I picked up twenty Vincent Price movies, so I thought I would watch them in chronological order
and write short blurbs about them in this thread. Others are certainly welcome to comment as well.
I've watch several of these over the years, but my primary memory of them comes from the 1970s
when I was eight or nine-years old trying to stay awake on Friday nights to watch them with my
older siblings on TV. I like Vincent Price, and especially enjoy his voice, which is wonderful.

First up....

House of Wax (1953)

Vincent Price plays “Professor” Henry Jarrod, curator of a wax museum who’s interested in history and art
while his business partner is a man who would rather burn the place down for the insurance money. They
fight and the place goes up in fire, and Jarrod is supposedly killed. But, after a string of murders and bodies
going missing from the morgue, Jarrod returns to open a new museum, this time giving the public the gore and
sensationalism it craves. Nice early roles for Carolyn Jones and Charles Bronson in this one as supporting
characters, and I like the female lead, Phyllis Kirk. This was originally in 3D, and I must have seen a version
of this movie before (perhaps on Super-8mm film) with the 3D glasses because the paddle-ball barker scenes
are very memorable, and many of the shots in the movie took liberal advantage of the 3D technology.

Anyway, I enjoyed this one. I'd give it 7/10.

3D silliness.

The Fly (1958)

Not exactly a starring vehicle for Vincent Price, in this one he gets third billing and is featured primarily only
in the movie's framing sequence. David (Al) Hedison plays the lead role as Andre Delambre, a French-Canadian
scientist who crushes himself to death with the help of his wife (played by Patricia Owens) after an accident
mingles the atoms of the scientist together with those of a house fly during a teleportation experiment. This
results in two hybrids. There is some fruitless effort expended by the scientist’s wife and son in trying to capture
the small fly hybrid so they can try reintegration by teleporting again, but things end badly. Unless you consider
that there were two sequels filmed and then a remake in the 1980s.

Not too bad for 1950s schlock. Another 7/10 rating.

That scene with him in the web is the most horrifying thing I've ever seen. It's cheesy by today's FX standards, but it still chills me to the bone.

I'm also a fan of Vincent Price. He had one of the most engaging and intriguing speaking voices in cinematic history in my opinion.

It is chilling.
The voice really helps to sell it, as does his total helplessness before the spider.
Plus, there is no thought given by the men to try to save him.
Just pick up a rock and smash 'em both.

House on Haunted Hill (1959)

Vincent plays Fredrick Loren in this one, an eccentric, extremely jealous millionaire who’s working on
his 4th wife (played by Carol Ohmart). Two of his previous wives had heart attacks and died in their
twenties and I forget what happened to the other one, but wife number 4 doesn’t want to end up like them.
She’s openly married Loren for his money and he implies in a loveless conversation with her that she already
has tried to poison him. The movie is set in a “haunted” house, which has claimed seven lives over its history,
and the couple have hired various strangers who desperately need money, and have offered each of them $10,000
to attend a birthday party at the house--and if they’ll stay there for one night locked inside it.

The other guests include a pilot (Richard Long), a young secretary (Carolyn Craig), a reporter (Julie Mitchum),
a doctor (Alan Marshal), and the owner of the house (Elisha Cook Jr.), who gives a very good performance as
the manic drunkard with the historical knowledge of the ghosts and the previous murders. This B&W movie has
some big plot holes in it, and they do some stupid stuff throughout, but it’s certainly moody and has some good
moments. Some technical things, like how it opens with a total black screen with a woman screaming just made
this modern viewer wonder if the video card in his computer was working, but I would expect a theater crowd in
the 1950s might have been unnerved by it. Ultimately, it’s not a great movie.

I’ll rate it 5.5/10, but it wouldn’t have taken much to improve the story and to replace the duller parts. I guess it’s
been remade at least once, but is supposedly even worse. You really need someone like Price to help sell it.

I kinda like the remake. Geoffrey Rush is a hoot, channeling Price. A few real good scares, too. And a terrific opening sequence.

Well... I wouldn't say no to watching it then, if offered, but don't see me ever buying it. I'll look around
to see if it's online for free anywhere.

I have the newly restored 3D blu-ray, and intend to watch it. I saw this one at a church "movie night" when I was a little kid. (This was before VHS rental and they had a movie projector).

This was a remake of the 1932 "Mystery of the Wax Museum," with Lionel Atwill and Fay Wray. It's interesting to compare the two. The basic plots are very similar, but there are lots of differences in dialog and characterizations. The original also had a contemporary setting, while the remake is a Victorian period piece.

The 1932 version was as much a gimmick film in its own way as the remake. The gimmick there was two-color Technicolor, which saw quite a bit of experimental use in late 1920s-early 1930s features. The color version was long thought lost, but eventually a worn Technicolor print was used as the basis for a modern restoration that tends to be seen on TCM around Halloween. Our library's DVD of "House of Wax" also has the 1932 version included as an "extra." Those early limited-color movies had a unique look to them.

The screenwriter for this was Robb White. When I was growing up, our public library had several adventure novels with World War II settings by Robb White. My brother loved them. They were kind of like DC war comics in novel form.

I may have to give that one a look. I've seen a few limited-color movies in the past, and I tend to like the look.
And I can't recall right off hand having seen Fay Wray in anything other than King Kong.

That actually sounds really good. I'm a fan of the way DC did WW2 stories, so I may have to investigate Robb White further - thank you.

The Most Dangerous Game? If not, you must watch it.

The Tingler (1959)

Another gimmicky William Castle movie written by Robb White, The Tingler stars Vincent Price as
Dr. Warren Chapin, a pathologist obsessed with fear and the idea that great fear manifests itself within
us by enlarging a microscopic parasite that lives near our spines. This centipede-like creature is
amazingly strong and can shatter a man’s back if he doesn’t scream. Screaming causes the Tingler
pain, even death (and then, once assumes, re-shrinkage back to microorganism).

So, that’s the premise. That shiver up the spine is something real and our only defense against it is
to scream. When the movie was shown in some theaters, devices were installed under random seats,
which would tingle during the more frightening scenes. This is combined with moments in the movie
where the Tingler escapes into a movie theater. And two times the movie “stops” with the lights going
out. Then the film has people screaming and Vincent Price sort of breaks the 4th wall by making voice
over announcements during the black outs. Most likely the pre-OSHA shock and/or vibrating chair
devices went off at this time. Apparently a special version of the movie was made for drive-in theaters
with the audio changed so that it was said that the Tingler was loose in “the drive-in: instead of theater.

Silly stuff, but a rather nice performance by Judith Evelyn, a deaf and mute woman, who cannot scream,
and therefore has no defense. Vincent Price also trips out on Acid in an attempt to scare himself.

I can’t give this one any more than 6/10, but it is fun to think about wiring up theater chairs with air force
surplus servos to buzz the audience.

The Tingler makes me want to watch Matinee (1993), starring John Goodman. It's a Joe Dante film that is a tribute to the era of the Tingler. Goodman is a showman who wires up a theater in that way.

There's an entire movie in this premise alone!

"Haf Man, Half Ant, All Terror!"

I still maintain that The Tingler is just begging for a remake. It could be very scary with the proper CGI.

Possibly. I do like the idea that the shiver in your spine is actually something real and--
at least momentarily--tangible.

The next seven Vincent Price movies are part of the eight Edgar Allan Poe movies done by director
Roger Corman. I think it'll be best for me to read the Poe stories first then watch each movie movie.
And I believe there are some recordings of Vincent Price reading the stories, so I'll look for those first.