Based on several Nathaniel Hawthorne stories, Twice-Told Tales stars Vincent Price in each of three stories in this anthology film. The first, Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment, has best friends Price and Sebastian Cabot discovering a youth serum which rejuvenates them both. When they decide to try it on Cabot’s long dead fiancée, Mari Blanchard, what seemed like an ideal situation turns ugly.
In Rappaccini’s Daughter, Price stars as the highly over-protective father of the beautiful Beatrice (Joyce Taylor). Beatrice falls in love with Giovanni Guasconti (Brett Halsey) but cannot kiss or even touch him because her father, in an effort to keep her pure, has replaced her blood with acid. This chemical chastity belt frustrates the would be lovers and their story touches Price who comes up with a novel solution. Oddly enough, it doesn’t end well.
The third and most famous story of the three, The House of Seven Gables has Price bringing new bride Beverly Garland to his ancestral home after a seventeen year absence. Creepy sister Jacqueline deWit knows it’s a bad idea and when Beverly starts having visions…well it just goes downhill from there. Of the three stories, I liked this one the best. It’s by far the most sinister and the effects worked really well. You gotta love bleeding walls.
While not the best horror anthology I’ve seen, Twice-Told Tales was entertaining, had some fun effects, and of course starred the great Vincent Price. Worth a watch.