#6: Witchfinder General aka The Conqueror Worm 1968. Directed by the awesome and gone to soon Michael Reeves, Witchfinder General is Price at his scariest. Plus, I covet the hairdo.
#5 The Fall of the House of Usher 1960. Corman, Price, and Matheson. Wonderfully goth icky, melodramatic, and beautiful.
#4 The Abominable Dr. Phibes 1971. This may be Price's most "camp" performance (Brady Bunch Hawaii episode comes a close second.) It is still a wonder to behold. Price is the center of all the Art Deco attention as Dr. Phibes, a grief stricken genius who is a precursor to Jigsaw. If only the Saw films looked this groovy.
#3 House on Haunted Hill 1959. Price plays a charming, eccentric, wealthy wife killer in this classic Directed by William Castle. One scene in this film made me jump out of my seat, no "Emergo" necessary.
#2 House of Wax 1953. This was the first Vincent Price film I ever remember seeing, and it started a lifelong fascination not only with Price, but with Wax Museums. I can't go to one without imagining what may be buried beneath all that wax.
#1: The Last Man on Earth 1964. Based on my favorite book, "I am Legend" by Richard Matheson, Last Man is Price at his best. He literally has to carry the entire film on his shoulders. The film is sad and scary as hell.
I have to include two non-Horror honorable mentions. Leave her to Heaven from 1945 and Laura from 1944. Both films star Gene Tierney and feature Price in supporting roles. Laura, of course, is a Film Noir classic. Leave her to Heaven features one of the craziest characters in film history. Tierney's "Ellen" is completely bat-shit crazy and pretty evil. If you haven't, check out this Technicolor masterpiece!
1 comment:
An interesting list there - I think mine would be the following:
WITCHFINDER GENERAL
THEATRE OF BLOOD
SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN
THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH
THE TOMB OF LIGEIA
HOUSE OF WAX
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