No one has influenced the horror genre more than the writings of Edgar Allan Poe. Poe's works have inspired hundreds of films, and this influence is studied in universities around the globe. This is the first time ever that every Poe influenced film has been analyzed in a single book. Poe Pictures is an invaluable resource to film studies programs and also a critical guide for every fan of these films. Included is a detailed analysis and critical review of the importance of each film, perspectives from many who have worked on these classic films, and over 100 black and white photographs from the films. With insights into where Poe ends and cinematic liberties begin, Bruce Hallenbeck has fashioned a film by film analysis of Poe-inspired films, including Corman's classic AIP series. These films have never left the imagination of the generation that grew up watching them.
About the Author: Bruce G Hallenbeck is an author, actor and screenwriter. His books include The Hammer Vampire, the Amicus Anthology and Rock'N'Roll Monsters: The American International Story. Hallenbeck is considered a leading authority on British horror films and was recently a special guest at the International Vampire Film and Arts Festival in London, where he did a stage presentation with several actresses from Hammer films. His own films include The Drowned and Fangs, both of which are streamed on Amazon Prime, and he has written for the legendary magazine Little Shoppe of Horrors for nearly forty years. He lives in upstate New York with his wife Rosa, their dog, four cats and several ghosts.

Roger William Corman was born April 5, 1926, in Detroit, Michigan. Initially following in his father's footsteps, Corman studied engineering at Stanford University but while in school, he began to lose interest in the profession and developed a growing passion for film. Upon graduation, he worked a total of three days as an engineer at US Electrical Motors, which cemented his growing realization that engineering wasn't for him. He quit and took a job as a messenger for 20th Century Fox, eventually rising to the position of story analyst. After a term spent studying modern English literature at England's Oxford University and a year spent bopping around Europe, Corman returned to the US, intent on becoming a screenwriter/producer. He sold his first script in 1953, The House in the Sea, which was eventually filmed and released as Highway Dragnet (1954). Horrified by the disconnect between his vision for the project and the film that eventually emerged, Corman took his salary from the picture, scraped together a little capital and set himself up as a producer, turning out Monster from the Ocean Floor (1954). Corman used his next picture, The Fast and the Furious (1954), to finagle a multi-picture deal with a fledgling company called American Releasing Corp. (ARC). It would soon change its name to American-International Pictures (AIP) and with Corman as its major talent behind the camera, would become one of the most successful independent studios in cinema history. With no formal training, Corman first took to the director's chair with Five Guns West (1955) and over the next 15 years directed 53 films, mostly for AIP. He proved himself a master of quick, inexpensive productions, turning out several movies as director and/or producer in each of those years--nine movies in 1957, and nine again in 1958. His personal speed record was set with The Little Shop of Horrors (1960), which he shot in two days and a night.