In the summer of 1969, my Dad took me to see SPIRITS OF THE DEAD (at the Baronet Theatre in Canoga Park, CA as I remember). As usual, after some cajoling, he acquiesced and he accompanied this young teenager to an "R" rated movie.
Well, we sat through it. My Dad didn't say much afterwards, and I think I used the term, "weird", mainly because it was. Turns out this European trilogy based on stories by Edgar Allen Poe and lensed by three different directors was more of an "art" film than a horror film. Kevin Thomas, film critic for The Los Angeles Times even remarked: "The only real accomplishment of this shoddy trilogy, purportedly inspired by the tales of Edgar Allen Poe and directed by Roger Vadim, Louis Malle and Frederico Fellini is to make Roger Corman's Poe pictures look awfully good in comparison".
Fellini's entry into the trio of stories was his "adaptation" of "Never Bet the Devil Your Head", later released on its own with the title, TOBY DAMMIT. Here it is scrutinized under a critic's microscope in CINEACTION #71 (April, 2007).
See my Monster Scrapbook entry for SPIRITS OF THE DEAD HERE.
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