# The Haunted Palace (1963 film)
**The Haunted Palace** is a 1963 American horror film directed and produced by [Roger Corman](https://www.edgepedia.org/roger-corman), starring [Vincent Price](https://www.edgepedia.org/vincent-price) in a dual role, and notable as the first screen adaptation of a work by [H. P. Lovecraft](https://www.edgepedia.org/h-p-lovecraft) even though it was marketed under the name of Edgar Allan Poe.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23227) • [2](https://irishgothicjournal.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/film-reviews.pdf) Its screenplay by Charles Beaumont adapts Lovecraft's novella *The Case of Charles Dexter Ward*, while the title comes from Poe's 1839 poem, a few lines of which Price recites in the film.[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/208681/the-haunted-palace-1963) American International Pictures (AIP) distributed it as part of the Corman-Price "Poe cycle" that began with *House of Usher* (1960).[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/208681/the-haunted-palace-1963)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / producer | Roger Corman, for Alta Vista Productions, distributed by American International Pictures[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23227) |
| Source | H. P. Lovecraft's novella *The Case of Charles Dexter Ward*; title and quoted lines from Poe's 1839 poem "The Haunted Palace"[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/208681/the-haunted-palace-1963) |
| Screenplay | Charles Beaumont, with uncredited additional dialogue by Francis Ford Coppola[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/208681/the-haunted-palace-1963) |
| Principal cast | Vincent Price (Charles Dexter Ward / Joseph Curwen), Debra Paget (Ann Ward), Lon Chaney Jr. (Simon Orne)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23227) |
| Key crew | Floyd Crosby (cinematography), Daniel Haller (art direction), Ronald Stein (music), Ronald Sinclair (editing)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23227) |
| Release | Principal photography from 10 Apr 1963 at Producers Studio, Hollywood; openings in Kansas City and Detroit in September 1963, Los Angeles 18 Dec 1963, New York 29 Jan 1964[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23227) |
| Box office | $156,000 in its Los Angeles opening week; Variety projected $1.5 million in earnings as of October 1963[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23227) |
| Historical standing | The first film adaptation of a Lovecraft work[2](https://irishgothicjournal.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/film-reviews.pdf) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
In the New England village of Arkham in 1765, the warlock Joseph Curwen (Vincent Price) is confronted by townsfolk who suspect him of bringing young women to his castle for mysterious experiments.[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/208681/the-haunted-palace-1963) The villagers burn him alive at a stake, and he curses them and their descendants as he dies.[6](https://www.netflixmovies.com/the-haunted-palace-1963) A hundred and ten years later, his great-great-grandson Charles Dexter Ward, also played by Price, arrives with his wife Ann ([Debra Paget](https://www.edgepedia.org/debra-paget)) to claim the inherited castle.[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/208681/the-haunted-palace-1963) • [6](https://www.netflixmovies.com/the-haunted-palace-1963) The villagers are hostile and many are deformed, blaming the curse; Ward falls under his ancestor's malignant influence, and Curwen takes over his body to resume his evil work and take revenge on the descendants of those who burned him.[6](https://www.netflixmovies.com/the-haunted-palace-1963) • [7](https://yankeeclassic.com/miskatonic/dcommunications/films/thefilms01.htm) The film incorporates Lovecraftian elements such as the [Necronomicon](https://www.edgepedia.org/necronomicon) (fictional book of dark magic in Lovecraft lore), which Curwen is thought to have used to summon dark gods from beyond.[8](https://www.hplovecraft.com/study/ahcfaq/moviestv.aspx)
The adaptation departs from the novella in several ways: Beaumont's Ward is a devoted middle-aged husband who has never heard of Curwen before arriving, whereas Lovecraft's Ward is an introverted young antiquarian already familiar with the legends; the setting moves from [Providence, Rhode Island](https://www.edgepedia.org/providence-rhode-island) to the fictional village of Arkham; and the film has Curwen's opulent estate reassembled stone by stone from Europe, preserved against time, where in the book the lair has vanished into ruin.[9](https://www.gatewaycinephile.com/blog/2013/01/19/what-has-sunk-may-rise-the-haunted-palace) One assessment calls the film "reasonably faithful to the Lovecraft novel" despite these changes.[5](https://jewlscholar.mtsu.edu/bitstream/mtsu/3958/1/3255584.pdf)
## Source and production
After five Poe adaptations for AIP (*House of Usher*, *Pit and the Pendulum*, *Premature Burial*, *Tales of Terror*, and *[The Raven](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-raven-1963-film)*), Corman wanted to change direction and adapt Lovecraft's *The Case of Charles Dexter Ward*.[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/208681/the-haunted-palace-1963) The novella, written in 1927, was unpublished during Lovecraft's lifetime; after his death in 1937, August Derleth and Donald Wandrei went through his papers, and the story appeared abridged in the May and July 1941 issues of *Weird Tales* and unabridged in the 1943 Arkham House collection *Beyond the Wall of Sleep*.[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/208681/the-haunted-palace-1963)
Corman hired Charles Beaumont, a writer known for his *Twilight Zone* episodes, and Beaumont stayed fairly close to Lovecraft's story.[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/208681/the-haunted-palace-1963) After Beaumont left to work on *The Twilight Zone*, Francis Ford Coppola, then Corman's assistant, did a dialogue polish and helped the actors prepare their lines; he is credited for additional dialogue, uncredited.[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/208681/the-haunted-palace-1963) [Principal photography](https://www.edgepedia.org/principal-photography) began on 10 April 1963 at Producers Studio in Hollywood.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23227) Corman described a visual approach distinct from his Poe films: "a somewhat starker lighting pattern... more realistic, starker look - more straightforward than Poe."[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/208681/the-haunted-palace-1963)
## The Poe marketing problem
Although the story is Lovecraft's, AIP advertised the film as "Edgar Allan Poe's The Haunted Palace."[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/208681/the-haunted-palace-1963) According to the Film Stories account, AIP producer James Nicholson was nervous that audiences had no idea who Lovecraft was, so the film was branded as a Poe picture; the production created a tenuous Poe connection through a narrated poem during the film's introduction.[4](https://filmstories.co.uk/features/how-roger-corman-brought-lovecraft-to-the-masses/) A master's thesis on the Poe cycle reports that, per Lucy Chase Williams, it was AIP co-founder James H. Nicholson who insisted on the title change for commercial reasons, and that during production the picture was at one point called *The Haunted Village*.[5](https://jewlscholar.mtsu.edu/bitstream/mtsu/3958/1/3255584.pdf) Corman later said AIP gave him "a little bit of freedom to move from Poe to Lovecraft - the periods were about the same and it looked a little bit like a Poe picture," but suspected "they had planned to turn a Lovecraft story into a Poe story all along."[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/208681/the-haunted-palace-1963) Price himself, interviewed in 1987, said, "It wasn't bad. It was a good idea and a good film. I don't know why they just couldn't have left the Lovecraft title to it."[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/208681/the-haunted-palace-1963)
## Release and reception
The picture opened in early September 1963 in [Kansas City, Missouri](https://www.edgepedia.org/kansas-city-missouri), and Detroit, Michigan; it opened in Los Angeles on 18 December 1963 and in New York City on 29 January 1964.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23227) Reviews were dismissive; the *New York Times* of 30 January 1964 stated, "Nothing about it calls for comment."[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23227) Commercially it did better: it earned $156,000 during its Los Angeles opening week, and the *Los Angeles Times* called it a "box-office success"; a Variety article in October 1963 projected earnings of $1.5 million based on gross receipts to date.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23227) A later source gives worldwide box office of $2.6 million.[6](https://www.netflixmovies.com/the-haunted-palace-1963) On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 75% Tomatometer from 8 reviews and a 67% audience score.[10](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/haunted_palace)
Critical opinion has since been mixed but often favorable. Time Magazine called it "Fearful enchantment!" and The New York Times (in a later retrospective quote) "Eerily poetic. Striking. Compelling.", while Lee Halliwell of the BBC called it a "plodding horror comic, too slow to give opportunities to its stalwart cast."[7](https://yankeeclassic.com/miskatonic/dcommunications/films/thefilms01.htm) The Irish Journal of Gothic and Horror Studies writes that although frequently dismissed as one of Corman's lesser films, it is "actually one of his best."[2](https://irishgothicjournal.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/film-reviews.pdf) Price's dual performance is widely praised, though one account notes the takeover of Ward by his ancestor is "somewhat undercut by too much ghoulishly-tinted facial greasepaint."[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/208681/the-haunted-palace-1963)
## Cast notes and legacy
The film paired two horror icons, Vincent Price and [Lon Chaney Jr.](https://www.edgepedia.org/lon-chaney-jr), in the same picture for what one retrospective calls a unique pairing; Chaney, famous for playing the Wolf Man, made this his only appearance in a Roger Corman film, and Debra Paget retired from acting after completing it, her last film.[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/208681/the-haunted-palace-1963) • [6](https://www.netflixmovies.com/the-haunted-palace-1963)
Art designer Daniel Haller went on to direct two Lovecraft adaptations of his own, *Die, Monster, Die!* (1965) and *[The Dunwich Horror](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-dunwich-horror-1970-film)* (1970).[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/208681/the-haunted-palace-1963) Lovecraft's novella was adapted again by director [Dan O'Bannon](https://www.edgepedia.org/dan-obannon) as *The Resurrected* (1992), with [Chris Sarandon](https://www.edgepedia.org/chris-sarandon) in the Ward/Curwen dual role.[3](https://www.tcm.com/articles/208681/the-haunted-palace-1963) The film is now available on streaming services including Prime Video, Tubi, and MGM+.[11](https://www.moviefone.com/movie/the-haunted-palace/1015158/where-to-watch/)
## References
1. [The Haunted Palace (1963), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/23227)
2. [Film Reviews, The Irish Journal of Gothic and Horror Studies 14 (Summer 2015)](https://irishgothicjournal.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/film-reviews.pdf)
3. [The Haunted Palace (1963), Turner Classic Movies, by John M. Miller](https://www.tcm.com/articles/208681/the-haunted-palace-1963)
4. [How Roger Corman brought Lovecraft to the masses, Film Stories](https://filmstories.co.uk/features/how-roger-corman-brought-lovecraft-to-the-masses/)
5. ["Much of Madness, and More of Sin": Vincent Price, Gender, and the Poe Cycle, MTSU thesis](https://jewlscholar.mtsu.edu/bitstream/mtsu/3958/1/3255584.pdf)
6. [The Haunted Palace (1963), NetflixMovies.com](https://www.netflixmovies.com/the-haunted-palace-1963)
7. [Miskatonic University HPL Films: The Haunted Palace](https://yankeeclassic.com/miskatonic/dcommunications/films/thefilms01.htm)
8. [Movies and Television FAQ, The H.P. Lovecraft Archive](https://www.hplovecraft.com/study/ahcfaq/moviestv.aspx)
9. [What Has Sunk May Rise: The Haunted Palace (1963), Gateway Cinephile](https://www.gatewaycinephile.com/blog/2013/01/19/what-has-sunk-may-rise-the-haunted-palace)
10. [The Haunted Palace, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/haunted_palace)
11. [The Haunted Palace: Where to Watch, Moviefone](https://www.moviefone.com/movie/the-haunted-palace/1015158/where-to-watch/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Horror films (individual works) › Gothic horror films*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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