Tag Archives: Vincent Price

1960s Horror Retrospective: House of Usher (1960)

27 Saturday Apr 2024

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Up until now, American International Pictures had been overseeing black and white features shot on a low budget. House of Usher would prove a vital turning point for the film production company, marking it as the first that would be shot in colour. It would also be the first in seven collaborations between director Roger Corman and the enigmatic Vincent Price based on American Gothic writer and poet Edgar Allan Poe’s work. Although it strains a little from this well-known piece, one which modern audiences would be familiar with through Mike Flanagan’s love song to the artist, it is well crafted and stylised to have generated a worthy audience at the box office.

When Philip Winthrop embarks on a visit to the titular house in order to see his fiance Madeline Usher (Myrna Fahey) is greeted by her brother, Roderick (Price) instead. Roderick is hellbent on encouraging Philip to leave for fear that the usher curse that has been placed on the family and its household should further bring ruin to the couple. Philip does not take on this warning and instead aims to steal Madeline from the house. This plan falls awry though when Madeline slips into a catatonic state, and her fiance resigns with a heavy heart that his betrothed has died. Roderick meanwhile ebbs further into a state of madness, believing the curse to have struck again and entombing Madeline in the family crypt. This act is enough to send poor Madeline into hysteria, and thus the two siblings are joined in their own pandemonium.

Madness and its frailty is certainly exposed here as the core theme to the film and Vincent Price’s amplified performance is never more on song than here. From a bumper year in 1959, turning out in horror classics such as House on Haunted Hill; The Tingler; and The Bat, Price would cement his name in the dark genre and take great strides in the sixties and early seventies. This is very much his movie, ably supported by the visual chemistry of set design, gore and the quality of special effects for its time.

– Saul Muerte

1960s Horror Retrospective

The Flesh and the Fiend

Eyes Without A Face

Peeping Tom

Psycho

The Brides of Dracula

Retrospective: The Pit and the Pendulum (1961)

12 Thursday Aug 2021

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When Roger Corman and Vincent Price teamed up to work on an Edgar Allan Poe adaptation of The House of Usher in 1960, it ignited a series of films inspired by the American writer of the macabre, such was the success of the film. The second venture however, entitled The Pit and the Pendulum would bear little resemblance to Poe’s short novella with the exception of the final act which featured the titular pendulum and pit.

Price would as usual bring another of his deliciously macabre and melodramatic performances that he had become known for. In this instance Price plays Nicholas Medina, whose wife Elizabeth (Barbara Steele) has mysteriously disappeared. It is through Elizabeth’s brother Francis (John Kerr) from which the story is told when he travels to Medina’s abode in Spain to find out what has become of his sister. Upon arrival he learns from Medina and through a local physician, Dr. Leon (Antony Carbone) that his sister has supposedly died of fright, due to her morbid fascination with the torture chamber beneath the castle, a leftover from the days of the Spanish Inquisition. The story does not ring true however and Francis becomes hellbent on uncovering the truth.

Corman with the aid of screenwriter Richard Matheson (I Am Legend) weave together a delightfully melancholic tale that embodies Poe’s unconsciousness through a psychological disintegration of the human psyche. The destruction of Medina’s mind and the mask of sanity that slowly falls is maginficientally portrayed by Price. And the supporting cast lift this larger than life fantasy to deliver an apt climax, ticking all the boxes that makes this era of filmmaking so great to revisit.

The effect would prove a financial success for American International Pictures (AIP) and would carve the formula for Corman and Price with further adaptations of Poe’s work. The Pit and the Pendulum would also have a significant impact on future filmmakers, most notably Antonio Marghereti’s Web of the Spider and Mario Bava’s The Whip and the Body, as such it’s an important keystone in the realms of gothic horror films.

  • Saul Muerte

Retrospective: The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)

17 Monday May 2021

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By the early 1970’s at the time of The Abominable Dr. Phibes ‘ release, its star Vincent Price had already established himself as the larger than life charismatic characters that he presented in the horror genre. 

In many ways this film and his portrayal of the titular Dr. Phibes is a tongue in cheek profile of his on-screen caricature and he relishes in the camp, Phantom-esque presence from the moment he rises from the depths playing an organ with relish, accompanied by the animatronic band, Dr. Phibes’ Clockwork Wizards. 

It’s this exuberance and the dark humour, accompanied by a strong cast that all play it straight, elevating the dark comedy to the fore and establishing the film as a cult in its own right.

The central theme is a simple one about revenge on behalf of Phibes who feels that the surgical team that were operating on his wife, Victoria (Caroline Munro) were responsible for malpractice.
Presumed dead from a fiery car accident, Phibes returns to carry out his dastardly plot using extreme measures that call upon the ten plagues of Egypt in order to satiate his vengeance.

These outlandish murders soon raise the interests of Scotland Yard headed by a typical bumbling Brit detective, Inspector Harry Trout (Peter Jeffrey) to track down the culprit.
His investigations lead him to deduce that a connection surrounds the medical staff who worked with Dr. Vesalius (Joseph Cotten) and that there is inevitably someone out to kill him and his colleagues. The only trouble is that the prime suspect, Phibes, is supposedly dead.

All the performances are solid and on point, notably Terry Thomas as Dr. Longstreet and Aubrey Woods as the Goldsmith, who each hit their comedic notes perfectly.

The glory belongs to Price however, and part of the appeal to his character of Phibes is not only his deadly pursuit but also that he is no longer able to speak bar through his use of acoustic that allow his presence to be deliberately off-kilter, but you can also tell that he his having a lot of fun in his role.

There is a cracking ending too that plays to the hand of a sequel, Dr. Phibes Rises Again, once again directed by Robert Fuest (And Soon The Darkness), possibly a pre-ordained plan on part of the producers, especially knowing that further scripts were bandied around called Phibes Resurrectus, The Bride of Dr. Phibes, and The Seven Fates of Dr. Phibes, but unfortunately would not see fruition.
A shame as I would loved to have seen Price and Dr. Phibes enact more gloriously over-the-top grisly murders along the way.

  • Saul Muerte

Retrospective: The Invisible Man Returns (1940)

03 Wednesday Jun 2020

Posted by in retrospective, Universal Horror

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Before Leigh Whannel and the Blumhouse team reinvented and reinvigorated the Invisible Man franchise for the modern generation with their 2020 adaptation, I would have argued that no one could have stepped into Claude Rains shoes as the doomed scientist, Dr. Jack Griffin.
In Fact he would reprise the role once more with American comedians Bud Abbot and Lou Costello in Abbott and Costello Meet The Invisible Man further associating himself with the iconic character.
Rains became synonymous with the Universal horror franchise with his dignified gentlemanly manner which also saw him in The Wolf Man movie and The Phantom of the Opera.
HG Wells’ novel would inspire 7 feature films under the Universal umbrella, none could match the original film however, but something must have stirred the creative flow to keep the infamous production company revisiting the story.

There would be a seven year gap between the original 1933 release and a sequel, so perhaps the time lapse was too big a call for it to truly lift off from its predecessor but for me The Invisible Man Returns never quite lands the mark.
This view may have raised eyebrows from some, particularly as the film boasts the magnificent Vincent Price as its lead, whose physical presence is only seen for about a minute of screen time.
The rest of the movie, the renaissance man is either wrapped up in bandages or providing his sultry tones to the piece.
As much as Price adds much needed gravitas to the narrative, it never encapsulates the viewer beyond the tale of redemption.
As such there is no real audience connection to the characters and their one-dimensional storyline, that essentially sees Price as Geoffrey Radcliffe, a man accused of murder and sentenced to death for a crime that he didn’t commit.
In steps Dr Jack Griffin’s brother, Frank, with the invisible formula and gives it to Radcliffe so that he can escape and prove his innocence.
Quite why Frank does this is neither mentioned, nor followed up again. The rest of the movie plays out as a crime thriller, where Radcliffe tries to uncover who the real murderer was.

The Prognosis:

Not a patch on the original, which personally is because it steers away from the science and the side effects that ensue from substance abuse.
It’s only saving grace is the presence of Vincent Price, even if it is merely in voice alone.

  • Saul Muerte

Retrospective: The Masque of the Red Death (1964)

01 Friday Jul 2016

Posted by in Flashback Fridays, Uncategorized

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Based on the short story by Edgar Allen Poe and directed by B-Movie legend Roger Corman, this macabre story centres around a prince who lords it up whilst sheltering from the plague-ridden scenes that envelop the town around him.

He’s more than happy to delve into his riches and ignore the plight of others.

In fact he relishes in it and goes to great strengths to terrorize the peasantry.

Playing the role of the villainous tyrant Prospero is another horror icon, Vincent Price who becomes embroiled in a satanic cult and despite being known for his hammy antics, in this role his very nature is well suited to the character and he appears to be incredibly comfortable in his skin.

Corman was also evidently a huge fan of Poe’s work, this movie being the seventh of eight series, which included The Pit and the Pendulum and The Raven. The Masque of the Red Death is definitely the stronger of these titles, with Corman hitting all the right notes and belying the negative image that has been depicted upon him by critics.

This movie has a great lead in Price and plays with the melodrama and nuances with great style and substance and is a fine example of a director at the height of his craft.

  • Saul Muerte