After the death of his beloved wife Ligeia, nobleman Verden Fell (Price) becomes the poster boy for rich weirdos: he's painfully anti-social, afraid of any kind of sunlight, dresses completely in black, and rarely leaves his abbey castle. (Yay, rich weirdos!)

But when willful young beauty Rowena (Shepherd) crosses his path, the two fall in love and set out to create a new life as a pair.

Only, there's a few unresolved problems. Seems Ligeia may not be dead, and instead may be reincarnated as a black cat which roams the Fell abbey intent on causing tragedy!

Then there was (the dead) Ligeia's fascination with a burgeoning form of therapy called hypnotism - a preoccupation which Verden seems to now share.

What evil ties everything together?

Based on the Edgar Allan Poe story written in 1840, this Corman-Price teaming proves to be another successful translation of the dark author's work to cinematic classiness.

Memorable highlights include Rowena's bizarre nightmare sequence, and the archetypical fiery finale.