Tag Archives: Vincent Price

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House on Haunted Hill (1959)

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An eccentric millionaire and his steely fourth wife invite five strangers to their spooky mansion of a challenge-party. The guests and their hosts are to be locked in the mansion overnight without telephone access or electricity. Those who survive until morning will each receive $10,000 from their hosts. Those who don’t survive will have the funds forwarded to their heirs. However, the house supposedly comes with a grisly past involving ghosts and murders, and the evening proves to be anything but serene for all involved in this mayhem.
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The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)

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This 1971 feature from the American International Pictures fun factory is a work at odds with itself. It wants to be campy, but it is never that funny. It wants to be a horror film, but poor direction dilutes the effectiveness of the chills. And while it succeeds as a Vincent Price vehicle, it fails to bring along the rest of the cast for the ride.
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The Bootleg Files: Chagall

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BOOTLEG FILES 805: “Chagall” (1963 Oscar-winning documentary short narrated by Vincent Price).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It fell through the cracks.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Probably not.

If you’re the type of a movie fan who feels the need to see every film that won an Academy Award, you probably experienced a frustrated pursuit of “Chagall,” which won the 1963 Best Documentary Short Subject. For many years, the film was very difficult to locate – there has never been a home entertainment release and it was absent from YouTube until last August when an unauthorized posting based on a McGraw-Hill Films educational market video popped up.
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The Fly Collection [Blu-Ray]

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There’s an embarrassment of riches in the new set from Shout! Factory that manages to combine all of “The Fly” films in to a rich anthology. It’s a great opportunity to expose new fans to the classic monster movies and contemporary versions of George Langelaam’s original short story. This series and “The Thing” share a lot in common, as both are short stories adapted in to two vastly different versions by genius artists. Meanwhile the contemporary versions’ drastic re-imaginings are still considered iconic cinematic horror and science fiction that set a high bar. 

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The Tingler (1959): Collector’s Edition [Blu-Ray]

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“The Tingler” is one of my first introductions to William Castle and the art of his theatricality when it came to horror movies and making them an experience. As a kid, “The Tingler” and “House on Haunted Hill” were constant rotation at my home, and I loved how Castle’s films sucked you in. To this day I remember being very riveted in the brief moment during “The Tingler” where the movie breaks the fourth wall asking you, the audience, to scream loudly to avoid being attacked by—dramatic pause—the Tingler!

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The Last Man on Earth (1964)

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LastManonEarthCurrently on the public domain hit list, “The Last Man on Earth” is one of the first and finest adaptations of “I Am Legend” that while not perfect, is infinitely better than most of the successors to follow. Set in 1968, Robert Morgan is a doctor who finds society at the mercy of a mysterious plague. Everyone in the world is gradually dying out from this disease, and he soon discovers that those who die inevitably return from the dead. Unless burned, the bodies will re-animate and look for the closest blood source. Cue director Ubaldo Ragona’s awfully gruesome imagery of a humongous pit of fire where bodies of the recently deceased have been dumped to burn.

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