Well, maybe not all of them (I wouldn't know since I haven't seen them all) but when I saw Theatre of Blood yesterday, it struck me. Not only is Vincent Price a brilliant actor who can make something as weird as a Shakespeare quoting serial killer fun, he has some kind of charm too which makes the killer look more friendly than his victims.
The same goes for Dr Phibes 1 and 2. I didn't care about his victims, I just wanted to see them die in morbid and ingenious ways. I admit it sounds kind of sick but it's the fault of Price and his great performance in these movies.
In witchfinder general, nobody cares about what happens to this soldier (well maybe a little more as in phibes), all I wanted to see what Price was going to do next. How he conned people into believing there were witches which needed to be burned and thanking him afterwards while all he had done was kill innocent people for his own goals.
Oh and he has a great creaky voice too :)
It's the sign of a great actor when all the attention goes to him in a movie and you're just waiting for him to show up again whenever he's not onscreen to do his thing. To be honest these are the only 4 VP movies I have seen, and they are regarded as some of his best but honestly I can only have respect for such a great actor and performer with such a high charisma. May he rest in peace.
What do you guys think about him? And what are your favourite Price movies?
Edit: Is an evening of Edgar Allen Poe available on dvd ? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0229371/
Post Edited (05-03-04 07:58)
Yeah, good ol' Vincent was definitely one of the greats. One of personal favorites of his is The Tingler. Apart from the fact that it's an absolutely insane b-movie, Vincent actually plays a nice guy-- And we get to see him tripping on acid! (first time an acid trip was ever dramatized, IIRC).
But as far as his performances go, my all-time favorite is his appearance on the Muppet Show. You haven't heard James Taylor's "You've Got a Friend" until you've heard it sung by Vincent Price and a group of deformed muppets.
Oh, and I believe that An Evening is on one of MGM's Midnite Movie Double Feature DVDs, along with one of his other Poe films (I wanna say either The Haunted Palace or Tomb of Ligeia)
If you haven't already seen it, check out Price in "Conqueror Worm." It's him at his best and most absolute evil (no sly humor here.) It's a cold, startling film, and although AIP marketed it here as another Poe adaptation, it's very different in feel and content from the actual Corman/Price/Poe films. And of course the "Phibes" films are classic Price. And yes, "An Evening of Edgar Allen Poe" is on DVD as the second half of an MGM Midnite Movie double-bill w/"Tomb of Ligiea."
His narration work in Tim Burton's "Vincent" was good.
On a horrible down note, however, one of Price's last movies was "Dead Heat", a goofy zombie/cop comedy starring Joe Piscepo.