The Haunting of Morella (1990) ** (out of 4)Based on the Poe story, Morella (Nicole Eggert) is put to death for being a witch but before dying she passes off a curse in front of her husband and baby daughter. Seventeen years pass and the daughter (also played by Eggert) begins to have strange visions and soon a possession begins.Jim Wynorski's THE HAUNTING OF MORELLA deserves a lot of credit. It was a Roger Corman produced cheapie but you have to give it credit for at least looking like an authentic period piece. I must admit that I was really shocked to see how good the film looked. More times than not these low-budget movies update the setting to where they don't have to worry about costumes and other things like that but that's not the case here. I thought the director did a very good job at delivering a nice atmosphere and the setting was perfect.As far as the film goes, I wouldn't call it a complete success but there are enough interesting moments to make it worth sitting through. As you should expect from the director, the horror elements often take a back seat to the nudity and sexuality. There's plenty of both here but the horror elements aren't too bad for what they are. There are a couple bloody moments that will have fans of the genre happy.David McCallum offers up a good performance in his role. Eggert is simply okay in her part. Lana Clarkson stands out in the role of the friend and you've also got Gail Thackray in a small part. THE HAUNTING OF MORELLA isn't a complete success but it's certainly entertaining enough to make it worth watching.

Morella (Nicole Eggert) is killed in the opening minutes for murder and witchcraft as her husband Gideon (David McCallum) looks on with their infant child. 17 years later, the child Lenora (Eggert again) is all grown up and soon to receive an sizable trust fund on her 18th birthday. But she is also the target of her teacher Coel (Lana Clarkson), who was Morella's accomplice back in the day, and hopes to put her old friend's soul in this new body. Loosely based on Poe's "Morella" short story, this feature runs only 82-minutes (the film ends at 78 minutes) but seems to go on a lot longer than that. Director Jim Wynorski gives the story what every critic of Poe thought it was missing - lots of topless women running around. To be fair, it succeeds on an exploitation level, but you'll never confuse this with a 1960s Corman Poe adaptation. And it is a nice looking production because this is back when Wynorski gave a damn. Eggert was "hot" off CHARLES IN CHARGE at the time so this must have seemed edgy for her. Regardless, she uses an obvious body double during her nude scenes. It is hilarious seeing her and Clarkson on screen as there is over a foot height differential, which leaves Eggert level with Clarkson's chest. Concorde staple Maria Ford has a smaller role as a servant. The film ends with the ridiculous on screen words "I still live!"

Absolutely atrocious "horror" movie. A witch is put to death in colonial America leaving behind an infant daughter. 17 years later she tries to return through the body of her now grown up kid.As you can see this has nothing to do with Poe's classic short story. This is a very obvious story full of bad acting and unintentionally hilarious dialogue. The only reason this was made was to show as much female nudity as possible in a R rated film. The women are truly beautiful here but have zero acting ability. When see a horror movie I expect to see just that--not a skin flick. Lousy sets too. The crypt at the end looks like it was made out of cardboard! It's really sad to see a talented actor like David McCallum reduced to making dreck like this. I guess he was desperate for work. Boring and stupid and an insult to Poe. Even the VERY frequent nude scenes can't save this. A 1 all the way.

On my list of top ten worst movies of all time, it's debatable between Superman III and The Haunting of Morella, but I'd put this as #1 worst. Stupid movie. Not only morally bankrupt, but from what I have understood, bore no resemblance whatsoever to the Edgar Allen Poe story. They seemed to keep adding character after character to the point where it became difficult to keep all of the characters straight. I went with a group of friends, and we resoundingly agreed that this one stunk. The plot was so convoluted that I couldn't even follow what exactly was going on half the time. This seemed like a bad B movie that they stuck Edgar Allen Poe's name on to give it some clout, but Poe would probably turn over in his grave on this one.