Macabre - Tales From Edgar Allan Poe

William Wilson ~ M7,F1

This begins in a school in England

Wilson is a strong-willed, self-centered young student who excels in everything -academics, sports and leadership

The inciting force that propels the story is the arrival of a doppelganger to Wilson's school - also named William Wilson, and also with the same birthday

But Wilson Number 2 has the opposite nature from the headstrong Wilson Number 1

Where Wilson Number 1 is arrogant, Number 2 is self-effacing and kind

This clash of wills goes on for years even after primary school and concludes in violence

The Valdemar Case ~ M3,F1

Ernest Valdemar is a dying man

He engages a hypnotist - who has cured him of insomnia - to use hypnosis to keep him from dying

The experiment seems to work - but then takes hideous turns on the patient

Eerie and thought-provoking

The Imp of the Perverse ~ M2

A convicted killer is talking with his priest on the day before the killer's execution

The priest tries to bring faith to bear on the killer to mollify his last hours but the killer has no faith and wants no priest

The killer describes the details of his crime: a senseless, hideous murder of a family member and explains the Imp of the Perverse - the propensity in man to act on irrational impulses

The killer lives well after the murder, but another impulse creeps into him, an impulse as strong as perversity - Guilt

And it is this impulse that causes his capture and conviction

The last piece is based on Poe's only comedy ...

The System ~ M6, F2

This comedy succeeds in being both absurd and bizarre at the same time

James Collier, an American reporter, wants to do a story on the Maison de Santé, a mental institution in France, to find out how a successful mental institution is administered

The staff of the facility seems extremely eccentric and when James asks about the patients, he finds that one thinks he is a tea pot, another fancies himself a donkey, another a Cordova cheese, and yet another a leaping frog

In a surprise ending, James Collier discovers the reason that the Maison de Santé is thriving

Runs about 90 minutes

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