In the intro somewhere in Europe a little girl's mother dies. The mother gives her some necklace and when she dies, her ghost escapes out the window.
Years later in the US Jonathan, a literature professor, is very successful in his lectures. A strange, dark, and attractive students follows him to wherever he gives a presentation. The dean tells him a little bit about her. At some point they meet. The girl, Ligeia, is seductive and interested in him. But he's engaged to another girl who's father is some good for nothing drunk. We learn that Jonathan is very wealthy.
In the meantime, Ligeia, who's a religious studies major, does experiments in the morgue. She somehow captures the spirit of the dead in a container. The dean catches but she has leverage on him. Eventually she throws him off a building and he ends up in the hospital. Still, she manages to capture his soul as well.
By now Ligeia has managed to make Jonathan fall for her. He dumps the other girl, marries Ligeia, buys her family's former estate in Russia, and moves there. Turns out she has some debilitating disease, sees the grim reaper, and faints repeatedly. But she also continues her experiments. She collects these containers with souls, transfers them into wine, and drinks the wine. Also, on the property live a caretaker and his daughter who also has condition.
Ligeia ends up dying, and is interred on the property. But from the grave she manages to control things via the girl. Jonathan gets back together with his ex and brings her to Russia where Ligeia's spirit continues to be up to no good.
The tomb has a lot going for it: the stunning Sofya Skya, the lovely Kaitlin Doubleday, Eric Roberts, Michael Madsen, Wes Bentley, good locations, a very good story that mixes ghost story with metaphysics. But the execution fails somehow. Obviously, this is a lower budget B movie. There's a lot going on, unlike most movies today were the story doesn't offer a whole lot. But somehow the filmmakers struggle with making the story sensible. The story advances is spurts leaving some pretty big gaps that no one bothers to explain. I'm still not clear what Ligeia was trying to accomplish with her experiments and exactly how she meant to achieve it. They could have lengthened the running time a bit to explain things, or instead of wasting time on repetitive exterior shots could have added more dialogue. This movie is worth watching for the girls and the story.
Years later in the US Jonathan, a literature professor, is very successful in his lectures. A strange, dark, and attractive students follows him to wherever he gives a presentation. The dean tells him a little bit about her. At some point they meet. The girl, Ligeia, is seductive and interested in him. But he's engaged to another girl who's father is some good for nothing drunk. We learn that Jonathan is very wealthy.
In the meantime, Ligeia, who's a religious studies major, does experiments in the morgue. She somehow captures the spirit of the dead in a container. The dean catches but she has leverage on him. Eventually she throws him off a building and he ends up in the hospital. Still, she manages to capture his soul as well.
By now Ligeia has managed to make Jonathan fall for her. He dumps the other girl, marries Ligeia, buys her family's former estate in Russia, and moves there. Turns out she has some debilitating disease, sees the grim reaper, and faints repeatedly. But she also continues her experiments. She collects these containers with souls, transfers them into wine, and drinks the wine. Also, on the property live a caretaker and his daughter who also has condition.
Ligeia ends up dying, and is interred on the property. But from the grave she manages to control things via the girl. Jonathan gets back together with his ex and brings her to Russia where Ligeia's spirit continues to be up to no good.
The tomb has a lot going for it: the stunning Sofya Skya, the lovely Kaitlin Doubleday, Eric Roberts, Michael Madsen, Wes Bentley, good locations, a very good story that mixes ghost story with metaphysics. But the execution fails somehow. Obviously, this is a lower budget B movie. There's a lot going on, unlike most movies today were the story doesn't offer a whole lot. But somehow the filmmakers struggle with making the story sensible. The story advances is spurts leaving some pretty big gaps that no one bothers to explain. I'm still not clear what Ligeia was trying to accomplish with her experiments and exactly how she meant to achieve it. They could have lengthened the running time a bit to explain things, or instead of wasting time on repetitive exterior shots could have added more dialogue. This movie is worth watching for the girls and the story.