"The Haunted Palace" has a title, and some useless quotes, borrowed from the poetry of Edgar Allan Poe - or Edgar ALLEN Poe, as the end titles incorrectly credit him. The movie itself, however, is pure Lovecraft - that most famous of exploitation/b-movie studios, American International Pictures, insisted on a Poe-derived title to link this movie with Corman's popular series of films that actually were based on the famous writer's works.
The "palace" of the title isn't even really haunted. This is not a haunted house story. I'm not sure if Lovecraft ever dealt in those. What it is, is a fairly typical example of the old "village with a despised ancestor has his descendant show up to claim his birthright from locals who improbably remember the original person despite him having died a century ago". When the great-great-grandson of the evil aristocrat-cum-warlock shows up in the village, of course he is played by the same actor who played the warlock in the opening flashback (Vincent Price here), and of course when he re-enters the palace that has been bequeathed to him - which seems remarkably well preserved considering it apparently hasn't been entered in over a hundred years - yes, he gets possessed by his dead relative and starts taking revenge.
As far as I know, this story was usually done in Europe; I know Paul Naschy did it with his Alaric du Marnac character, and I think Mario Bava might have done it as well. They all - as well as many, many other horror movies - begin with people stopping in a tavern in the small town and asking for directions to the inherited property (or whichever other place) and the mere mention of it makes everyone stop doing what they're doing and stare at the newcomers. As clichés go, it's one of the better ones.
Like the Poe-based Corman flicks, "The Haunted Palace" is little more than a solid genre offering. It's nothing original, but I don't think Corman ever cared about that. It gets the job done, and fans will find it worth watching for Price alone, who was worth watching in anything, and the appearance of legendary horror-actors Lon Chaney Jr., here looking like a lump of clay come to life, and the rabbity, objectionable Elisha Cook Jr., who was called "the lightweight heavy" for a reason.
The "palace" of the title isn't even really haunted. This is not a haunted house story. I'm not sure if Lovecraft ever dealt in those. What it is, is a fairly typical example of the old "village with a despised ancestor has his descendant show up to claim his birthright from locals who improbably remember the original person despite him having died a century ago". When the great-great-grandson of the evil aristocrat-cum-warlock shows up in the village, of course he is played by the same actor who played the warlock in the opening flashback (Vincent Price here), and of course when he re-enters the palace that has been bequeathed to him - which seems remarkably well preserved considering it apparently hasn't been entered in over a hundred years - yes, he gets possessed by his dead relative and starts taking revenge.
As far as I know, this story was usually done in Europe; I know Paul Naschy did it with his Alaric du Marnac character, and I think Mario Bava might have done it as well. They all - as well as many, many other horror movies - begin with people stopping in a tavern in the small town and asking for directions to the inherited property (or whichever other place) and the mere mention of it makes everyone stop doing what they're doing and stare at the newcomers. As clichés go, it's one of the better ones.
Like the Poe-based Corman flicks, "The Haunted Palace" is little more than a solid genre offering. It's nothing original, but I don't think Corman ever cared about that. It gets the job done, and fans will find it worth watching for Price alone, who was worth watching in anything, and the appearance of legendary horror-actors Lon Chaney Jr., here looking like a lump of clay come to life, and the rabbity, objectionable Elisha Cook Jr., who was called "the lightweight heavy" for a reason.