All
things of horror in film eventually come around to Vincent Price. You can’t
really escape him.
Price
was born in 1911 in St. Louis, began acting in theater in 1935 and made his
film debut in 1938. His first horror picture came in the 1939 Boris Karloff
feature “Tower of London.”
Like
Karloff, whose face and name had become, and would remain, a staple of horror
following “Frankenstein” in 1931, Price would also secure himself as an actor
always identified with creepy characters and horror films. There are several
actors that will always be associated with horror films because of one or two
legendary roles: Anthony Perkins will always be scary because of “Psycho”; Jack
Nicholson has a certain bizarre insanity that lingers because of “The Shining”;
Robert Englund will always be recognized as Freddy Krueger; Linda Blair has the
“The Exorcist” locked down.
But
not all of these actors necessarily became staples of the genre; actors whose
very facial features and voices have been ingrained into American society for
so long and so powerfully they are a constant anchor of the idea of horror,
transcending even cinema. The characters of Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger, and
Michael Myers have become legendary in these respects, but not necessarily the
actors that played them. Max Schreck’s 1922 portrayal of the title role in “Nosferatu”
exists as an image burned into horror forever. Rondo Hatton’s few appearances
as The Creeper almost became a stamped counterpart to the genre (which I discuss here). However, the
images and sounds of Karloff, Lon Chaney, Jr., Bela Lugosi and Vincent Price
have almost anchored the holiday of Halloween for decade upon decade. Just to
invoke their names usually means you are discussing something in the horror
realm. Price’s iconic voice was often
used in voiceover work that dabbled in horror, including in such popular music
as Alice Cooper’s “Welcome to My Nightmare” (1975) and Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”
(1982). (It is often assumed he is the voice at the beginning of Iron Maiden’s “The Number of the Beast,” but because the band could not afford Price’s asking
price, they used an imitator, instead.)
This
entry isn’t to follow Price’s entire career, but instead just review two films
he made in the early 1970s, nearly 40 years into his career. Still, they are
interesting films simply because they work on plots that reference Price’s
standing as the “master of the macabre,” and recognize the associations, and
well, typecasting, that exists with him. Basically, if Vincent Price is
involved, you know it is probably falling somewhere in the horror genre.
At
the dawn of the 1970s, horror films were on the verge of a renaissance. Price
had scored several successes throughout the 1960s, especially in Roger Corman’s
film adaptations of Edgar Allen Poe stories. He had begun to increase his
voiceover work toward the end of that decade, and had begun to make regular
appearances in television productions, sometimes as himself. At that point,
Price was already heavily associated with gothic storylines. He had also
exhibited his sense of humor, earning him a reputation for serio-comedy.
“Theater of Blood” was released in 1973. His last two major films had been the 1971 hit “The Abdominable Dr. Phibes” and its sequel. “Theatre of Blood” allowed Price to
fully immerse himself in bizarre imaginative insanity as Edward Lionheart, the
Shakespearean actor who has come back from the dead to exact revenge on his
critics.
When
reading about another film I reviewed a few posts ago, “House of Horrors”
(1946), comparisons in the plot between the two movies were constant. “House of
Horrors” finds a sculptor exacting revenge on harsh through the murderous reach
of the Creeper, his muse and accomplice. However, “Theater of Blood” follows
Price’s Lionheart as he himself plans and pursues the death of each critic that
prevented him from receiving the “Critics Circle Award for Best Actor” during
the last year of his career before his supposed suicide.
This
is the beauty of this flick. Lionheart extracts his revenge by setting up and
performing murders based on deaths in the Shakespearean plays he performed
in his final year. Based on scenes from “Julius Caesar,” “The Merchant of Venice,” “Cymbeline”
and several others, Lionheart beheads, drowns, stabs, electrocutes and just
plain terrorizes these critics with such a crazy glee and joy it’s…it’s just
fucking creepy. Each scene he seems to relish in his overacting, spouting
Shakespeare’s words amid blood and guts in full 1970s color. Supposedly it was
one of Price’s favorite films, being a fan of Shakespeare and the theater. The
sets are wonderful, bizarre and macabre. His fellow murdering actors that
assist him in his “productions” act like ravaging insane zombie homeless people
(all of whom are drunk on some purple bottled liquid that I never quite
understood).
During
the whole film I just got the sense that Price was having fun. “OK, Mr. Price:
you’re playing a theater-actor killing people while reciting Shakespeare.” “Oh,
well, now, how wonderful!” Definitely Price at one of his weirdest moments.
Price
followed this insanity up with, well, “Madhouse” in 1974.
“Madhouse”
follows Price as another actor – Peter Toombes. Toombes is instead an esteemed
horror film actor known for his portrayal as “Dr. Death,” a legend of the
genre. The idea of “Dr. Death” was created by Toombes and his friend, screenwriter
Herbert Flay (played by Hammer Horror icon, Peter Cushing). It is revealed
early in the movie that Flay had begun his career as an actor, but once Toombes
became successful as Dr. Death, Flay became the main writer of the character.
Toombes’ career basically comes to a halt when
his fiancé is murdered the night of their engagement at a party promoting
Toombes’ latest film. Toombes is accused of the murder, never convicted, but
spends time in an insane asylum. After being released, he attempts to resume
his acting career, persuaded by Flay to again appear as Dr. Death in a new
television series based on the character. Toombes is reluctant to do so, unsure
of his own sanity, which, as the film progresses, is tested frequently once
murders again begin happening on the set, all of which are based on scenes from
his earlier Dr. Death films.
I
wasn’t sure what the quality of “Madhouse” was going to be the night I watched
it. I started it somewhere around 1 AM, expecting to follow it for a bit before
turning in, and was surprised at how sucked into it I got based on the
weirdness that Price, again, delivers perfectly.
The
film sets up the self-referential image of Price as the ultimate horror actor.
The entire film, while loosely based on the Angus Hall novel “Devil Day” (1969),
I believe was re-tooled blatantly for Price. The scenes of Toombes/Dr. Death’s
earlier films, shown at various points throughout “Madhouse,” are taken from
Price’s classic films “The Haunted Palace,” “Tales of Terror,” “The Raven” and “Houseof Usher” (and even feature, as regurgitated cameos, Karloff and Basil Rathbone). Price seems to basically be playing himself as an older actor,
respected by generations of horror fans (although, hopefully Price was not as
mentally off-balance and unsure of reality as Toomes). There is even a
cast/crew costume party featuring Cushing as Dracula (referencing his role as
Van Helsing from the Hammer Horror’s “Dracula” series) and Robert Quarry as
Count Yorga (referencing his starring role in the 1970 film “Count Yorga,Vampire”).
“Madhouse”
has a sense of fun to it, but is still filled with some shadowy-bizarro
imagery. Just seeing Price walk the sets of the television show in full Dr. Death
cape, fedora and make-up is worth the price of admission, to me. I just believe
that at this point in his career, Price had become so typecast as the
horrorific/goth expert, they decided to make a couple of films in which he
plays just that – the experienced icon. However, he was not near the end of his
long career, yet. Again, following these films, most of his career seems to
have been based on just that. Here’s Vincent Price – slightly campy, often with
a sense of humor, but he is horror.
Both
“Theatre of Blood” and “Madhouse” might be counted as Price’s last real horror
films. As the mid-70s began, his career became one of voiceover work, horror
spoofs, and completely self-referential appearances.
Price
died in 1993, nearly twenty years later. His last major film appearance was as
the lonely inventor of the title character in “Edward Scissorhands” in 1990, which
was, in my opinion, Tim Burton’s ode to the perfector of the goth idea he has
remained immersed in most of his career.
One
last unrelated item: the origin of the title of this small series to my
personal Fright Fest – “The House of Horrors Became the House of Horrors.”
Circa 1999, a group of my closest friends and I huddled around a television
armed with beers and blankets and watched the premiere of the “VH1 Behind theMusic” series’ biography of the glam/hair rock band Poison. We made a night of
it, relishing in the fun, cheese, spandex and rock. Somewhere in there,
guitarist CC DeVille, in his raspy voice, tried to describe the decadence that
the band fell into after hitting success in the late 1980s. The quote that
always struck me, and the rest of the room, resulting in guffaws all around,
was “the house of horrors became the house of horrors.” This became one of
those quotes I’ve thrown about at various situations, whether they were my own
slips into the well of self-destruction and gloam, or others’ own falls.
The
funny thing is, I’ve had the quote wrong since 1999 – yeah, 12 years. DeVille
is actually saying, “the house of whores [describing his fantastical drug-den
LA party mansion]…became the house of horrors,” which, sorta, makes much more
sense. But, a mix of Pabst and CC DeVille’s gargled cocaine voice, made me
mistranslate those audio signals over a decade ago. So, I still cling to my
original thought, and now, reapply it, tactfully.
Basically,
it’s an in-joke on myself, folks. That’s all.
Here’s
the clip if you’re interested. It hovers at the 7:22 mark.
Don’t
need nothing but a good time. G’nite, Cleveland (what a way to end some writing
about Mr. Price).
Sources:
www.vincentprice.org
www.songfacts.com
www.legendsofhorror.org
www.imdb.com
www.wikipedia.org
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