Spotlight On: Vincent Price

With Halloween coming up, I figured it was about time to do a spotlight on the great horror legend Vincent Price. I have never seen a movie with him in it that I did not like. It might be because he never made a bad movie, or it might be because his presence made every movie better. He has that great speaking voice of his, and also a great deal of charm for a horror actor. I love how he can be both sinister and sympathetic. Here are my favorites of his films.

Laura

Looking back on Price's filmography, this seems like a strange role for him to play. He is sort of the heartthrob role is this movie. Laura isn't a horror film, but is a great film noir. It is about a police detective who falls in love with the woman whose murder he is solving. Price plays her fiance, who is also a murder suspect. Here is a great scene of when he meets Laura for the first time.



House of Wax

Here Price plays a wax artist who is very proud of his wax people. He is devistated when his collection is burned, so he goes mad and starts making wax figures using real people. I couldn't find my favorite clip when the girl hits him in the face and we see it is made of wax, but here is the great scene in the beginning with him and his original wax figures.



The Fly

Although I prefer the remake with Jeff Goldblum, the original is still really good. Price plays the brother of the man who is turning into a fly after a fly enters his teleportation machine with him. Here is the great scene where he sees a fly caught in a web with his brothers head and arm.



House on Haunted Hill

Vincent Price always seems to have such horrible wives in his movies, and this is a great example of that. This movie isn't scary by today's standards, but it does have some great moments, including a part with a moving skeleton that scares his wife... Here is his introduction at the beginning of the film.


The Tingler

This movie actually gave me the creeps the first time I saw it. Vincent Price plays a guy who discovers that a creature called The Tingler grows on your spine whenever you're scared. The only wat that it can go away is if you scream. So, he tests this theory on a mute woman who they scare to death. When they cut open her back they pull out this creepy ass creature that eventually escapes...Just looking at that thing gives me the heebie jeebies...



Pit and the Pendulum

Here Price plays a man who is mourning over the death of his wife. This is another example where he has a terrible wife because not only does she end up being alive, but she plots to scare him to death. Well, instead of scaring him to death, she makes him go crazy and become possessed by the spirit (or memory?) or his evil father.


The Abominable Dr. Phibes

This movie kind of reminds me of the movie Seven, except instead of killing using the seven deadly sins, he kills using the plagues. My favorite one that he uses is definitely the locust scene.

Here he narrates Tim Burton's short film about a little boy who wants to be, well, Vincent Price.



Thriller

He also lended his voice to Michael Jackson's song Thiller. "Darkness falls upon the land, the midnight hour is close at hand...) I love his laugh at the end!



Edward Scissorhands

His last film appearance was in Edward Scissorhands, where he played Edwards father who died before he could finish him.