The film stars Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, and Boris Karloff as a trio of rival sorcerers.

It was the fifth in the so-called Corman-Poe cycle of eight films largely featuring adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe stories produced by Roger Corman and released by American International Pictures (AIP).

[8] After fighting off an attack by Craven's coachman, who acted under the influence of Scarabus, they are joined by Estelle and Bedlo's son Rexford, and set out to the castle.

At the castle, Scarabus greets his guests with false friendship, and Bedlo is apparently killed as he conjures a storm in an act of defiance.

"[2] During shooting, Peter Lorre ad-libbed a number of lines in the film including:[2] Roger Corman said that Lorre's improvisations confused both Vincent Price and Boris Karloff, but Price adapted to it well while Karloff struggled: Overall I would say we had as good a spirit on The Raven as any film I've ever worked on, except for a couple of moments with Boris.

[9] Bosley Crowther of The New York Times panned the film as "comic-book nonsense ... Strickly (sic) a picture for the kiddies and the bird-brained, quote the critic.

"[10] Variety wrote that while Poe "might turn over in his crypt at this nonsensical adaptation of his immortal poem", Corman nevertheless "takes this premise and develops it expertly as a horror-comedy.

"[11] The Chicago Tribune called it "fairly thin fare, made up mostly of camera tricks, and some very obviously false scenery, but Peter Lorre's performance is mildly entertaining.

Its main criticism was a "long central section" of the film that drags until things pick up again for the final duel.

[13] Peter John Dyer of Sight & Sound wrote, "Richard Matheson's script, a good deal more tenuous than its predecessors in the Corman-Poe canon, at least treats its actors generously to props, incantations and quotable lines ... A pity the equation doesn't always add up; there's too much slack, due perhaps to an imbalance between the comedy, which runs riot, and the horror, which trails behind in the wake of previous Corman films.

[2][clarification needed] A novelization of the film was written by Eunice Sudak adapted from Richard Matheson's screenplay and published by Lancer Books in paperback.