Arty, often alienating tribute to Edgar Allen Poe, with three Poe tales helmed by three top filmmakers, Roger Vadim, Louis Malle, and Federico Fellini. You have to meet this surreal jumble half-way: its mod incoherence is intentional (the picture is 90% ambiance). However, only Fellini's chapter, "Toby Dammit" (featuring a striking Terence Stamp), succeeds with the kind of decadent, kinetic energy the other two entries only hint at. Vadim's "Metzengerstein" is a criminal waste of Jane Fonda (it looks like a too-soon "Barbarella" revival) and Malle's "William Wilson" is handsome but inert. Fellini naturally goes overboard with the type of freaky garishness which became his trademark, yet his visual palette is invigorating, propelling an already fine story to the cinematic hilt. **1/2 from ****
Review of Spirits of the Dead
