Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Extraordinary Tales Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 16, 2016

There’s an almost hallucinatory quality to many of the tales, extraordinary or otherwise, that flowed out of Edgar Allan Poe’s pen, a quality that was exploited rather wisely in a kind of proto-Freudian way by Roger Corman in some of his cinematic adaptations of the master of the macabre (some found in The Vincent Price Collection and The Vincent Price Collection II). That dreamlike ambience might be one reason why at least some of Poe’s stories have seemed ripe for animated treatment, as in the still well remembered 1953 cartoon version of The Tell Tale Heart, which was narrated by James Mason. Now Spanish director Raul Garcia has assembled a quintet of Poe yarns in the visually stunning Extraordinary Tales, a portmanteau of sorts which actually seems to have been crafted out of five shorts which may have been produced independently, at least as evidenced by their individual credits sequences as each saga begins (something that is at least alluded to by Garcia himself in the commentary track included on this new Blu-ray). While a really interesting variety of animation styles may be this film’s ultimate calling card, what may attract horror fans to it in the first place is its rather starry assemblage of voice talent, which includes Christopher Lee (in what was evidently one of his last roles, if not his actual last role), Julian Sands, Guillermo del Toro, Roger Corman and (courtesy of a vintage recording) Bela Lugosi.

Extraordinary Tales exhibits some of a traditional portmanteau by having introductory and interstitial elements featuring that iconic bird of Poe's, the raven, along with a kind of Death figure, all taking place in a kind of whimsically designed cemetery. However, as mentioned above, each of the five stories features its own separate credits sequence, something that tends to "divide" the film in a more substantial way than many portmanteau efforts typically do. The five stories included in Extraordinary Tales are:

The Fall of the House of Usher. Some of the psychological complexity of Poe’s original works don’t quite make it through to these sometimes rather heavily redacted pieces, and that’s probably the case with this version of Usher, where Christopher Lee’s evocative narration still tends to create some distance between the audience and the players, notably the focal character whose arrival at the Usher household starts a domino effect of cascading tragedies. This vignette is animated somewhat similarly to the interstitial graveyard sequences, in a manner that suggest paper sculpture. The characters have textures on their skins which almost resemble tree rings. The “fall” of the house of Usher is rather spectacularly handled, sending this story off into a rainy sunset with quite a bit of gusto.

The Tell-Tale Heart, Poe’s timeless classic about a guilty conscience, probably suffers worth from the psychological perspective with a declamatory presentation (featuring archival audio by Bela Lugosi) that eschews any real depth. That shortcoming is probably more than made up in the visual acuity of this piece, which is absolutely astounding. Inspired by the works of Argentinian comic book illustrator Alberto Breccia, The Tell-Tale Heart features an almost exclusively high contrast black and white style that verges on abstract graphics territory quite a bit of the time. The actual story is told in an almost perfunctory manner, with the time between the murder and the confession short and not very labored. But, the visuals are simply amazing.

The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar is probably one of the lesser known Poe stories in this particular collection, and interestingly when it was first published, some evidently took it to be an actual journalistic (i.e, true) account of a so-called mesmerist who puts a man in a mesmeric trance at the moment of death, with some fairly horrifying consequences. This is another fairly tamped down offering from a story perspective, though in hindsight some viewers may find this the most disturbing of the tales in the film. The animation style borrows heavily from comic books again here, albeit now in full color and with a rough-hewn texture that suggests inks being applied to a pulpy page.

The Pit and the Pendulum varies a bit from both Poe’s original formulation as well as the well remembered Vincent Price film version, but at least hews closer to Poe’s original conception with regard to offering a story of a prisoner being held captive during the Spanish Inquisition. This version “cheats” a bit at the end with a supposed “sting” that ostensibly offers some of the psychological depth that has been missing from several of these stories, but in this case the “twist” is ill conceived and not especially helpful. This is the most photo realistic of the animation styles on display, with a CGI ambience that may suggest videogames to some viewers, with Garcia opting for split screen effects at several junctures.

The last story is Poe’s evocative The Masque of the Red Death, here presented as almost a Commedia dell’Arte pantomime sans narration and in an extremely beautiful watercolor style. The dreamlike ambience of the tale is supported beautifully by the billowing visuals, and the lack of any descriptive voiceover content actually helps to sustain the hallucinatory atmosphere beautifully.

Extraordinary Tales Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Extraordinary Tales is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Cinedigm and G Kids with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. This is an exceptionally sharp and well defined presentation, at least when taking into account the huge variances in animation styles that are on display. A refreshing lack of undue banding helps elements like the high contrast black and white presentation in The Tell-Tale Heart really pop with incredible immediacy, while more subtle visual delights are on hand in the water color softness of The Masque of the Red Death. Line detail remains sharp and well defined throughout all of the film, and textures are quite inviting in the segments that resemble paper sculpture. There's a bit of haziness in the Valdemar vignette, but otherwise this is a top tier presentation.

Note: The first five screenshots offer one sampling of each of the five stories. Screenshot 6 is from the interstitial graveyard sequences. Screenshots 7-9 are from The Fall of the House of Usher, screenshots 10-12 are from The Tell-Tale Heart, screenshots 13 and 14 are from The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar, screenshots 15 and 16 are from The Pit and the Pendulum, and screenshots 17-19 are from The Masque of the Red Death.

Extraordinary Tales Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Extraordinary Tales' lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 doesn't really traffic in over the top sonic design gimmicks, and with most of the tales being narrated, surround activity tends to spill into discrete channels courtesy of either the scores or individual sound effects. While immersion may not be outstanding, it's at least present in all of these offerings, albeit in sometimes rather subtle, nuanced ways. The archival recording of Lugosi shows its age (and in fact Garcia in his commentary specifically states he didn't really restore it as he liked the scratchy, hissy ambience of it), but otherwise things sound clear and clean, with no problems whatsoever.

Extraordinary Tales Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The Art of Extraordinary Tales (1080p; 5:51) is a brief but interesting look at the animation styles.


• The Making of Extraordinary Tales (1080p; 40:41) is a good, in depth piece that features several excellent interviews.


• Audio Commentary by Director Raul Garcia. Garcia offers a generally engaging, informative commentary that covers both technical aspects as well as his own personal connections to Poe.


• U.S. Trailer (1080p; 1:30)

Extraordinary Tales Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Years ago at the dawn of the "multimedia PC" age (as they were called back then), my wife bought me some kind of Edgar Allan Poe videogame where I had to discover what had happened to Lenore (Poe fans will understand that reference). The game was a bit short on story specifics but long on design ambience, and the same might be said for Extraordinary Tales. The actual stories here are given somewhat short shrift in an attempt to streamline them to their very basics. That may understandably upset some Poe purists, but for those willing to go with the flow (and/or Poe), the visual presentations here are often absolutely stunning, and should be appreciated by lovers of modern animation. Technical merits are first rate, and Extraordinary Tales comes Highly recommended.