When it comes to describing the movies viewed in this monthly column, “dreck” is a free-wheeling, all-encompassing term.

Occasionally, it has meant truly awful films, like say, Hell of the Living Dead or Blood Red Moon. Those are the dyed-in-the-wool bad movies. Irredeemable. Indefensible. But that’s not always the case. Sometimes, they’re simply a little overly goofy.

The Raven is thoroughly the latter—and no, we’re not talking about the awful 2012 thriller that had the gall to cast John Cusack as Edgar Allen Poe. This is the 1963 Raven, a largely forgotten entry in B-movie maestro Roger Corman’s classically cheesy “Poe cycle” – and this one may be the cheesiest of them all. Unlike Corman’s earlier Poe movies such as House of Usher, this one doesn’t try to emulate the much more effective gothic horror of Hammer films. Rather, it pays homage and satirizes them simultaneously, throwing a seemingly random combination of jokes and spooks at a wall, apparently curious what will stick.

Films like this one always seem to have a classic poster, packed with all sorts of action that isn’t actually in the film. This one rightly emphasizes the film’s real draw, which is the presence of three bonafide horror legends: Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre (a year before his death) and frequent Corman contributor, Vincent Price. That’s classic spookfest material, right there.

And I even have a thematically perfect beer to pair with the film this time: BridgePort Brewing Co.’s Raven Mad Imperial Porter. It’s a barrel-aged brew, although the mode of barrel-aging is a little unusual—only 50 percent was aged in bourbon barrels, as one might expect. The other 50 percent was instead aged in fresh oak (not used for spirits or wine) before the two halves were blended into a whole. Honestly, what other reason would I need to pick one of these up beyond the label? Are these two products not perfectly suited to one another?

If you’re already trying to guess at how the contents of this film have anything to do with Poe’s “Raven,” then you can disabuse yourself of that notion—in classic Corman fashion, he’s simply lifted the name and kept a few random details—you know, for flavor. A raven does show up. There is a woman named Lenore. Price quotes a bit of the poem. That’s more than enough, right?

In reality, the film focuses around a trio of wizardly senior citizens played by Price, Karloff and Lorre, who scheme and plot to divest each other of the prestigious title of Head Magic Guy in Charge. Price is actually playing against type as the protagonist, while Karloff is unsurprisingly the main villain. Lorre does what he does best, which is to say he plays a quirky, shifty guy whose allegiances swap back and forth throughout. It’s like if you took his Casablanca character and instead gave him lines like “We met at that sorcerer’s convention in London several years ago.”

In fact, Lorre’s flippant attitude may actually be funnier than the intended jokes. Playing several scenes alongside Karloff (who delivers his lines with thespian gravity and professionalism), Lorre’s goofy little improvisations seem moments away from making the exasperated 75-year-old punch him in the face. Price, on the other hand, looks more willing to play along when Lorre’s response (as a raven) to the question “Will I ever hold again that radiant maiden the angels call Lenore?” is “How the hell should I know?!?”

As another bonus, The Raven also features another turn by a very young Jack Nicholson, who was previously featured in Corman films such as Little Shop of Horrors and The Terror. Here, he’s Lorre’s son, a hilarious concept in and of itself—a more improbable father-son combination would be difficult to find. As in his other Corman appearances, the 25-year-old’s acting is stilted and very, very green, shifting at the drop of a hat between wooden and manic, whichever is less appropriate to the scene. He’s just a kid happy to be there and read whatever’s in the script, summed up in one sentence by his character’s beautifully lifeless response to “But you might be killed!”—“I hope not.” Really Jack—I never would have guessed.

The beer, meanwhile, shares some interesting thematic similarities with the film. It’s an barrel-aged “imperial” porter, but at only 7.5% ABV, it’s on the lower end in terms of strength of beers that you’ll see with the “imperial” term. To look at it, one expects a fuller body and more assertive flavor profile, but instead you get a pleasant, light roastiness, dark fruit and a touch of drying oak with restrained barrel character. Like the film, it feigns at darkness, almost parodies the macabre, while in reality being much more approachable.

In the mood for a cheesy, all-ages Halloween classic? Check out Corman’s The Raven.

Simply looking for a spooky, Halloween-appropriate beer? Check out BridgePort’s Raven Mad here.