Spirits of the Dead (1968)

Original title

Histoires extraordinaires

Directed by

Roger Vadim, Louis Malle, Federico Fellini

Genre

drama film, horror film, ghost film

Country

France, Italy

Runtime

2h 01m

Rated

16

Rating

6.2 of 10 from 186 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

Three separate tales based on stories by Edgar Allan Poe. In the first, a countess becomes obsessed with a wild horse. In the second, a cruel man is haunted by a double who looks like him. In the third, a drunken actor drives off in a sports car and encounters a mysterious girl.

stylishdarkunevendreamlikelushtheatricalunsettlingmoodyslow-burn

What happens

Spirits of the Dead (French: Histoires extraordinaires, lit. 'Extraordinary Tales', Italian: Tre passi nel delirio, lit. 'Three Steps to Delirium'), also known as Tales of Mystery and Imagination and Tales of Mystery, is a 1968 horror anthology film comprising three segments respectively directed by Roger Vadim, Louis Malle and Federico Fellini, based on stories by Edgar Allan Poe. A French-Italian international co-production, the film's French title is derived from a 1856 collection of Poe's short stories translated by French poet Charles Baudelaire; the English titles Spirits of the Dead and Tales of Mystery and Imagination are respectively taken from an 1827 poem by Poe and a 1902 British collection of his stories. Vadim's segment, "Metzengerstein", tells the story of the debauched Countess Frédérique de Metzengerstein (Jane Fonda), who devotes herself to taming a wild horse that once belonged to her cousin, Baron Wilhelm Berlifitzing (Peter Fonda). Malle's entry, "William Wilson", follows Wilson (Alain Delon), who is hounded throughout his life of cruelty and deception by a doppelgänger, whom he challenges to a fatal duel. Fellini's short, "Toby Dammit", a loose adaptation of "Never Bet the Devil Your Head", deals with the title character (Terence Stamp), an alcoholic Shakespearean actor, whose trip to Rome to make a Spaghetti Western in exchange for a Ferrari is complicated by multiple encounters with the Devil, who appears as a little girl with a white ball. Spirits of the Dead was released in the United States by American International Pictures in an English-language version featuring narration by Vincent Price. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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