keep you concentrating plus a nicely Gothic atmosphere as characters wander through dark squalid streets and menace lurks in the bushes. There's a really nice evocation of the period here, with real attention being paid to the period details: the sets and scenery, while not lavish like in some of Corman's Poe films, are authentic-looking.The killer himself, in his red velvet mask, looks very sinister and brings to mind the climax of MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH. Unfortunately a flaw in this film is the disappointing make-up job done on the murderer. Throughout we see people screaming at his face, building up our expectations of seeing something really, really horrific. But in the end he just looks like a guy with a twisted nose and some nasty pockmarks on his cheeks. Very disappointing. Still, at least we have an obvious but classic twist ending; plus other fun elements like grave-robbing and prostitution to keep things moving merrily along. And watch out for that racist subplot about the voodoo curse. Frightening, not likely, in fact it reminded me of the Roy Castle segment from DR. TERROR'S HOUSE OF HORRORS.The major flaw with this film is that a good cast is wasted and given little to do, little opportunity to act in fact. Once the characters are set up, nothing is done with them (apart from the main psychotic guy, that is) which is pretty disappointing considering the pedigree of some of the stars. Vincent Price is on hand to lend heavyweight support, giving another subdued and indeed subtle performance as a guilt-stricken landowner. He's as good as ever but shamefully underused. Also appearing is a grey-haired (!) Christopher Lee as a sinister doctor. The trouble is, we know he's involved with grave-robbers but we never know what his experiments are about. This is really frustrating! Price and Lee only get to share one brief scene together, pretty dramatic but a waste of a good opportunity. Also appearing are Hilary Dwyer as Price's love interest, Sally Geeson (the spit of her sister, Judy) as a maid whose role is pivotal to the film's climax, and Rupert Davies who lent his distinguished features to many a film of this period.Of course, this being the late '60s, much more gore and sex are involved than was ever allowed before. Throughout the film we have a series of bloody throat-slashings, obviously done with a low budget and with one of those knives which sprayed blood when a button was pressed. Still, these are far grislier than earlier Hammer films would allow. A whole bevy of women in low-cut dresses are forever parading around, especially in an explicit tavern scene which is wilder (even raunchy in places) and probably truer to life than in many other films of the time. All in all, this is surprisingly good entertainment in that endearingly British fashion, and very enjoyable.

amosduncan_2000 There actually WAS an "Oblong Box" story by Poe, and in the time honored tradition of these things, it has nothing to do with the story in this movie. This non-Coreman Poe looks a lot closer to Poe than AIP, with it's lingering gore and flashes of nipple. The Hammer style Blood, both highly fake and gratuitous, is really odd to see today. These great stars appearing in films happy to go low to appeal to the crowd. Anyway, the sad thing about "Oblong Box" is that, like many a Hammer film, it starts promisingly enough, with some fine photography and nicely staged widescreen shots and a promising premise. As Price exits the story, however, things get absurd and tedious fast. By the time the silly shocker ending rolls around you are likely to have lost interest. Price's butler is played by the guy who went on to be one of the Murderers in Polanski's great "MacBeth", nice to see him again.

Henry Kujawa The opening premise of THE OBLONG BOX is almost identical to the Peter Davison DOCTOR WHO story, "Black Orchid". A man returns from Africa, cursed by tribal magic, disfigured & insane, and kept a prisoner in his own home by his family. But whereas on the WHO story that was the punch line, here's it's just the springboard. Said victim secretly pays some friends to help him escape his brother-- Vincent Price-- who comes across as much nicer than most of these films, but all the same seems to be hiding something. Via more witch doctor "magic", the man fakes his own death... but then things go astray. SERIOUSLY astray. He's buried alive, then his "body" is stolen by grave-robbers in the employ of an unscrupulous medical adventurer. (One expects Peter Cushing in such a role, but NO! --it's Christopher Lee!) WHY his "friends" failed to follow-thru on their plan is a complete mystery to me-- I blame an unpolished script. It would have been a much more entertaining (and sensible) twist if they'd actually TRIED digging him up only to find the grave-robbers got there FIRST...! But no. The result: in addition to wanting to find out WHY he had a jungle curse put on him, Price's brother now wants REVENGE on everyone involved. Armed with a mask and a VERY sharp knife, his antics in the film's 2nd half make this seem like a Victorian-era installment of the HALLOWEEN series!!! I understand the late Michael Reeves was scheduled to direct; this may explain why Price, Rupert Davies (DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE) and Hilary Dwyer (CRY OF THE BANSHEE) are all together again following WITCHFINDER GENERAL-- and why there's so much pointless VIOLENCE in the story. While that film disturbed me in the EXTREME each time I sat thru it, OBLONG BOX is a LOT more "fun"-- if you can get past the growing number of bodies, most of which were killed in particularly brutal and senseless fashion. 2 interesting things I noticed about this plot, as it goes on nearly every character seems to be BLACKMAILING somebody (it seems EVERYBODY has some secret they don't want known), and the sympathetic-yet-INSANE victim/SLASHER only seems to kill people who've done wrong. (The sweet, innocent housekeeper gets terrified and dragged thru the woods, but nothing REALLY happens to her!) Interesting cameos to watch for: Colin Jeavons (Inspector Lestrade on the Jeremy Brett HOLMES series) plays a police inspector, as does Ivor Dean (Inspector Teal on the Roger Moore SAINT series!).With this film, producer Louis M. Heyward & director Gordon Hessler began a string of collaborations, all of which were somewhat iffy. Like WAR-GODS OF THE DEEP (which Heyward produced) OBLONG BOX feels like the script could have used to fine-tuning. (WHY did Price do what he did before the picture started? HOW was it nobody at his brother's viewing realized the body on display was SOMEBODY ELSE? etc.) All the same, I find it more watchable than most of these.

Witchfinder General 666 Gordon Hessler's "The Oblong Box" of 1969 starring the great Vincent Price is a creepy, and excellent Horror tale with a great atmosphere. The movie, whose cast also includes another great horror icon, Christopher Lee, is only loosely based on Edgar Allan Poe's short story of the same name, a fact that, in my opinion, does not downsize the quality of this eerie and obscure film. "The Oblong Box" combines all kinds of elements a fan of Gothic Horror cinema could desire: Voodoo, disfigurement, premature burial, and of course a constant eerie atmosphere and a bunch of bloody murders.In 18th century England, Sir Julian Markham (Vincent Price) keeps his brother Edward (Aliester Williamson) locked in a chamber in the tower of his mansion. Edward had been disfigured during a voodoo ceremony in Africa, and since gone completely insane. With some help, however, Edward manages to fake his own death in order to flee his prison, using methods which include a premature burial...Vincent Price is my favorite actor of all-time and his performance is, as always, superb, and no other actor would have fit in his role as Price does. Christopher Lee also delivers a great performance as a body-snatching doctor, a role in which he once again proves that his reputation as a horror icon is more than justified. The cast furthermore includes the beautiful Hillary Dwyer, who had already starred besides Price in Michael Reeves' masterpiece "Witchfinder General" in 1968, and who would play besides Price again in 1970, in "Cry Of The Banshee", also directed by Gordon Hessler, in the female lead.An excellently written and directed and superbly acted movie, "The Oblong Box" is a film which fans of Gothic Horror can't afford to miss. "Witchfinder General" director Michael Reeves was originally considered to direct the film, but died before the shooting began, and although I have utmost respect for this promising director, who sadly passed away at such a young age, I must say that I cannot imagine anyone to do a better job directing "The Oblong Box" than Hessler did. An excellent little tale of terror, "The Oblong Box" is a must-see for every Horror-fan. 9/10