The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: The Legacy of Vincent Price

Attribution: Allied Artists, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

By Geoff Carter

Well, it’s that time of year again. Halloween, Dia de Las Muertas, All Hallows Eve—no matter how you slice it—that night of bewitching and trick or treat is nearly here. (Although since we’ve been seeing ads for it since Labor Day, it might seem to be a little tardy. It’s not. It’s just Hallmark’s greed showing. But now everyone is getting in on the act. TCM, AMC, Bravo, Sundance, and many of the other network movie stations are filling the airwaves with blood, gore, witchcraft, and the living dead.

Modern horror classics like The Blair Witch Project, Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, and their quirkier indie cousins like It Follows, The Witch, and Get Out are everywhere. So are the vintage classics like the original Frankensteinor The Wolfman or Godzilla or Them! or Creature of the Black Lagoon. There’s something for everyone, but out of all the great horror genre icons like Boris Karloff or Christopher Lee, one stands out as the most urbane, intelligent, debonair and suave villains of all time.

Vincent Price was one of a kind. Whether playing the devilishly campy Dr. Phibes in The Abominable Dr. Phibesor the violently vindictive (and equally as campy) Edward Lionheart in Theater of Blood or the pathetically tortured Nicholas in The Pit and the Pendulum, he brought a sophistication and charm (however offbeat) to each and every one of his characters. But make no mistake, he could bring a chilling deviousness and sinister quality to them, too.

John Waters said of him, “Vincent Price was classless, yet classy. An exaggerated gentleman. He gave upscale a good name, and he was always handsome, dignified, charming, and a little bit sinister…he was just a fine actor, never pretentious.”

Even though he was a classically trained actor, Vincent Price never seemed to take himself too seriously, which was part of his charm. A fine stage actor who appeared in such films as the historical drama The Lives and Times of Elizabeth of Essex, Brigham Young, and thrillers such as Laura and While the City Sleeps, he did not balk at making what other character actors might consider beneath them and their craft.

Once he found his niche in the horror genre, he made it his own, never deigning to belittle or outgrow it. He also appeared in some comedies, a beach flick, a musical, and made numerous appearances on television, notably as the villain Egghead in Batman and even engaging in a little playful self-parody.

Halloween would not be the same without Vincent Price. May he live long in the haunted dreams and night terrors of children everywhere. For myself, sixty-eight years old, I can still hear the name Nicholas echoing up and down the castle stairwells in The Pit and the Pendulum. Because we are celebrating Mr. Price’s ghastly legacy this Halloween season, the top ten highlights will include only his work in the horror genre while honorable mentions will also include some of his work in mainstream classics like While the City Sleeps and The Whales of August.

Vincent Price’s Ten Best Films

The Abominable Dr. Phibes: A series of brilliantly conceived murders lead police to the trail of the sophisticated and hideously deformed Dr. Phibes (Price), a genius bent on the destruction of the people he blames for the death of his beloved wife. He murders the members of the surgical team who operated on his wife following the twelve plagues of Egypt. Price is at his gentlemanly best here as the elegantly enigmatic but completely insane Phibes. He self-referential campiness is hilarious, even though some of the murders are pretty gnarly.Notable for the beautiful and deadly assistant Vulnavia, as well as the gothic campiness, complete with automaton orchestra, of the villain’s lair.

Theatre of Blood: Closely related in tone and sensibility to Phibes is this work about a cringeworthily named Shakesperean actor Edward Lionheart (Price) who is hellbent on avenging himself on the critics he believes ruined his career. He reenacts famous deaths from Shakesperean works like Titus Andronicus, Richard III, Cymbeline. Julius Caesar, and more on his critics. One is stabbed by a crowd, a la Caesar, another drowns in a barrel of wine, as in Richard III, and etcetera. Accused of overacting at times by critics, who obviously did not share his regard for B movies, Price probably enjoyed the fate of those can’t do—they criticize. Notable for appearances by Diana Rigg, Jack Hawkins, Chloe Moon, and Robert Morley.

The Pit and the Pendulum: One of Price’s most notable collaborations with B movie guru Roger Corman, and one of a series of very loosely adapted cinematic versions of Edgar Allan Poe stories, this film is truly a spellbinder. Seeking to find out how his sister died, Francis Barnard (John Kerr) travels to the castle of Nicholas Medina (Price) who is half-crazed from grief over his wife Elizabeth’s demise. Tortured by his father’s notoriety for torturing innocents during the Spanish Inquisition, Nicholas is pushed over the edge by the machinations of those who seek to destroy him. Price’s acting style is perfect for this intensely melodramatic and suspenseful work. Possibly his best work.

Edward Scissorhands The story of a gentle humanoid recluse, Edward, who has scissors for hands because he was left unfinished because of his creator’s untimely death. A kindly Avon lady finds Edward and decides to take him home. Although he is technically not a real person, Edward’s innocence and creativity makes him more human than the people around him. Things come to a head on Christmas Eve. As the inventor, Vincent Price displays a sort of an amiable mad scientist vibe. After getting the inspiration to create Edward from a robot, he schools him in the arts. The scene in which he teaches Edward the finer points of etiquette and then reads him a limerick is priceless. It is the perfect vehicle for the actor’s unique blend of charm, sensitivity, grace, and humor. This was Price’s final film. Notable for the famous Ice Dance scene in which we see Wynona Rider dancing in the snow.

The House on Haunted Hill: In this William Castle classic horror film, Price plays millionaire Frederick Loren who invites five strangers to spend a night in a haunted house, offering $10,000 to anyone who spends the entire night there. Suspecting that his wife Annabelle is trying to kill him for his fortune, he brought the guests together in order to orchestrate her demise. Unknown to him, however, Annabelle and her lover have plans of their own. Known for his promotional gimmicks, Castle strung a plastic skeleton on a pulley over the audience during the climax.

The Tingler: In possibly William Castle’s most outrageous attempt at in-house horror gimmickry, he directed this film about a pathologist Warren Chapin (Price) who discovers an insect-like parasite residing in the spine of every human being. The parasite, the tingler, feeds on fear, and left unchecked, will eventually kill its host. The only way to weaken the creature is by screaming. Castle installed a device called “Percepto” which was a vibrator built into some of the theater’s seats. When the tingler struck, the seat would vibrate, freaking out the patron. Part of the plot takes place in a movie theater, which in a wonderful sort of meta cinematic experience, is incorporated into the theater in which the film is being shown. As Chapin, Price uses his intelligence and sensitivity to play the good guy for once.

The Raven: In an effort to offer audiences something in the Edgar Allan Poe canon of drive-in movie fare, Corman unites horror icons Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre, and Vincent Price as rival sorcerers in a gothic horror comedy. Again incorporating stray elements of Poe’s oeuvre, the poem “Lenore”, Corman and screenwriter Richard Matheson succeeded in creating an entertaining albeit goofy film. Price seems to revel in his iconic horror persona while showing masterful touches of comic timing. His self-referential style (a wink to the audience) is on full display here.

The Fly: Here, Price plays the sympathetic brother-in-law of Helene Delambre (Patricia Owens) a woman whose is accused of crushing her husband Andre’s (David Hedison) head and arm in a hydraulic press. In a flashback, she reveals that her husband’s scientific experiments in the field of teleportation have gone terribly awry. When a fly enters the teleportation chamber during the transfer, Andre discovers he is half-man, half-insect. Price’s sympathetic and even tender treatment of his sister-in-law underlines the civilized sensibility inherent in Price’s persona. He was always, even in the most trying circumstances, a gentleman.

The Masque of the Red Death: In another of the Poe collaborations, Price plays the evil prince and Satanist Prospero, who sequesters himself and his aristocratic friends in his castle while the red plague rages outside, killing thousands. He even stages a ball and feast for his upper-class friends. Incorporated into the plot are elements of another Poe story, “Hop-Toad”, devil worship, and kidnappings. When a mysterious, red-cloaked figure enters his sanctuary, Prospero, thinking it is his idol Satan, follows him, only to discover it is the Red Death. As usual, Price’s portrayal of a morally perverted royal is impeccable.

The Fall of the House of Usher: The first in the Roger Corman, Vincent Price, Edgar Allan Poe collaborations. Corman said he cast Price as the doomed Usher because of his sophistication, sensitivity, and intelligence. When the film became a box-office success, Mr. Corman turned—and kept turning—to Poe’s works for his very loosely adapted productions. Philip Winthrop (Mark Damon) travels to visit his fiancé Madeline Usher (Myrna Fahey) but is rebuffed by her brother Roderick (Price) who insists she cannot marry because the cursed bloodline of the Ushers must end. Things go downhill from there.