Edgar Allen Poe’s The Oval Portrait is a supernatural film released in 1972. Rogelio A. González was the director with Enrique Torres Tudela adapting this into the screenplay. The cast includes Wanda Hendrix, Barry Coe, and Gisele MacKenzie.
Apparently, this movie also has been known as One Minute Before Death. Basically, there is a haunted painting, and the dead woman doing the haunting is able to take over the body of a living woman. There is also a tragic love story at the heart of this thing. There is also a strangely obsessed man with a taste for necrophilia or something pretty damned close to it. No need to worry though; it doesn’t get that graphic.
Most movies I review in this blog tend to leave me with mixed reactions. If any of my very few readers were really waiting for the day I came down decisively on a clear verdict for a film, that day has arrived.
This thing was abysmal. Almost nothing worked here. Some of the set design was fine, but it needed to go with a better cast. There was no clear motivation for many of the characters to be in this supposedly spooky house. There was this one irritating tune drilling itself into my psyche. The acting was terrible. Everyone was annoying or just outright nuts. I only sat through it to give it a fair review. Plus I wanted to be my fair in my disgust. I like a good ghost story, but this film completely failed to deliver.
The ability and opportunity to vent about this is scant consolation. Anyway, my point is made. There is little reason for anyone to subject themselves to this grotesque disappointment.
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