The Haunting of Morella

This may not be softcore porn, but it's absolutely an exploitation film with nothing to offer anyone looking for any form of horror movie at all. My entertainment derived solely from the ridiculous awfulness of this movie and the amazing amount of screen time dedicated to bare breasts. Now I remember why I liked this so much when I was 13 (over 20 years ago!).Based on the work of Edgar Allen Poe (probably rolling over in his grave) and brought to you by Roger Corman, The Haunting of Morella is a film that leaps into the deep end of its own melodramatic insanity with reckless abandon from its first few seconds of running time as we witness the colonial crucifixion of the young, attractive witch Morella (Nicole Eggert; Baywatch, Clan of the Cave Bear, Decoys) whose last words curse her family that she would one day return to possess her daughter and welcome them to the gates of Hell. This curse (and the three minutes of film surrounding it) are the only fraction of this movie's story that makes any sense at all. After this point, the story components and even the characters themselves seem a bit confused.Director Jim Wynorski (Chopping Mall, Deathstalker II: Duel of the Titans) has had a long history of exploitation filmmaking. So I guess I shouldn't have been surprised to the abundance of nudity and general dearth of substance in this schlocky film. Clearly he spent every dollar he could tipping the actresses to disrobe and spared a few remaining crumbled bills for the obviously inexperienced special effects team to transform Lenora (also played by Nicole Eggert) into the occasionally monstrous-faced Morella. Like any Roger Corman film, the cast features a slew of exploitation vixens including Maria Ford (Necronomicon: Book of the Dead, Deathstalker IV), Gail Harris (Sorority House Massacre II), Deborah Dutch (Sorority Girls and the Creature from Hell, 976-Evil II) and the statuesque Amazon Lana Clarkson (Deathstalker, Barbarian Queen), who was tragically murdered in real life by Phil Spector.Back when I reviewed Piranha 3DD (2012) I came up with a sort of "Movie Metric" for gratuitous nudity… "If there was a movie Freakonomics calculation called breast time it would be measured in breast seconds—the total number of breasts in a movie times the number of seconds that each breast is bare. [Piranha 3DD’s] breast second tabulation would result in a breast time of 300% of the movie’s actual running time. It’s truly shameful." Perhaps they should rename this film The Breasting of Morella as it puts Piranha 3DD to shame.Flashbacks inform us that Morella turned to the occult to remedy some unnamed terminal illness that would soon kill her—however healthy and hot she may appear. So, of course, she finds a completely naked bathing virgin woman to kill with the least convincing on-screen throat slit of 90s horror. Afterwards, Morella bathes in her blood, also naked. Shifting back to present day, we find Lenora's uber-tall guardian (Lana Clarkson) naked taking a bath. Such a smooth transition, right? How ever did the director muse the shift from a flashback with two naked women taking a bath to a present day naked women taking a bath? Impressive and seamless. This naturally develops into a lesbian massage with continued and markedly needlessly prolonged on-screen nudity.As a teenager of the early 90s without a computer, naturally I loved this. As an adult with the internet, this film now feels like a 90% waste of time with 10% nostalgia.The plot lumbers forward at a sluggish pace…that is, of course, unless you came here to count on-screen boobs. With the exception of disrobing the female cast (which was done in an instant with the pull of a string), everything seems to take way too long to unfold, occur and explain itself. And on that note, everything is over-explained in nauseating detail. Much to the contrary the one scene that should find elaborate development, the possession and its process, is completed almost instantaneously with no effects to speak of except for a corpse with some glowing eye sockets.From one temporary possession of Lenora's body to another, we learn that Morella needs to be fully resurrected because this whole possession thing is like way harder than she expected it to be. So now her old Amazon friend who lives with the family (no clue why) and somehow didn't age at all in nearly 20 years (maybe it's Maybelline) must help her to find virgins (because, yeah, you know, virgins!!!). So we find yet another naked lady who, for some reason, is written an entire back story despite being on screen for five minutes…and she’s killed. Now stronger after absorbing another soul, Morella again possess Lenora and…more sex! It seems sex is like filling the tank before taking your newly possessed body out for a spin. Then some more painful acting, cheap and terrible effects, and an evil mirror "other world"…and then yet more sex.The bombardment of retched effects continues along with the general story-based stupidity. Speaking of stupid, yet another 5-minute character with too much back story is drained by Morella's Lifeforce (1985) kiss of death to replenish her further a la Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988). As if we hadn't yet endured enough pointless characters and gratuitous nudity, here comes more of both in the form of a grotto-like lesbian skinny-dipping scene. This smutty scene is immensely drawn out as if to accumulate several breast minutes to the aforementioned breast time metric. And worry not, the gross over-exposition continues to plague this already awful film with such blunt statements as "After one more feeding I'll be completely resurrected." How does she even know that? Is this like a Subway punch card that's one hole-punch away from a free 6" sub?For those who could possibly care, the only noteworthy point to this movie is that every female member of the cast gets naked (even though Eggert uses a body double). The movie ends without a single scary moment to its credit, rather abruptly, stupidly and with no semblance of build-up, tension, urgency or conclusion. Lenora's father simply grabs her, now possessed by Morella, and breaks his oil lamp to burn them both alive. Roll credits. S*** this was awful! Haha

This is the final movie Roger Corman's studio mill did on the works of Edgar Allan Poe.If this had been done in the 1960's with the rest of them (House of Usher (1960), The Pit and the Pendulum (1961), Twisted Tales of Teror (1962), Premature Burial (1962), Tales of Terror (1963), The Raven (1963), The Masque of the Red Death (1964), Tomb of Ligiea (1965), The Oblong Box (1969) and Murders in the Rue Morgue (1970) then we'd have a different appreciation of this film, but as it is The Haunting of Morella (1990) lacks the cinematic genius, artistic mood and the 1960's lavish color palette. That said, it does have a style and mood that brings foreboding and a dull itching at the back of your skull. Not scary, no, but unsettling and unhappy.There is no Vincent Price here and Roger Corman is only a distant executive producer, but what we do have is a love letter (of sorts) to that halcyon period of celluloid Poe from the 1960's and a fairly close representation of "Morella"; at least, more than enough to recognize it as Poe.Nicole Eggert (OMG! She used a body double for nude scenes! Oh, the infamy!) is fetching as the girl possessed by the ghost of her demented mother, and her duo-role works well, especially since she suffers through the bondage sequences that are not present in the short story; David McCallum, wearing rose-colored glasses, captures just enough of Poe's weak-willed, spiritually and mentally haunted protagonist (very common in Poe tales); he's no Vincent Price or Ray Milland, certainly not, but as a lost, depressed, doomed man, with debilitating atrophy of sensitivity McCallum did well.Maria Ford (yeah, that Maria Ford!) is in here, too. Me likes her.Jim Wynorski is no Roger Corman, yeah, so what, he's Jim Wynorski and he knows just what we want in a B-horror movie. We get it in spades. This is one of three of my fav films from Wynorski (Slave Girls From Beyond Infinity and Deathstalker II, being the other two) and it acts as a bookend to the Corman stable of Poe Pictures.Not everyone's cup of Eary Grey but definitely smooth and tasty.

I thought this movie had potential but I guess I knew what I was getting myself in to. I was just expecting a little more in the scares department. I know it was made in the early 90's but I just figured it would still have that 80's horror feel to it. I don't know why they call this movie a horror movie, it was more like an cinemax late night movie with big brested witches and sex. I know some people love that and typically I would to, but the movie has to have a great story to make it good. I know when nicole gets possesed by her mother she has random sex with a man she barely knows. Of course it is sunny outside and then out of the blue it rains to make the sex scene seem hotter. I just wish they would have made this movie a little darker. The sets were awsome and they could have done more with the story. I suggest you rent this movie and don't buy it. If your a Nicole Eggert fan yes there is a sex scene with her in it, its just not that great and she seems confused through the whole movie. Not her greatest work then again she was still very young during this film.

I was pleasently suprised by this classically gothic little horror film. Like all films that Roger Corman has either produced or directed this one is a little overplayed; but there is an element of style throughout. The Corman standards are here: naked, big-busted, serving wenches, the damsel in distress, the young hero, and some genuinely disturbing horror scenes. The sets are atmospheric and the writers of the movie have expanded on Edger Allen Poe's tragic perspective that filtered through most of his poetic works like Annabel Lee and the Raven. Not to be taken too seriously but nicely done. Nicole Eggert is perfectly cast as Lenora as has never been more beautiful. David McCallum does a splended job as her "haunted" father. All in all a good effort on a small budget.

Taken from a story by Edgar Allen Poe, The Haunting of Morella could have been so much more than it is. Made in 1990, it has the feel of a 1960s Hammer horror with bare breasts (including tragic actress Lana Clarkson) thrown in for good measure. To be frank, take away the nudity and there is not much of a film left; and forget about Nicole Eggert in the nude, her nude scenes were done using a body double. The G-string underwear worn by another actress looked a bit out of place. Overall the film was hit and miss, mostly the latter.This DVD is Region 1 so UK buyers will need a multi-region player. It looks as if the film was transferred from a VHS because picture quality is poor and the aspect ratio is 1.33:1. The run time is 82 minutes. DVD extras are director's commentary, trailers and info on main cast members.