The 1963 adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's gothic poem The Raven starred some of the most iconic horror actors of the 1960s, and was one of eight Poe-inspired movies released in just five years. As Poe is most famous for writing horror, it might be surprising to learn that he also wrote comedy, which usually featured puns. The Raven movie also mixed horror with humor, making its gothic horror movie premise into an early horror comedy. While The Raven bombed among critics of the time, it became a cult hit, earning an 83% Rotten Tomatoes score.

The Raven is about a trio of rival sorcerers. Horror legend Vincent Price plays Erasmus Craven, who is mourning the death of his wife, Lenore. Its titular raven is Dr. Bedlo, a sorcerer under a spell, and played by Peter Lorre, who often ad-libbed the funnier lines. Boris Karloff is the final member of the trio, playing the evil Scarabus, who cast the spell on Bedlo and possibly kidnapped Lenore. Writer Richard Matheson found it difficult to make a poem into a movie, so he made it a comedy, and the resulting campy atmosphere makes The Raven a must-watch.

The Raven Unites Several Horror Legends

The Raven Also Features The Shining Actor Jack Nicholson In An Early Role

movies inspired by Poe's horror stories. Price was at the peak of his career in the 1960s and uniting him with Karloff, already famous for playing both The Mummy and Frankenstein's monster, ensured audiences of many ages would want to see The Raven. Early "scream queen" Hazel Court played Lenore in her second Poe adaptation, and even the young Jack Nicholson appeared in The Raven in a very early role.

The Raven was Jack Nicholson's second horror comedy, as he appeared in The Little Shop Of Horrors in 1960.

Jack Nicholson has acted in relatively few horror movies throughout his long career, but, his performance as Poe-like tortured writer Jack Torrance in the psychological horror movie The Shining is often considered one of his most career-defining moments. Nicholson began his acting career starring in Westerns, low-budget movies, and the occasional horror movie, and appearing alongside a cast of established horror movie legends in The Raven might have been daunting. However, he was likely in good hands, as Nicholson was playing Rexford Bedlo, the son of veteran actor Peter Lorre.

The 1963 Movie Is The Second Adaptation Of The Raven With Boris Karloff

Both The Raven Adaptations Are Worth Watching, But Extremely Different

In 1935, director Lew Landers made his own adaptation of The Raven, which, while very different from the later version, also starred Boris Karloff. Karloff plays a bank robber on the run from the police, who meets a very dangerous doctor. This doctor is a Poe devotee, who conducts surgery on Karloff's character, and he is played by veteran horror actor Bela Lugosi, who was best known for playing Dracula. The 1930s The Raven is still scary today, despite being 90 years old, and does not feature the comedy elements later seen in the 1963 adaptation.

Neither adaptation of The Raven is faithful to Poe's poem about a man who is visited by a talking raven while mourning the death of "the lost Lenore." 1963's The Raven has a talking raven and a "lost" Lenore, but is a horror comedy, unlike the poem. The 1935 The Raven features Poe staples like horror and mutilation, but no raven. Still, both The Raven adaptations are creative and worth watching in their own right. The all-star horror cast of 1963's The Raven is especially compelling for the glimpse of the young Nicholson alongside so many horror movie legends.