NOTE: These Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

The Raven Blu-rays are compared HERE

Tomb of Ligeia is compared to the Kino Blu-ray HERE

Firstly, the 6 films - The Fall of House of Usher (1960), The Pit and the Pendulum (1961), Tales of Terror (1962), The Raven (1964), The Haunted Palace (1963) and The Tomb of Legeia (1964) - are on 6 separate, dual-layered Blu-ray discs (unlike Shout! Factory who, often, share 2 features per disc as in their Vincent Price Blu-ray Collection Vol 1 - The Fall of House of Usher, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Haunted Palace, The Masque of the Red Death, Witchfinder General, The Abominable Dr. Phibes - and Volume 2 -The House on Haunted Hill, The Return of the Fly, The Comedy of Terrors, The Raven, The Last Man on Earth, Tomb of Ligeia and Dr. Phibes Rises Again.)

I've included some captures and the comments, below, from the two previously compared features (The Fall of House of Usher, The Pit and the Pendulum) that are now part of this Arrow Collection - as they are the same transfers and same supplements as Arrow's previously released individual Blu-ray packages. I've also compared The Haunted Palace - German Koch Media + Shout! Factory Blu-rays vs. the new Arrow 1080P.

All six Arrow Blu-rays are in-and-around the original 2.35:1 and have optional English (SDH) subtitles and offer Isolated scores except The Fall of The House of Usher, which does not. All offer uncompressed soundtracks - with linear PCM mono tracks at 1152 kbps on each excepting The Fall of The House of Usher  which has a, similarly robust, DTS-HD Master. All have original theatrical trailers.

Video: I'm very pleased as all seem to have max'ed out bitrates getting the most out of the source elements. Tales of Terror and Tomb of Legeia (which shows some Cinemascope 'mumps' horizontal stretching) have a couple of less consistent rougher patches (visible surface scratches) but they are brief and, in no way, impinged on my viewing. All three that are compared are the best of their, respective, issues - generally appearing slightly smoother in-motion, sometimes minutely darker, than their US or German counterpart(s). Ex. the Shout! Factory Usher is not up to the robust Arrow transfer found in this Six Gothic Tales set. The UK is lighter, skin -tones a shade cooler and the US image is slightly noisier. Blacks levels are deep and contrast layered. Overall though it is quite watchable. NOTE: The Shout! Factory release is three minutes+ longer as it has the Overture starting the presentation. The Pit and the Pendulum has a lot of parity with the Region 'A' as does The Haunted Palace although the Arrow is a notch superior in-motion. It has the same marks and light scratches. I feel confident that these are the best we are likely to get for home theatre presentation with no fatal anomalies to hinder the enjoyment. Colors are impressively rich.

On The Fall of the House of Usher Arrow add some great supplements. We get the audio commentary with director and producer Roger Corman - that I first heard on MGM's Midnite Movies DVD from 2001. He comes across as friendly, charismatic and points out some interesting tidbits from the production. We get a 27-minute interview with director and former Corman apprentice Joe Dante who extols the low-budget B movies filmmaker and adds an anecdote or two. Fragments of The House of Usher is a specially-commissioned video essay by critic and filmmaker David Cairns examining Corman's film in relation to Poe's story. It runs about 11-minutes to specific scenes of the film. Jonathan Rigby (author of American Gothic: Sixty Years of Horror Cinema) discusses the film, AIP's involvement and Corman for an additional 1/2 hour. He is quite excellent and brimming with knowledge. We get a 12-minute archival interview with Vincent Price with burned in French subtitles and an original trailer.

Arrow's Pit and the Pendulum offer a ton of extras. We get the same commentary with Roger Corman as found on the Shout! Factory as well as a second, very professional commentary from critic Tim Lucas. He is, easily, the best for this genre and imparts some valuable information that fans will be keen to indulge in. There is also a third, optional track with the isolated music and effects. Behind the Swinging Blade is a 2013, 43-minute documentary on the making of The Pit and the Pendulum featuring Roger Corman, star Barbara Steele, Vincent Price’s daughter Victoria Price and others discussing the production. We get a 5-minute added TV Sequence – shot in 1968 to pad out the film for the longer TV time slot. This particular scene features star Luana Anders. An Evening of Edgar Allan Poe with Vincent Price is a 53-minute, TV-quality, show from 1970. In it, Price reads a selection of Poe’s classic stories before a live audience, including The Tell-Tale Heart, The Sphinx, The Cask of Amontillado and The Pit and the Pendulum. It offers English subtitles - the a/v is not very strong although it is transferred in 1080P

On Tales of Terror, Arrow include an hour-long documentary, entitled The Directors: Roger Corman, on Corman featuring contributions from James Cameron, Jonathan Demme, Martin Scorsese and Ron Howard plus included is a new 1/2 hour piece with Kim Newman discussing Edgar Allan Poe and some of the key cinema adaptations of his work. Critic and novelist Anne Billson discusses the contributions of cat to genre cinema in a 10-minute video appropriately titled Cats in Horror Films. We also get The Black Cat, an 18-minute 1993 short film adaptation of Poe's classic tale directed by Rob Green (The Bunker).

The Raven also has substantial supplements including an hour-long German documentary - Peter Lorre: The Double Face. It was made by Harun Farocki in 1984 and subtitled in English and is a competent examination of the actors entire career, from Lorre's early days in the theatre with Bertholt Brecht to his untimely death in 1964. There is a 61/2 minute interview with the legendary novelist and screenwriter Richard Matheson and an 8-minute interview with Roger Corman about making The Raven and the comedy found in the film. The Trick is another a short film by Rob Green. This is about rival magicians and runs just over a dozen minutes. There is an audio-only reading for 6-minutes promoting the film, a stills and poster gallery and a trailer.

The Haunted Palace has an audio commentary by Vincent Price's biographer David Del Valle coupled with replacement Derek Botelho and another excellent Kim Newman piece - this one on on H.P. Lovecraft and runs 1/2 hour. We get another vintage interview with Roger Corman entitled A Change of Poe running over 10-minutes and the obligator stills and poster gallery as well as a theatrical trailer.

The Tomb of Legeia has not one, but 2, informative, audio commentaries. The first is by director and producer Roger Corman and the second by star Elizabeth Shepherd. There are 4, all new, interviews with cast and crew - as follows; 25-minutes with uncredited assistant to producer, and co-screenwriter Paul Mayersberg, 8-minutes with assistant director David Tringham, another 8-minutes with Clapper Loader Bob Jordan and 6-minutes with composer Kenneth V. Jones. There is also a theatrical trailer.

This incredible package also contains a 200-page book as a limited edition exclusive (2,000 copies). It is a collector's book containing new writing the films, an interview with Roger Corman, extracts from Vincent Price s autobiography and full reproductions of tie-in comic books for Tales of Terror, The Raven and The Tomb of Ligeia.

Easily the definitive capsule for Corman, Poe, Price fans - a set that never stops giving in the form of extensive and educational supplements. One of the most complete Blu-ray collections of the entire year! Our highest recommendation! 

Gary W. Tooze