Having received a box set of Vincent Price movies for my birthday, I eagerly watched the whole set! Here are the reviews. Some of the films I had reviewed before (thanks, local libraries for stocking cool, old movies!). He has been a favorite of mine since childhood, watching stuff on the
4:30 Movie and weekend films on television. Happy memories!
These reviews are in the order they are on the collection's discs.
Vincent Price stars in this classic story by Edgar Allan Poe adapted for the screen by B-movie horror icon Roger Corman. Price is Nicholas Medina, a Spaniard living in the 1500s. His home is a castle by the seaside, though it is the creepy sort of shoreline. He is visited by his brother-in-law Francis Barnard (John Kerr) who wants to find out about the death of his sister. She married Nicholas many years ago and died a few months ago. Nicholas didn't give much detail on the death in his letter to Francis, hence the visit. Nicholas is borderline crazy with good reason. His dad was part of the legendary Spanish Inquisition and a torture chamber is still in the basement of the castle. The father conducted a lot of business at home, including the torture of his wife and brother (i.e. Nicholas's mom and uncle) because they had been having an affair. Young Nicholas witnessed the torture and is naturally super-sensitive. With Francis's arrival and his suspicion, Nicholas starts to hear his dead wife calling and even her playing the harpsichord. The problem is other people in the castle can hear her too. Something more nefarious is going on.
The movie is an interesting blend of Poe themes. There's the fear of being buried alive, the doomed house, the lost wife/lover who still haunts the living, etc. They make a nice, natural, cohesive, and disturbing whole. The movie has good atmosphere and some chilling moments. The actors are all good with Price doing what he came to be known best for (he plays the dad in flashbacks). Overall, it's a satisfying old-school horror film.
Recommended.
A string of grisly and bizarre murders are investigates by some hapless policemen as Doctor Phibes (Vincent Price) continues his killing spree. Phibes's wife had died at the hands of a medical team and he is out for revenge on all nine members of that team. Unfortunately, Phibes was in a car accident that left him unable to talk except by using a special machine attached to the side of his throat. Everyone thought he died, so he is not immediately the first suspect. He lives in a new, exotically decorated home with Vulnavia (Virginia North) who does his bidding with the same wordless grace and chill as Phibes.
The story is a fairly standard revenge/horror with many odd elements added. Phibes is also an organist and rises from his lower rooms to the main floor as he plays at a keyboard. The main room is a sort of ballroom, with a mechanical ragtime band on raised platforms and a wraparound balcony. Phibes dresses in long, flowing, shiny robes. His exotic murders are based very loosely on the Ten Plagues of Egypt from the biblical book of Exodus (though the plagues are called "Pharoah's curses" in the movie). The deaths are more odd than terrifying, though there are some pretty horrible results of Phibes's handiwork. In another surreal touch, his car has frosted windows with images of him sitting in the back seat. The police investigation is mostly plot exposition and an excuse to throw in some weird and often unfunny humor. The movie definitely looks like a product of the late 1960s and early 1970s.
While Price is always fun to watch, I found the movie a bit too odd even for my odd tastes. I appreciate the effort that went into the set designs and costumes. The plot needed something more than just the bare bones it has. Or the support characters needed more character. Or they could have gotten the Egyptian plagues right. Or made the comedy with the police work. The movie needs a lot of tinkering.
Not really recommended.
The Haunted Palace (1963) produced and directed by Roger Corman
In the 1700s, Joseph Curwen (Vincent Price) is burned to death in the New England town of Arkham. One hundred and ten years later, his great grandson Charles Dexter Ward (also Vincent Price) comes to town because he has inherited Curwen's property, a creepy old castle overlooking the town. The locals don't want to tell Ward where the place is and are very hostile. Their ancestors were cursed by Curwen, who promised to have revenge on the generations to come. The town is plagued with birth deformities. The locals blame the curse. Ward and his wife Ann (Debra Paget) move in anyway, only to find a caretaker (Lon Chaney, Jr.) getting the palace ready again for Curwen's descendant. Once Ward gets a look at a painting of Curwen, he sees the uncanny resemblance and starts to behave very differently.
Though the title is taken from and Edgar Allan Poe poem, the story is from an H. P. Lovecraft novel. The producers didn't want to step away from the successful combination of Corman and Poe, so they marketed this film as another Poe flick. Lovecraft isn't so dramatically different from Poe. The movie has a lot of the same atmosphere, with foggy streets and the castle in ruins. Price does his usual fine job in the dual role and horror fans will delight in the small role Lon Chaney is given. The movie is another fun horror outing for Corman and crew.
Recommended.
Philip Winthrop (Mark Damon) rides from Boston to the titular home in the middle of a boggy, foggy landscape. He demands entry because he is engaged to Madeline Usher (Myrna Fahey). The butler (Harry Ellerbe) says Philip can't see her since she is bedridden. Philip insists on seeing her brother Roderick (Vincent Price). The butler reluctantly lets Philip in. Roderick says Madeline is too sick and the house is too doomed for Philip to stay and he should return to Boston. Philip resists. Madeline comes into the room, happy to see Philip. She begs Roderick to let Philip stay. The butler fixes up a room. Waiting for dinner, Philip discovers that the house is in terrible shape with quakes causing cracks in the walls. The bigger problem is the sinister history of the family and the doomed outlooks of both Roderick and Madeline.
The story moves at a good pace and manages to maintain a sense of dread, even with lighter or more romantic moments thrown in. The actors give good performances, selling the horrible history that looms over them. The house has a lot of odd paintings of the Usher ancestors, adding to the weirdness. Roderick is an artist and seems to be following in the family portraiture line with his own strange rendition of Madeline. The movie captures the spirit of Poe's work quite well.
Recommended.
Prince Prospero (Vincent Price) goes to visit the local village where he takes all their crops and takes any pleasure (mostly sadistic) he can get from them. Gino (David Weston) and Ludovico (Nigel Green) protest his plunder so Prospero orders them executed. Francesca (Jane Asher) begs for mercy since she is the daughter of Ludovico and the girlfriend of Gino. Prospero at first says he will do nothing for them. A woman cries out and he orders her silenced. When she still screams, he goes to investigate. The woman is bedridden. When she roles over, Prospero sees she has contracted the Red Death, a horrible plague. He orders the town burned, Francesca taken to his castle for his entertainment, and the accused men imprisoned in the castle where he will come up with some amusing way for them to kill each other.
At the castle, Prospero throws an elegant multi-day party for the nobility culminating in a masquerade ball. He is unaware of various other schemes going on--his partner Juliana (Hazel Court) wants to get rid of Francesca as a romantic rival and to fulfill the secret rites Prospero has introduced her to; nobleman Alfredo (Patrick Magee) is a second-banana bad guy who wants to hurt Prospero, or at least get his hands on Francesca; Hop-Toad (Skip Martin), one of the entertainers, wants to get revenge on Prospero for ill treatment of Hop-Toad's wife Esmeralda (Verina Greenlaw). And Francesca wants to free her father and her lover before they are killed or corrupted by the goings on in the castle. Prospero reveals that he worships Satan and his attitude toward other people reflects that disregard for human life and dignity.
The movie is surprisingly lavish. Corman was famous for making small-budget movies quickly but here the costumes and sets are top-notch. The art direction follows the color schemes from Edgar Allan Poe's story. The camera work captures the chaotic nature of the evil festival Prospero is hosting, with people behaving as literal animals and Satanic rites being enacted. Moments are nightmarish in their gaudy display of evil. Price gives a good performance, leading a cast who provides a mixed-bag of performances.
The blu-ray in this collection includes an extended cut of the film which adds about a minute and a half of content, one scene and some extended dialogue that does not add too much to the theatrical release.
Recommended--highly for Poe or Corman fans.
Price stars as Matthew Hopkins, a witchfinder in 1600s England. The English Civil War is raging, so Protestant and Catholic forces are occupied fighting each other. In the chaos, Hopkins roams freely from town to town, torturing and executing people accused as witches (and collecting bounties for his service). He has a lackey named Stearn (Robert Russell) who takes especial delight in the torture. Hopkins is more focused on rooting out what he thinks is evil, though he is willing to take advantage of young women before he condemns them to death. The pair come to a village where the local priest has been accused. The priest's niece Sara (Hilary Heath) tries to prevent the inevitable, even though she is engaged to Richard Marshall (Ian Ogilvy), a soldier away on duties. When Richard finds out what happened, he goes after the evil duo, even at the risk of his military career.
The movie is more like a thriller than a horror film. There are no supernatural powers or events on display. The drama plays out with a few unpleasant scenes of torture and one rather horrible burning. Hopkins is more cunning and ruthless than anyone in the film (maybe than anyone in Price's career), even turning on his own partner when it is to his own advantage. Price's restrained, focused performance is quite good, it is easy to see why he thought this was his best performance in the horror genre. The other actors are good. The production values are fine though they definitely have that late-1960s or early-1970s look.
The movie was originally released as "Matthew Hopkins Witchfinder General." The extras on the blu-ray include alternate opening and final credits with Price reciting bits from Poe's
The Conqueror Worm, clearly trying to justify changing the title to make it seem like another flick in the Poe cycle. This movie isn't as psychological or artistic as the Poe adaptations and it requires a big stretch to connect the poem's content and themes with the film's. The change is a bit of a shell game played on the viewers.
Recommended, but don't think this is a standard Price horror show.
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