Hello all, need your help here. We all know the prince of horror Vincent Price and the many b-goodies we have had the pleasure of watching. So I need to pick 3 out of many for a night of horror in honor of the beloved Price.
What 3 would you pick? Any particular reasons?
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Vincent Price?
Okay:
"Dragonwyck" -- Ancient, psychological horror picture, wherein Price goes quite demonstrably insane at the end, in a gentle yet fully creepy sort of way.
"The Oblong Box" -- Roger Corman Poe stuff -- Price did a lot of these. If this one isn't available, then get "The Conqueror Worm", wherein Price plays a very repellent Matthew Hopkins: Witchfinder General. Thoroughly repugnant and . . . eeww!!
"The Tingler" -- Vincent Price takes LSD and investigates means of scaring people to death. A William Castle treasure.
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The man did many many many films. If forced at gunpoint to pick 3, these is them for me.
That's my story, and I'm sticking to it . .
peter price/denny . . . eeeewww!!
These are my favorite:
Last Man on Earth
The Masque of the Red Death
Witchfinder General (a.k.a Conqueror Worm)
Theater of Blood (as an alternate)
Go with his finest works, Edward Scissorhands, Alice Cooper: The Nightmare, and Here comes Peter Cottontail!
No, seriously, don't, I'm a Vincent Price n00b, all I've seen are The Abominable Dr. Phibes, Dr. Phibes Rises again, Theatre of Blood, and House on Haunted Hill, the former 3 being about the same things :)
I'd say get a William Castle film - My vote goes for "The Tingler" because of the LSD scene, his conflicted character (a scientist who discoverses onto something dark but doesn't become the full on villain like the character would have in most films, there is a conscience at work -sometimes - dig the relationship with his hussy wife), and the "Scream for your lives!" scene where the character encourages the audience to let rip when a Tingler gets loose in the theater. Tied into the buzzer in the seats gimmick Castle was using with this film.
Also a Roger Corman EA Poe-inspired film. Pit and the Pendulum, House of Usher, Tomb of Ligeia, etc. So many to choose from, but I'd second "Masque of the Red Death". Very atmospheric, and Vincent is very over the top in the good way. Corman getting arty but it works.
I'm torn for a third choice. There are the obvious good choices: The Phibes films, Theater of Blood, Conqueror Worm, maybe even the pseudo-Poe Comedy of Terrors, for a change of pace. There's the made for TV Poe special "An Evening with Edgar Allen Poe" (I think). There are some fun cameos in films like his bit in one of the Beach Party movies, or his scene stealing moment in "Bloodbath at the House of Death" but those aren't starring roles. You could try "Tower of London", another Corman produced film, bascially retelling the part of English history that inspired "Richard III", and remaking an older film that Price had a small role in (he was drown in a vat of wine), But don't want to overdo the Corman related material.
So I guess I'll suggest the great "House of Wax". Not only a great Price film but also one of the best of the 3-D films.
Yeah, this one is hard hard hard, and can get us all to ARGUIN' about it all --
What makes a great Price film anyway?
There has to be at least one scene wherein he sneers at someone or something: Noone could sneer quite like Price --
Someone should be helpless, and he should mock them -- again, nobody mocks in quite the same pseudo-effeminate way . . . I say "pseudo-effeminate" because Price was most certainly not effeminate, so chose this characteristic to typify a lot of his villians -- the old idea that creating a real "character" must be distant from yourself.
I own "Theater of Blood", but wouldn't put it in the top 3 -- I am tempted by "Last Man on Earth", though, which I also own . . . but have y'all ever SEEN "Dragonwyck"? Not a popular film by any means, and certainly the Phibes things got him a lot more airplay, but he never would've gotten Phibes or Scissorhands if film-buffs like Tim Burton hadn't seen him in things like "Dragonwyck".
And, yeah, a shout-out to "House of Wax 3-D" --
. . . and "The Fly" . . .
thdenny thcraine/peterth thjohsonth
I Go Pogo.
I dunno, I guess there's something about hearing Vincent Price trying to talk with a phony southern accent.
Yea, definately HOUSE OF WAX and maybe HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL.
THE HAUNTED PALACE is pretty good also.
A nice mix might be one of his DR. GOLDFOOT films.
Never liked The Haunted Palace as much as some of the other Corman/Poe films he did. Plus it's not even a real Poe film. It's a so-so Lovecraft film with a Poe title stuck on it. Not Vincent's fault.
Interesting idea about the Goldfoot films, since he he made horror and genre funny. That's why I like Comedy of Terrors.
I know the title Dragonwyck, but have never seen it, so not qualified to comment on it. But Peter's suggest are always well informed and worth serious consideration.
I gotta go with the mainstream on this one. Though I suppose that depends on if you all are Price fans to a hardcore level or not. See, if you were, I'd probably shy the road less travelled, but since if it was me and not many people I know have seen too many Price movies in their full, I'd probably suggest something Phibes-ish, something from William Castle, and Last Man On Earth [because I enjoyed it].
Not really original, but still good viewing!
* THEATRE OF BLOOD
* THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES
* THE FLY
The people I will be doing this movie night with are pretty new to Vincent Price films. They know of him, and seen movies in which he has more of a guest appearance or seen The Fly.They are not hard core B-movie fans, and even I am not hard core but I know a hell of a lot more than they do. They enjoy Evil Dead and that type and are open to exploring more of the old cheese.
I'm not so sure I want to start them out on something like The Masque of the Red death. I like the suggestion of Theatre of blood (which I have seen as a little girl I found out and remeber only the poodle scene), The Abominable Dr. Phibes, House on Haunted Hill, The Tingler sounds good and never seen it. But I feel like there was one I like with Agnes Moorehead in it...is there such film? What is it?
Thanks for the suggestions and keep em coming...I have until the 28th. :)
I just watched a documentary on Supernatural England, which included a long segment on Matthew Hopkins --
So, I'm going to repush for "The Conqueror Worm" -- which even though billed as a "Poe" flick, gets only its title from Poe; "For the Play is the tragedy, Man, and its hero, the Conqueror Worm" -- which is about Hopkins, and really shows Price in a grand evil light, astride a horse, looking down at a "witch" he's just drowned, and saying with some insane pity: "She was an innocent one!"
loyal: As you quote Monty Python's "Grail" as your tag, you may wish to see the more "serious" side of these witch tests that were still going on 600 years later.
Anyway, Price is an unmitigated sleazebag as Witchfinder General. And what is our Vincent if not one to boo and hiss?
thpeter johsonth/thdenny craineth
Price and Agnes Moorehead?
I'm gonna guess "The Bat".
"Dragonwyck," a memorable film and horror, but more in the line of gothic horror like the original "Tower of London" and "The House of Seven Gables," then his later horror films. It stars, as a matter of reference, Gene Tierney, Walter Huston, Vincent Price, Glenn Langan, Anne Revere, Spring Byington, Jessica Tandy, Trudy Marshall, and Harry Morgan. And based upon the novel of the same title by Anya Seton.
Actually, Price and Moorehead made fthree films together. Besides "The Bat," there was also "The Adventures of Captain Fabian" and "The Story of Mankind." Though Moorehead and Price would have no scenes together in "The Story of Mankind." www.imdb.com rates them this way: "The Adventures of Captain Fabian," "The Bat," and "The Story of Mankind." I enjoyed them in the reverse order: "The Story of Mankind," "The Bat," and "The Adventures of Captain Fabian."