Virginia Film Society Closes Spring Season with 'House of Usher'

April 20, 2009 — The Virginia Film Society's spring season concludes by celebrating the 200th birthday of one of America's greatest literary talents, Edgar Allan Poe, with a screening of the 1960 classic, "The House of Usher," on April 29 at 7 p.m. at Vinegar Hill Theater.

The first in director Roger Corman's series of seven landmark Poe adaptations starring the delightfully creepy Vincent Price, "The House of Usher" is considered among the pair's best work together – and indeed, one the finest of cinema's Poe adaptations. Boasting deliriously colored Cinemascope photography (a widescreen movie format used from 1953 to 1967), which he creatively used to draw the audience into the action, Corman's film conveys Poe's brilliant sense of the gothic with a fervor few films can match.

Presented to coincide with the University's ongoing Poe exhibition "From Out That Shadow: The Life and Legacy of Edgar Allan Poe," the screening will be followed by a discussion with a special guest to be announced.

Admission is free to Film Society members. Tickets for remaining seats will be available at the box office 30 minutes before the screening for $9 each. There is a special UVa student rate of $3.50.

For information about screenings or Film Society membership, call 434-982-5560 or visit  Web site.
 
— By Jane Ford

Media Contact