Oblong Box Blu-ray

'The Oblong Box' Director: Gordon Hessler (1969) BFI Blu-ray

Masters of terror Vincent Price and Christopher Lee are both at their spine-chilling best in this grisly Gothic tale of the macabre, inspired by an Edgar Allan Poe story.

In shadow-shrouded Victorian England, a landowner hides a terrible family secret, while a surgeon carries out dreadful experiments upon stolen cadavers. When their disparate destinies entwine – and a mysterious murderer in a red mask begins a mission of vengeance – a series of brazen, bloody atrocities ensue.

Actors and crew that worked on the horror classic Witchfinder General were brought together again for this stylishly shot, fast paced slice of Grand Guignol – featuring customarily powerful performances from its charismatic cast.

Special features include:
- Audio commentary by film historian Steve Haberman
- The Immortal Mr Price (2024, 17 mins): Vincent Price’s daughter discusses her father’s career and his trips to England in the late 1960s
- The Bells (1913, 15 mins): Edgar Allan Poe’s poignant poem underpins this silent film rarity, which tells a melodramatic tale of love and death
- Prelude (1927, 7 mins): Rachmaninov’s wonderfully disturbing ‘Prelude in C-sharp minor’ sets the tone for a silent, nightmarish reverie on Poe’s The Premature Burial
- The Pit (1962, 27 mins): a strange and experimental gothic short, adapted from Poe’s The Pit and the Pendulum
- Roger Corman on Edgar Allan Poe (2015, 9 mins): the legendary director and producer discusses his Poe adaptations, including The Pit and the Pendulum and The Masque of the Red Death
- **FIRST PRESSING ONLY** Illustrated booklet with news essays by Peter Fuller and Benjamin Halligan and archive essay on The Pit by the BFI’s James Bell