Once again the wolfy, long-faced Mr. Price is married to a beautiful young woman, Debra Paget. He has returned to Arkham and although "The Haunted Palace" is a poem by Edgar Allen Poe, this is really based on "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" by H. P. Lovecraft. It has referenced to Yog Sothoth and Cthulhu and, of course, that old best seller, the Necronomicon. One hundred ten years earlier than his arrival, Price's ancestor had been burned at the stake for practicing black arts (necromancy) and put a curse on the town and the people responsible for his death. When the new Price arrives at Arkham, the natives tell him to get lost, but he has inherited the palace and feels he at least ought to go there. Once there, however, he sees a painting that is the spit and image of him and the image seems to connect with him, entering his body and becoming the original Price. Soon he is back doing his thing, burning people to a crisp (as he was) and terrorizing the rest of the populace. Poor Paget tries to stand by her man, but since he is Satanic, it's hard to feel romantic. Anyway, eventually the torches and pitchforks come out and the ending is a lot of fun.

It is said this film's title is found within Edgar Allan Poe's poem "The Fall of the House of Usher" and has little to do with it. The story of 'The Haunted Palace' is loosely based on H.P. Lovecraft's "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward".Vincent Price plays Charles Dexter Ward/Joseph Curwen so brilliantly! It amazing to watch Price as he plays both roles. Basically our story is of Charles Ward and his great, great grand father Joseph Curwen's spirit that enters into Charles's body and Vincent Price does so well to play two different personalities within one man and each personality struggles for dominance of the body. Outstanding performance by Price!Debra Paget plays Ann Ward - the wife of Charles Ward. The wife, Ann, knows when Charles has "changed" just as well as the viewer. Paget is very good in this film too playing the part of a wife tormented by the love of her Charles and detesting the other personality within Charles - Joseph Curwen.It is also nice to see Lon Chaney Jr in this movie too. He plays Simon Orne... a caretaker of the palace. Simon is also the one to help Joseph Curwen get his revenge on all that burned him over a century ago.Interesting story -- good for fans of older horror, the occult, Vincent Price, Lon Chaney Jr, Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft.8.5/10

One hundred and ten years after his great-great-grandfather is burned at the stake for being a warlock, congenial husband Vincent Price inherits his ancestor's castle, which the tavern-dwelling townspeople tell him is cursed. Turns out they're right; Price becomes possessed by the ghost of his insidious relative, and hopes to mate his own wife with a creature dwelling down in the cellar. Adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's story "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" (with a title borrowed from a poem by Edgar Allan Poe), begins as a ghost story and revenge thriller (with Price eliminating names from a list) before morphing into a monster movie. It doesn't quite hang together, despite a decent production and Price having fun playing both good guy and villain. Less talk and more hocus pocus might have helped generate some excitement in this 'Palace'. Not even the (mild) twist ending makes much sense in the context of this muddled stew. **1/2 from ****

Extremely atmospheric Gothic Horror movie strings together all the cliché ingredients - a warlock put to death who promises a torturous revenge, an ominous castle, creepy graveyards, fog and shadows galore - and a nice hammy performance by Vincent Price as the cursed warlock and his grandson. The only two complaints I have are the almost criminal underuse of Cathy Merchant as Hester. Conveying an evil presence without ever uttering a word - she reminds one of horror icon Helga Line with her malevolently drastic icy facial expressions. And although her character is very important to the story she receives very little screen time. Also, I found the end to be a little rushed and weak. But overall, this is a really good Gothic horror picture. If you like the Hammer movies, you should really enjoy this one.