Raul Garcia's Extraordinary Tales is two things: a passion project and an animated anthology film of five different Edgar Allan Poe stories. As the former, it succeeds brilliantly. There isn't a frame in the whole film that isn't drenched with a deep, whole-hearted love of the subject matter and its creator. But as the latter, it's so-so. There's really no way to properly talk about it without discussing all five parts. So...here we go:
1) The Fall of the House of Usher, as narrated by Christopher Lee. Delicious and atmospheric. But I'm not sure if the art style fit.
2) The Tell-Tale Heart, as narrated by Bela Lugosi. This is easily the best section, partly because it re-purposes a badly degraded audio recording of Lugosi, partly because of the jaw-dropping art inspired by Alberto Breccia. Absolutely stunning.
3) The Facts in the Cast of M. Valdemar, as narrated by Julian Sands. I had never heard of this story before. But thanks to this wonderful segment, aided by old school pulp comic book art, I think I may have to read it immediately.
4) The Pit and the Pendulum, as narrated by Guillermo Del Toro. I wish this was an audiobook: Del Toro is pitch-perfect for the role, the bland 3D CGI feels phoned in.
5) The Masque of the Red Death, as narrated by...nobody. It's mostly silent although Roger Corman makes a guest voice appearance as Prince Prospero. The dark, painterly artistic style is luscious, but I fear that people unfamiliar with the story will understand what's going on.
I could take or leave the narrative segments in-between each story where the ghost of Poe in raven form, voiced by Stephen Hughes, converses with an anthropomorphization of Death.
6/10
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