Extraordinary Tales (2013) User Reviews

Extraordinary Tales is a pleasant offering to horror genre. Each tale is brimming with personality and designed kindly to captivate viewer with sheer oddity.

[quincytheodore · 7/10 · 27 October 2015]

In the time of excessive CGI, it's nice to see that there's still a place with distinct comic book, video game and ever classic painting style. This anthology is a delightfully eerie visual parade of short stories, each account spans for approximately ten minutes. While this eccentric niche unfortunately might not appeal to everyone, it's a great homage to the poet and frighteningly quirky enough for fans to thoroughly appreciate.

The tales are treated as separate stories, with different production value and narrator. For those who like graphic style of Corpse Bride, Coraline or even Sin City, they might find fascinating surprise here. There's even a nod to comic book signature, as well as my favorite "The Masque of the Red Death" which seem like a living portrait from centuries before.

They have one underlining theme of dread, with scare and gore one would expect from horror nowadays, although nothing too intrusive that it would repulse audience. Most have narrators and voice acting, these instances have such surreal feel about it. Many, especially gamers and animation enthusiasts would recognize the voice of Christopher Lee. However, the silence can just be equally effective to deliver the short burst of fright.

Its main obstacle is, ironically, its own unworldly styles. They can be so strange that one or a couple of them might alienate the audience. Among even fans of comic book or horror, not every tale would resonate on the same level. Still, they are relatively short, so one would most likely find something to adore here.

This collection is a myriad of uncanny tales affectionately crafted with unique visual. They are unmistakably bleak yet charming and designed to charm viewer with sheer oddity.

Uneven But Worth Watching

[Michael_Elliott · 7/10 · 17 January 2017]

Extraordinary Tales (2013)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

This animated anthology film from director Raul Garcia is certainly a mixed bag but it's certainly worth watching if you're a horror fan or a fan of Poe's stories. Basically what we've got here are five different Poe stories being told but what makes this film special is that they're narrated by some rather famous people.

Christopher Lee does "The Fall of the House of Usher," "The Tell- Tale Heart" features Bela Lugosi, "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" has Julian Sands, "Guillermo Del Toro does "The Pit and the Pendulum" while the final segment, "The Masque of the Red Death" is told silent.

As is the case with most anthology films, they're always a mixed bag because the story quality is just so different from one to the next. For the most part this film is entertaining just because of how creative it was and because of the fact that it has some very big names in the horror genre lending their voices. An an overall level I'd argue that "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" is the best because it does feature the best animation and the overall tone is quite good.

The first film with Lee features the actor doing some great narration but I must admit that I didn't care too much for the CGI style. The Lugosi segment was an interesting one as it features an archival vocal performance with a bunch of static. To add to the feel of the audio this short was done in B&W and the effect is mildly amusing. Del Toro does a nice vocal performance and the final film also features some good animation.

EXTRAORDINARY TALES certainly has its flaws throughout and it's certainly uneven at times but if you're a fan of the actors or of Poe's work then it's worth watching.

A nice combination of animation styles and Poe

[ComedyFan2010 · 7/10 · 26 September 2017]

An interesting anthology of Edgar Poe short stories.

The best part is that they use different forms of animation for each story. They all add a special feeling to each story. The one from Tell tale Heart is pretty hard to watch, but it very artistic and is fine for such a short animation, it is also extra creepy because of it and it fits well with the old recording of Bela Lugosi.

I liked the comic books style animation of The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar, it gave it a very vintage feeling.

All in all a great collection. Doesn't really feel like horror animation though. I think it is even suitable for children from a certain age to introduce them to literature.

It looks like Tim Burtons Baby Cousin .. Short, but plentiful !

[jtaveras64 · 5 September 2016]

Not sure why the average ratings ... I found this quite beautiful.

Its only flaw is how short it is, however its gorgeous visuals, voice acting and symphonic music more than atone.

The final short did not need narrating because its clear what the message is. I loved how different they all were, intententinaly so, and believe it or not voice matters.

The first short was Gothic perfection! The second not my favorite, but it was good. The Third and Fourth had some suspense and horror in it and the final one had an excellent theme.

There is not much to say about an animated tribute to EAP work summed up in 117 minutes or so, but this came close enough to say plenty.

Final Grade -A

Different Poe

[kosmasp · 6/10 · 27 June 2016]

You get Poe as animated as ever could be a pun, some might wanna make watching this. Seriously though: Poe interpreted by different artists and therefor different styles is a mixed bag as could be expected. First of all you have to like animation and horror to even think about watching this. If not you may want to stay clear of this, which also has a lot of Horror talent at voicing department.

The different animation styles can also be viewed as a curse (no pun intended) or a blessing. Some might have wanted one style throughout the whole thing, I personally like the change and the different approaches. But it's important you know before deciding to watch this. Especially if it's not your thing.

Depending on your knowledge of Poe, you will have a different degree of information concerning the plots of the stories. Whatever that will do to your viewing pleasure

Decent anthology but perhaps only for Poe followers

[encyes · 6/10 · 1 December 2016]

This animated anthology based on 5 of Edgar Allen Poe's stories is well done, complete with choice actors for narration such as Christopher Lee, Julian Sands and a surprising (but obviously dated) monologue from Bela Lugosi who does a fine job reading through one of Poe's most well-known tales, "The Tell-Tale Heart". Animation is slick in 5 different computer-enhanced styles including a linking story between Poe in the guise of a Raven and a mysterious entity desperately trying to conceal her identity when it's obvious from the start that it is Death. This anthology focuses solely on Poe's more famous dismal stories ("The Fall of the House of Usher", "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar", "The Pit and the Pandulum", "The Masque of the Red Death" as well as the aforementioned "Tell-Tale Heart") and only hint at the less gruesome works and love poems Poe produced during his lifetime. Designed primarily of kids, the interaction between Raven and Death touch on some historical facts of Poe that are quite adult and sad if you know anything about the writer. It's interesting to note how they seem to talk about Poe in both present and past tense. The problem with this anthology is not in the end result but on the material; Poe's works can be very cryptic, hard to read, filled with lavish but difficult to comprehend wording, and host periods of history that sometimes does not translate well with younger generations albeit adults. This anthology may truly only be for Poe fans, as those who do not know his works, or only lightly, may find themselves lost in the imagery and symbolism that he's most famous for.

An excellent way to introduce kids to E.A. Poe!

[Tony-Scheinman · 7/10 · 26 October 2015]

I'm an unashamed fan of Edgar Allan Poe ... I admit it freely. I've visited every one of his houses in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Richmond, and I have a huge collection of audio readings and film adaptations of his work. When I first got wind of this film and some of the voices connected with it (Sir Christopher Lee and, joy of unexpected joys! Bela Lugosi), I couldn't wait until the release date.

Now it is here.

Now I've seen it ... and I'm very pleased.

Not delighted or overjoyed, but pleased.

I have to admit that compared with other animated versions of Poe's work "Extraordinary Tales" is a little lightweight. I was surprised to see quite a lot of kids in the audience of the showing I went to (it took me quite a while to find a theater in my home city where it was showing since the film is currently in limited release), but after having seen the film I can honestly say that this is a great way to expose kids to Poe for the first time. I was prepared for the different animation styles of each of the five stories included in the film, but I was pleasantly surprised that the stories are enclosed by a pastel-animated framing story involving a talking raven (voiced by Stephen Hughes, and I won't tell you who the raven really is!) and the unseen voice of Death (wonderfully performed by Cornelia Funke).

As to the stories themselves, here they are in my order of preference: 1) "The Tell-Tale Heart" (narrated by Bela Lugosi); 2) "The Masque of the Red Death" (no narrator); 3) "The Pit and the Pendulum" (narrated by Guillermo del Toro); 4) "The Fall of the House of Usher" (narrated by Sir Christopher Lee); 5) "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" (narrated by Julian Sands)

I chose "Tell-Tale Heart" as Number One not only because of Lugosi's wonderful narration but also because of the black-and-white animation style used. "Masque of the Red Death" has no narration (except for one line delivered by the famous director of Poe films Roger Corman), but the animation style used here reminds me a lot of Ralph Bakshi's style in his film version of "The Lord of the Rings", very beautiful and flowing. I don't know if "Pit and the Pendulum" is actually CGI, but it seemed that way to me, and del Toro's narration has a wonderful velvety gruffness that makes the listener believe that the narrator is an old man remembering his experience (and I was intrigued by the twist given to the story). The highlight of "House of Usher" is, of course, the wonderful narration done by Sir Christopher Lee and the house and background are beautifully chilling, but the animation of the characters is a little too reminiscent of Minecraft figures and the story is a little too abbreviated (but this too has a wonderful and shocking twist!). As for "Valdemar", the animation is a little too comic-book-like for me, but the on-screen character of the narrator has (to my delight) more than a slight resemblance to Vincent Price!

I will definitely add "Extraordinary Tales" to my collection should it ever be released on DVD, and I also definitely recommend it to other Poe admirers and to parents who want to introduce their kids to Poe ... there'll be plenty of time for them to become truly addicted (as I was and am) to the unabridged and more horrific versions ... if they (and you) dare!

A Love Letter to Poe

[TheRedDeath30 · 7/10 · 28 February 2016]

Edgar Allen Poe is the father of American horror. This is indisputable. Yes, Hawthorne's work influenced him highly. Some revisionists will want you to believe that Lovecraft had more influence on the next century of writers. Poe was, is, and always will be, though, the guiding force in the development of the American style of horror in the 1900s and beyond. His work has been repeated, stolen, ripped off and paid tribute to so many times, but I find that the current generation has a lot less knowledge of his work than the baby boomers and their children did as they grew up. It's natural, as we get further away from the publication of these stories, but a shame nonetheless, so it's great to see modern style animation being done with loving care paid attention to staying true to his source material. This is a movie that every high school English teacher should be showing.

The director came out of the Disney studio animation, so I was tentative about what style we were going to see in this format. I was blown away by how different each segment is, how vastly contrasting the art styles and that each works uniquely.

As with any portmanteau, the stories are interlaced with a "wrap- around segment" in this case, we have a raven (representing Poe) talking with a statue. The conversation introduces the segments while discussing the themes of Poe's work. It's a bit obvious, though, in the approach and maybe the weakest part of the movie as a whole.

THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER is done in a style of animation that reminded me a bit of present day advertisements. It's definitely computer, so lacks that cartoon/ comic book look, but not polished enough in its' design to be breathtaking. It's very polygonal, but it never feels cheap as much as a stylistic choice. This is a very difficult story to approach with a 10 minute cartoon, as the weight of the source story relies on mood far more than plot. I thought that this one did an adequate job, though, of conveying that sense of dread and presenting a Gothic feel.

THE TELL-TALE HEART is a starkly contrasting black-and-white animation, using a lot of negative space. It reminded me a good deal of SIN CITY. This probably suffered the most from the brevity of the format, as the story itself relies on that gradual building of tension and suspense that just isn't allowed to happen in this brief segment. It's not a total failure, though, as it looks great.

THE FACTS IN THE CASE Of M. VALDEMAR may be the least known story presented here. It's the most reminiscent of comic book style in the look of the animation. As a comic book geek, I appreciated the style and look. I thought that this segment worked really well. The story is given the time it needs to breathe and develop the sense of terror that it needs. There are some excellent "shots" where the animation really works to pull off a look or scene.

THE PIT & THE PENDULUM may have been my favorite. The look is absolutely modern video game design and maybe the "crispest" of the lot. Though there are some key pieces missing from the Poe story, I thought that this did a fantastic job of conveying the mood of the piece. It feels claustrophobic and frightening and we genuinely empathize with the characters mounting sense of terror at the situation he's found himself in and the tortures pressed upon him.

THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH is my favorite Poe story, but found myself much disappointed in the presentation. It's a beautiful water color painting style, but is almost void of any dialog or exposition. As a result a story full of decadence, terror and dread becomes just visual candy with no real feeling evoked.

In all, I really enjoyed this film. It's a shame that it's probably only going to get a minimal audience, but then it's a shame that Poe is becoming less and less relevant to our modern children. I don't want to sound like an old grump, but anyone claiming to be a fan of horror, ought to be familiar with Poe's best works. It's vital to understand our roots because they are the foundation of what makes up the current state, but enough of my soapbox. Here is a perfect opportunity to enjoy these stories.

Great Atmosphere, Plus One Real Gem Of A Segment

[mikebos · 8/10 · 5 June 2016]

Before I begin my review, I just have to make a statement. You wouldn't ask a vegetarian to review a steak house, or a film maker to tell you how to fix your car. So, when you see reviews from philistines complaining about the 'quality of the audio recording of Bela Lugosi', or complaining about the animation style, just picture the reviewer as a fully snow-suited Eskimo in a sauna, and ignore their complaints. Moving on...

I saw this when it was first released to streaming services, and wrote down my thoughts in an Edgar Allan Poe Facebook group. Now that it's on Netflix, I've revisited, and re-experienced a lot of the same feelings. Here are my thoughts:

1) There is a great atmosphere of dread, or "October, the season of death" as Ray Bradbury may call it, over the entire anthology. I love this. Very "sparse" feeling, if that makes sense.

2) I really like the original wraparound story. In fact, once the two main characters were positively identified, I found that the wraparound was probably the most creepy and thoughtful of all presentations in the film. However, I don't believe that the voice actor was well chosen to portray the character that he was supposed to be. They needed a more fitting voice for the foreboding style, instead of one that sounds like a generic television family dad. Also, the character's dialogue should've been more poetic. It was too plain for the character portrayed.

3) The Tell-Tale Heart segment is simply awesome. They take Bela Lugosi's original audio recording of his reading of the story (from the 1930s, I believe), complete with scratches and audio artifacts, layered over a modern musical score, and very noir-ish / Frank Miller-ish animation. It would've harmed the piece if they removed the scratches and audio artifacts from Lugosi's reading. I'm glad they didn't.

4) All stories in the film had narration and/or voice-overs, except for the final story, The Masque Of The Red Death. The only voice in the entire piece is Prince Prospero (Roger Corman) when he spots The Red Death. I believe it was a huge mistake to not narrate the story. It would've been much better to hear Poe's words while seeing the visual. Without the narration, it's almost more of a background piece than an actual story. Although the visual is still beautiful.

5) The fade-to-black, fade-to-zero decibel bumpers/dividers between stories and wraparound pieces created too much of a division between sections. They should've run together better. It was almost as if it was 5 separate episodes, instead of a continuous anthology, as was intended.

I would definitely recommend it for any fan of Poe. Or even as an introduction to Poe for anybody who hasn't yet become a fan of his.

Not for fans of Poe

[dobolevente · 6/10 · 1 January 2016]

The movie is likely to be entertaining for those who have read little to none of Poe's oeuvre, but it fails to deliver for those who know Poe very well. It didn't live up to my expectations, and they were not too high.

Were the stories presented back to back, the whole would be much better than with the cheesy conversation between a crow (shouldn't it be a raven?) that represents Poe and a feminine Death. The bird is poorly drawn and speaks nonsense that would never have left Poe's mouth, making the dumb dialog in the cemetery rather cringeworthy. With a more Poe-like Raven and a more Gothic feel, the tone could have been much closer to that of Poe's tales.

The short story adaptations are OK, although the recording of Bela Lugosi is (understandably) very bad quality, and the last story just didn't feel like a story at all. Naturally, not much happens in the original short story; it has a vivid imagery, full of gloomy impressions. This is why it probably shouldn't have been included in the movie. The other four stories are decently realized. Sadly, at the end, a word of the famous line from The Raven is misspelled: "quot", instead of "quoth", adding insult to injury.

A good effort, overall. It's a pity that the stories were "linked" to each other in such an awkward manner.

Among the ugliest CGI I've seen in years...I'd name this one "Extraordinarily Ugly Tales"

[planktonrules · 2/10 · 20 February 2016]

"Extraordinary Tales" is an animated film which consists of five Edgar Allen Poe stories and the notion of such an animated project sounds very exciting. I was also excited because the reviews I read on this were rather positive. Imagine my surprise when the film began and the computer graphics looked as if they were created back in the late 1990s! In fact, almost any video game you'd buy today would look nicer. The characters are sometimes blocky, there is little fluidity and the film just looks cheap at the beginning of the picture. The quality, unfortunately, was generally this poor throughout.

Perhaps the praise for this is because a lot of people love Poe. Additionally, several amazingly good actors provide voices for the characters...such as Christopher Lee, Roger Corman, Guillermo del Toro and even, oddly, Bela Lugosi (using archival a rather archaic archival recording). But with these talents and this writer, it should have been magnificent....not an ugly mess of an animated film that looks as if some first-year film students created it. Each of the five stories is animated very differently in style...but all are rather lacking, though the fifth story at least was interesting when it came to the animation style. I cannot ignore the glaring ugliness of the CGI and only focus on the stories and voice actors. For my time, I'd much rather just listen to audio records of the stories by these voice actors.

This just debuted on DVD from Netflix...don't say I didn't warn you.

Perfection.

[thefreelanceangel · 10/10 · 23 July 2016]

Edgar Allen Poe's stories have endured for decades, and with showings like this--demonstrating how his work continues to fire the imagination--they'll continue to do so for years to come.

Each animation style is uniquely suited to the story. The choice of a stark black-and-white stylistic animation combined with the incredible sound of Bela Lugosi reading "The Tell-Tale Heart" was sheer perfection. Sir Christopher Lee and Julian Sands matched 'Dracula's' prowess in reading with fully immersive and emotional narration.

And Guillermo del Toro... My gods. He was absolutely the PERFECT choice for reading "The Pit and the Pendulum." The inflection, the emotion and the intensity of his narration was completely profound. Although I was a little disappointed that the final piece--"Masque of the Red Death"--wasn't narrated, that changed in seconds with how incredibly effective the purely visual storytelling was.

The score was amazing. So completely suited to this absolutely overwhelming piece. Everything about this was mind-blowing and I will be purchasing a hard copy as soon as I possibly can.

A welcome guest rap, tap tapping at my chamber door.

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 23 December 2021]

Not so much concerned about the quality of the animation as opposed to the did Edgar Allan Poe stories were read and carried out, I found this a delightful surprise, one that could have been a little bit longer and included more. I have seen many of the movies based either on the life of Edgar Allan Poe or his short stories, in many variations, and I found this one to be just as enjoyable as anything that Bela Lugosi had done in the 1930's ("The Raven') or all those American International films that starred Vincent Price in the 1960's. At least two movies and even an Off Broadway musical about his life were incomplete. I don't know if I can say "Poe, you are avenged!" like Lugosi did in "The Raven", but this short art house animated film is certainly very enjoyable, and even includes Lugosi!

Five of Poe's short stories are dramatized featuring The narration of people like Christopher Lee, Julian Sands and Guillermo del Toro is indeed spooky and mesmerizing, and an old Lugosi recording ably aides one of the sequences, appropriately filmed in black and white. The stories have all been made in one way or another before, but to hear them done poetically utilizing some clever animation is nearly brilliant and a great way to utilize this as a way to introduce Poe to younger readers. I'd even utilize this is a classroom reference. Not quite excellent, but very enjoyable.

Problems

[Freethinker_Atheist · 1/10 · 28 October 2021]

I would love to give this movie 10 stars, but I simply cannot. I understand that it must have been a hell of a work to make it, but... the animation itself is a bit ugly. The movie is too talky, since the narration is all the time, which kills the atmosphere and imagination. It has stars in it, some of which are legends, but that does not mean they are good in narrating. Even Christopher Lee's narration is bad, because old-fashioned. Pity. This movie could have been so much better!

Surprisingly Accurate to the Original Stories

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 5 March 2018]

It was fun to see a series of animators and directors put their mark on some of the most recognizable Poe stories. First of all, each animation technique is quite unique and good fun. They are not for the faint of heart, some of the images being quite graphic. Last night Guillermo del Toro won the Academy Award for best director and best movie. I was surprised to see that name in the credits for one of the films, but it certainly gave them credibility. And, to get an old narration of Bela Lugosi to do the Tell-Tale Heart was really interesting. I found the best of these to be the last: 'The Masque of the Red Death." I''m quite glad I had an opportunity to see this, considering I had never heard of it.

A great concept, with a somewhat disappointing result

[jimjo1216 · 9 November 2018]

The idea of an animated anthology of macabre Edgar Allan Poe tales, presented in different visual aesthetics, seems great on paper. But the promising concept suffers somewhat in the execution. Despite the diverse "looks" of the animated segments, the animation is all of a similarly limited CGI variety. The film's biggest weakness is the framing device, which involves the spirit of Poe in the body of a raven having an introspective conversation with the spirit of Death in a cemetery full of statuary. The animation in the cemetery scenes is particularly lackluster (almost like flattened objects in a three-dimensional space), the voice work is uninspired, and the whole thing is set in the bright daylight, which is a curious choice for an anthology of such dark tales. Luckily, the Poe stories themselves are appropriately atmospheric, once they get going.

The movie tells five classic Edgar Allan Poe tales. "The Fall of the House of Usher" is narrated brilliantly by British horror icon Christopher Lee. The animation is fluid and designed with a stylized, quasi-geometric, "carved-out-of-wood" quality. "The Tell-Tale Heart" is accompanied by a seemingly ancient audio recording of the great Bela Lugosi ("Dracula"), and presented in a stark black and white style inspired by the work of comic artist Alberto Breccia. Incorporating long-dead horror icon Lugosi is a cool touch, but the muffled audio seems too quiet and detached from the animation. "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" (with the voice of Julian Sands) has a comic book aesthetic. "The Pit and the Pendulum", set during the Spanish Inquisition, is narrated by Mexican filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro, and the animation approximates a photo-realistic video game. The medieval tale, "The Masque of the Red Death", is told solely through its imagery (no narration), and has a watercolor aesthetic. The stories are dark and eerie, and occasionally gruesome. Some use Poe's original words, some paraphrase within Poe's narrative, and one uses no words at all.

Edgar Allan Poe's short stories are well-served in the anthology format, and stylized animation captures Poe's eerie atmosphere better than live-action ever could. This movie seems like a match made in heaven, but the animation is not entirely satisfying and the cemetery framework is a drag. Still, you can't go wrong with the works of Edgar Allan Poe, and "Extraordinary Tales" (2013) would be a nice introduction to Poe's classic stories for modern audiences.

Good, but certainly not great

[zetes · 7/10 · 19 June 2016]

A pretty good animated anthology of Edgar Allen Poe stories. Raul Garcia directs them all, but they are done in different styles (though the skeleton of all of them is CGI similar to earlier GKids release The Painting). Four of the five tales are greatest hits Poe stories: The Fall of the House of Usher, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Pit and the Pendulum and The Masque of the Red Death. The other is the less well known The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar. There's also a wraparound segment with a crow visiting the cemetery statues of some of Poe's famous heroines. The Fall of the House of Usher is a tad weak - I didn't like the character designs and it moves too quickly (I did like the narration by Christopher Lee). The rest are better. The Tell-Tale Heart is narrated by a resurrected Bela Lugosi - well, they found an old record with his recording of the story, anyway. It's cool. Guillermo del Toro provides excellent narration on The Pit and the Pendulum. My favorite was probably The Masque of the Red Death, which has a gorgeous, painterly color palate. It also dispenses with the narration and is mostly silent (would have been even better if the one spoken line in the short had been dropped altogether, but I guess props are due since the one line is uttered by none other than Roger Corman). Sergio de la Puente's score is good if overused sometimes. It's particularly great during The Masque of the Red Death segment.

A Love Letter to Poe Continuity

[farrinda · 6/10 · 10 November 2015]

The works of Edgar Allan Poe are nothing if not macabre. In his work, one finds an element of romance and fantasy, almost a love letter to the release of grief that death provides. This is the connecting thread with which writer/director Raul Garcia (The Missing Lynx, Animarathon) ties together five short animated adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe short stories in the new(ish) film Extraordinary Tales. Each short film is stunningly realized in a different aesthetic and each is deserving of high praise. In putting them together as a collection though, to be experienced concurrently, Garcia has attempted to unite the tales with a superficial thread that falls short of being much more than an interruption of each disparate but beautiful love letter to Poe's work. Extraordinary Tales opens on a collection of statues in a cemetery in a style that seems to be a thrilling symbiosis of painted backdrop and stop motion papier mâché animation. A raven, serving as Poe himself and voiced by Stephen Hughes, enters the scene only to be confronted by...

Poe's masterpeices in a poorly done movie.

[Scodelli · 6/10 · 30 September 2022]

Of course Poe's stories are masterpieces but this movie is not so good unfortunately. The animation is, quite frankly, terrible. Especially considering this was released in 2013! You'd expect an anthology offering different animation styles for each story would have pretty neat and cool visuals. This does not. The animation was very poor. If it was an early 90s movie I could cut it some slack, but no. Poe's stories are incredible of course and almost save the film. They are presented okay. Just okay presentation. One thing I do like about the movie as an anthology is that there actually is a bit of a continued progressive thread between the stories with the crow and the grave. But I have to say, when I first watched the beginning of this movie with the crow and the grave, it came across as so poorly done that I stopped watching the movie. But I went back later and watched the whole movie, thinking "I'll give it a chance". I think the voicing on the crow was awful. The inbetween thread develops into an okay thing, a noble attempt, but still not great. But one thing I do like about this movie is that it is very strongly and consistently dark all the way through. So, to wrap up, Poe's masterpieces may carry the film for some. And though I enjoyed them, for me the film itself was poorly done. Especially for an anthology, boasting itself as having different animation styles for each story, was very dated, artistically lacking and poorly done. And the between story thread, while a noble attempt, is also a little shaky. A poorly made film with incredible source material.

One of the Best Animated Horror films of all time

[whatsupwabbaloo · 10/10 · 26 July 2018]

Of the animated horror movies I've been trying to hunt down in the last few years, this one takes the cake as my personal favorite and most pleasant surprise. I'd been saying for the longest time: "Why stretch out a whole Poe story to a feature-length snore or cheese-fest? The man wrote short stories! Make an anthology already!" Low and behold, that's what they did. Beyond adapting these stories to perfection visually, the whole movie is a love-letter to Poe, what with all the background references and the voice talents being that of horror-elite, showing their respect for the man who helped invent their genres of choice.

There are only two gripes I have with the film and that's some of the animation in the Pit and the Pendulum bit (the rest of the movie stylizes it's budgeted animation so it looks good even with all the resources the creators have) and the introductory cards and credits for each sequence, which can take you out of the movie. Besides that it's a must see Poe-lovers and animated horror fans.

Very nice

[gjenevieve · 8/10 · 12 June 2016]

When it comes to horror films, I like the old ones with actors like Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Vincent Price, etc. I am not at all a fan of the ones like Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, etc. I am a fan of Edgar Allen Poe. When I saw this title and that it was based on Poe's stories as well as having Christopher Lee and Bela Lugosi, I had to watch it.

This is a series of 5 individual stories. It is not one continuous movie. Each story is narrated by a different person and each one has its own animation style.

The first one is The House of Usher narrated by Christopher Lee. I was immediately enthralled. My heart was pounding a bit harder and I was holding my breath just a bit throughout the whole first story. I really liked the animation style they used. The choice of Christopher Lee was perfect. He did an amazing job of telling the story and the story was written well. The whole thing was so good, that I was ready to give this a 10 rating.

The second was The Tell-Tale Heart. This one had Bela Lugosi doing the narration. Another reviewer pointed out that they used an old recording of Bela Lugosi and that you can hear the scratches. I agree with this reviewer that this was also perfect. If they had cleaned up the recording it just would not have been as good. I was not as pleased with the animation on this story. However, at this point I was still ready to give this a 10 rating.

The third story is The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar which was narrated by Julian Sands. I liked their choice of narrator and I was pleased with the animation for this story. I thought that the story was well written and everything flowed well. A 10 rating was still available at this point.

The fourth story was The Pit and the Pendulum. The Pit and the Pendulum story I remember was the one with Vincent Price, so I was really quite surprised by this one. Perhaps it has just been way too long since I saw the Vincent Price movie but I did not recognize this version of the story. However, the animation and the narration was done well. I feel that the choice of narrator was good. Because I was a bit confused by this version of the story (and perhaps this is actually more true to Poe's story), I down-rated it to a 9 1/2.

Then came the final story. The Masque of the Red Death. This was supposed to be narrated by Roger Corman, but he actually only said one line. The entire thing was just animated story without any actual narration. I felt quite lost throughout this one. I liked the animation, but I felt that it would have been a lot better if they actually had a story for the narrator to narrate.

Throughout the entire movie, there were short bits where Death and Poe were talking. I again agree with one of the other reviewers that they should have chosen a different actor to do the voice of Poe. The conversation between Death and Poe was okay, but nothing really gripping.

Because of the lack of any story narration in the 5th story and because they could have done better with the conversation between Death and Poe, I ended up giving this an 8/10. It's too bad, because for a great deal of this movie, I was ready to give it a 10.

The perfect film for a Hallowe'en marathon

[yrussell · 10/10 · 1 June 2020]

"Extraordinary Tales" (2013) is actually five animated films telling the stories of Edgar Allan Poe. The films are in very different animation styles and made by different groups of animators... and there is a sixth animation linking all the films together where the spirit of Poe (embodied in a raven) speaks with lady death (embodied in a statue). The sequences are narrated by Christopher Lee, Bela Lugosi (!!!), Julian Sands (star of "Warlock"), and film director Guillermo del Toro. Roger Corman also makes a cameo appearance. I found this cool and interesting.

Not extraordinary, but certainly unique and well told.

[Animany94 · 8/10 · 30 May 2018]

I love both animation and Edgar Allan Poe and that made me curious about this animated anthology movie.

Let me start off by saying that the narration and the voice acting is the most consistent in its quality through the relatively short running time. I can't pick my exact favorite of the narrators, but I think my over all favorite of the segments was "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar". It really comes down to personal taste.

Each segment has its own unique visual style, and even though it can be a little hard on the eye adjusting to new styles for every segment, I found it adding to the atmosphere and the experience. The one which awoke the fewest reactions of "wow" or "interesting" in me was the last segment in which it looked nice when characters remained still, but didn't have fluid movements.

An interesting watch with great atmosphere done through great narration, ominous music and mostly nice visuals, but too uneven to be called extraordinary.

Spectacular

[Misse007 · 10/10 · 30 September 2019]

Spectacular is actually an understatement for this film. The animation is insane. The score is hauntingly beautiful and perfect for each story. I'm in awe every time I watch.

Extraordinary

[Bored_Dragon · 8/10 · 7 January 2018]

Raul Garcia, a writer, director and animator of animated movies, adapted five great stories of Edgar Allan Poe into five short animated movies, banded together by graveyard conversation between Poe (Stephen Hughes) in a form of a raven and Death (Cornelia Funke). Each story uses different animation technique and Sergio de la Puente composed original music which fits perfectly with their mystical atmosphere. In the first segment, Christopher Lee tells famous "The Fall of the House of Usher", followed by strange but striking computer animation. The second part brings archive footage of legendary Bela Lugosi reading "The Tell-Tale Heart" with black and white animation that feels like a negative. "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar", narrated by Julian Sands, is done in comic-book style. Guillermo del Toro presents an internal monologue of the prisoner in the Inquisition dungeon, from the story "The Pit and the Pendulum", with video game type of animation. The last story brings "The Masque of the Red Death" in the form of a moving aquarelle and without narration. And, just for a brief moment, Roger Corman gives voice to Prince Prospero. Considering that all together lasts just a little over one hour, stories are very reduced, so connoisseurs and fans of Edgar Allan Poe might resent them as butchered, while those ignorant of his work could have troubles understanding them, especially last two. But if you read these stories, or at least saw movie adaptations and roughly know what are they about, and if you are not nagger trying to find faults in everything, you'll enjoy the magically gloomy and dreary atmosphere of this really extraordinary movie.

8/10