Vincent Price stars in three effectively eerie and engrossing tales of terror based on the short stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne. First and most touching vignette, "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment" - Price and Sebastian Cabot are superb as a couple of elderly old friend physicians who discover the secret of immortality in this thoughtful and moving meditation on death, aging and mortality. The gorgeous Mari Blanchard is radiant and ravishing as Cabot's deceased wife who's resurrected from the grave. Second and most original segment, "Rappaccini's Daughter" - The strikingly comely Joyce Taylor is enchanting as Beatrice, a lovely young lass with a lethal poisonous touch. Brett Halsey is likewise charming as the nice young man who falls in love with Beatrice while Price delivers a marvelously hateful turn as Beatrice's domineering and overprotective father. Third and most horrific episode, "The House of the Seven Gables" - Price hams it up nicely as a wicked wealthy swine who returns to a creepy crumbling family mansion that has a 150 year old curse on it to find a buried hidden fortune. Beverly Garland as Price's fetching wife, Richard Denning as a dashing, handsome rival and especially Jacqueline de Wit as Price's greedy sister lend sturdy support in this shockingly violent and gruesome yarn. Capably directed by Sydney Salkow (who reteamed with Price for the excellent "The Last Man on Earth"),with an intelligent and elegant script by Robert E. Kent, a spare, shivery score by Richard LaSalle, vibrant, richly saturated bright color cinematography by Ellis W. Carter, plenty of brooding, eerie, melancholy atmosphere (the second story is particularly sad and haunting),a slow, stately pace and uniformly fine acting from a tip-top cast, this fright feature overall rates as a solid and satisfying omnibus outing.

In "Twice-Told Tales", Vincent Price does what he does best: be mysterious. He appears in three macabre stories. In the first, he plays a man helping another man try to resurrect his dead fiancée. In the second, he plays a man who has a most unusual relationship with his plants. In the third...well, let's just say that there's a dark old house (you can figure it out from there).

I try to imagine being a horny teenager going to see these movies back when they were first released. This would have been the perfect movie to see while on a date with a girl. Thank God that even in the darkest days of "family fun", you could always count on Vincent Price!

"Twice-Told Tales" is a movie composed of three timeless shorts based on horror tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne with Vincent Price.

(1) "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment": In 1859, Alex Medbourne (Vincent Price) and Dr. Carl Heidigger (Sebastian Cabot) have been best friends for decades. Carl has been grieving the loss of his beloved bride Sylvia Ward (Mari Blanchard) for thirty-eight years, on the eve of their wedding, and misses her. In a stormy night, her crypt opens and Carl and Alex find her corpse preserved. Carl notes a drop of liquid on her coffin and he collects a sample. Carl discovers that the water is a virgin spring and he restores his and Alex's youths. Further, he resurrects Sylvia with the water and plans to immediately marry her. However, he discovers a dark secret about Alex and his beloved Sylvia.

This is a tragic and dramatic story about the dream of the fountain of youth and restoration of the eternal youth, obsession and betrayal, with great special effects for a 1963 movie.

(2) "Rappaccini's Daughter": In Padua, the young Giovanni Guasconti (Brett Halsey) meets the gorgeous Beatrice Rappaccini (Joyce Taylor) in the garden and they immediately fall in love for each other. However, Giovanni learns that Beatrice is cursed, poisoning everyone and everything that she touches with her hands. Further, she was inoculated with a potion of poisonous plants by her insane father, the brilliant scientist Dr. Giacomo Rappaccini (Vincent Price) that wants to avoid that she makes the same mistakes her mother did, abandoning him. Giovanni meets Dr. Giacomo and opens his heart about his love for Beatrice, and the scientist promises to let him be closed to Beatrice forever.

This is another tragic and dramatic story about impossible love and madness visibly inspired in "Romeo and Juliet".

(3) "The House of the Seven Gables": In 1841, Gerald Pyncheon (Vincent Price) arrives with his wife Alice Pyncheon (Beverly Garland) to The House of the Seven Gables, where Gerald's sister Hannah Pyncheon (Jacqueline deWit) lives. The Pyncheon family has been cursed for one hundred and fifty years, when the blacksmith Mathew Maulle (Floyd Simmons) was murdered and buried below the house. Gerald comes to the house to seek a vault with the family fortune, and Alice is haunted by ghosts in the moment that she arrives in the house.

This is another tragic story of greed, injustice and curse, with an ambitious man returning to the family house and awaking powerful forces from the past.

My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Nos Domínios do Terror" ("In the Domain of the Terror")

Note: On 12 April 2015, I saw this movie again.