HOUSE OF HORRORS will be a four issue mini series, and will be hitting comic shops in May. The first issue was written by Jay Katz, with art by Stefano Cardoselli, and color by Jeff Balke. The  painted cover by LP Dopp can be seen below.

“I am very proud to have this new Vincent Price series for everyone to enjoy”, said Daren Davis. “It’s going to be a spine tingling experience, so get ready for some great horror stories!”

For more, head over to Bluewater’s website.

An almost spectral-looking 2011 portrait by artist Rich Bernal of Vincent Price as he appeared in THE RAVEN. Commissioned for the St. Louis VINCENTENNIAL.

2011 is the birthday centennial for Vincent Price, and the anniversary was celebrated by various magazines, blogs,  film screenings and other events that honored the late actor. It was most memorably observed in Price’s hometown of St. Louis, where the Vincentennial was marked by a series of events organized primarily by Price fan Tom Stockman. Local newspaper reporter Raymond Castile and I attended many of the screenings, interviews, museum and gallery events in the more-than-month-long observance of the multifaceted man many think of as the “King of Horror.”  

Raymond talked with a number of fans from around the world about their love of Price (including myself), and their encounters with him in life or on the screen. I later talked with a number of Vincent Price’s co-stars from film and television at the Monster Bash Octoberfest in the Pittsburgh area, where half a dozen films with Vincent Price screened over two days.  Our longer interviews are presented here as questions and answers.

We think the memories and emotions of a wide range of  Price fans and Price co-stars make for an especially warm tribute in the cold closing months of this Vincent Price centennial year. We hope you do too.

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 KIM MORTON

Kim Morton. Photo: RC

Kim Morton can never escape Vincent Price’s haunting gaze. It stares at her whenever she looks at her left arm.

That’s where Price got under her skin – literally. Fresh out of high school, Morton had Price’s moody portrait tattooed on her upper arm, a bat hovering above his head.

“He was an icon of mine that I wanted on my body,” said Morton, 21. “I like to wear things I love on myself.”

Morton discovered Price in childhood when her older sister – a classic horror fan – introduced her to films like “House on Haunted Hill.”

“I remembered being so frightened of him,” Morton said. “That frightened little girl ended up becoming mesmerized by him.”

In her hometown of Warren, Michigan, the tattoo draws attention – especially from older people. They tell Morton, “That can’t be Vincent Price. You’re too young.”

Young people tell her they like the portrait, but have no idea who it is. “Is that your grandfather?” they ask.

No one mistook Price for Morton’s grandfather when she visited St. Louis in May for the Vincentennial, a multimedia commemoration of the horror icon’s 100th birthday. The 10-hour drive wasn’t fun, but it was worth it for the chance to spend a weekend immersed in all things Vincent Price.

Morton expected a typical convention setup with events concentrated in one hotel. What she found was a city-wide celebration.

Price was born May 27, 1911 in St. Louis, where he attended St. Louis Country Day School. In later years he would speak fondly of the city, often returning to perform at venues like the Muny or the “Fabulous Fox” Fox Theatre.

The Vincentennial kicked off April 22 at the Sheldon Art Galleries with the opening of a museum exhibit featuring artifacts from Price’s life and memorabilia from his films. Another exhibit of Price-themed art debuted April 29 at the Star Clipper gallery. Both exhibits ran through the summer.

Autographed art by Ron Lazorty. Part of the Star Clipper exhibit. Photo: MC

But the Vincentennial’s main event was a film festival that ran May 19-28 at the Hi-Pointe Theatre, Missouri History Museum, Washington University and the Muny. The festival included screenings of 20 Vincent Price films, plus lectures and interviews.

All this came about thanks to the Vincentennial’s event director, Tom Stockman, a horror fan who screens Super 8 mm films one night a month at the Way Out Club, a St. Louis bar. A year earlier, Stockman began planning a special evening of Vincent Price Super 8 films on the actor’s 100th birthday. Like a mad doctor’s experiment gone out of control, Stockman’s idea grew and grew until, for one month, it practically took over the city.

Morton learned of the Vincentennial from a blurb in a horror magazine. It was just a snippet, but that was all it took to make her jump to her feet.

“I remember running to my mom and telling her we have to go; this has to happen,” Morton said.

She and her mom made the drive in one day, arriving in time to see a two-hour lecture by Price’s daughter, Victoria Price, at the Missouri History Museum. On the evening of her father’s birthday, Victoria held the packed house spellbound as she brought her father back to life through storytelling, personal photos and video clips.

“I figured that would be the closest I would ever get to seeing Vincent Price – to see his flesh-and-blood daughter,” Morton said.

At the Sheldon, Morton perused Price’s personal effects.

Photo of VP as a toddler from Jenni Nolan-O'dell; VP's baby album and mittens from the Robert Taylor collection. Photo: MC

“It was so much fun looking through things he held so close, like his wallet and baby book,” she said. “It was like looking past the actor and at the man.”

Price program souvenirs provided by Rick Squires. Cards/wallets from the Sara Waugh collection. Photo: MC

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BRETT HALSEY

Brett Halsey & Price fan at Monster Bash Octoberfest. Photo: MC

Actor Brett Halsey, who now more often inhabits the real-life role of author,  smiles when the name of Vincent Price is mentioned.

“Of all the actors I’ve appeared with in 98 feature movies and I don’t know how many television shows, Vincent’s probably my favorite actor I ever worked with,” said Halsey in October. Halsey appeared in the films The Return of the Fly and Twice-Told Tales with Price. The work was “hard but fun” the actor/author said, and attributed their camaraderie during shooting to having “artistic and personal temperaments that just meshed.”

Halsey had liked Price long before going into the same profession as the late actor. “I followed his career from when I was a kid, from when he was doing Dragonwyck. I’d been a fan since then,” Halsey said. “Working with him was a thrill.”

Halsey went on to describe Price as someone known for his sense of humor, and for being generous and unfailingly positive both onscreen and off.

“He was just wonderful on every level–as a colleague, as a giving actor. And he was cheerful, always ‘up’,” Halsey recalled. “I can’t imagine anyone ever knowing him ‘down.’ Of course, he had to be at times, but I never saw it, any of it.”

Halsey remembered an example of Price’s off-screen selflessness. Price was a noted art collector and the two discussed their shared interest in art.

“When I was living in Rome, we went to an art exhibit together. I was interested in this particular Swiss painter, Kurt Polter. And I asked Vincent, ‘What do you think?’ He pointed out one and said, ‘There. That’s the best thing Kurt has ever painted.’ I said, “Should I buy it?” and he said “Absolutely.” So I bought it. And I still have it. He could have bought it for himself.”

Halsey regrets that neither he or Price  ever visited each other’s homes, but stressed that they did socialize a good bit.

“Most of our socializing was away from Hollywood. In Europe, and in Munich and Mexico, in restaurants and so on,” Halsey stated.  ”"With his wife Mary we used to go down to Ensenada in Mexico, and just play, and drink tequila. Because he loved to have a good time. He was one helluva good guy.”

So Halsey never got to experience a Vincent Price-cooked meal. But Halsey added, “ I have his cookbook!”

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PETER FULLER

You can live anywhere and be a Price fan.

Victoria Price and Peter Fuller. Photo: RC

It all started when Fuller saw Price on “The Tiki Caves” episode of “The Brady Bunch.”

“He scared me silly,” Fuller said. “It was his voice that really grabbed my attention. It was so rich, so articulate. For an Australian country boy like myself, I so wanted to have a voice like that.”

Fuller caught Price’s Edgar Allan Poe films when they were broadcast on local television. In the days before VHS, young Fuller tried to preserve the experience by recording the films on audiocassettes. He would spend hours listening to that resonant voice cutting through the analog hiss.

“We are supposed to put away childish things when we grow up, but I have never seen my fascination with Vinnie as childish,” Fuller said. “To me, he is a surrogate mentor to all his fans for all things artistic.”

He met Price in 1981 when the actor came to his hometown of Perth in a touring production of his one-man show about Oscar Wilde, “Diversions and Delights.” Fuller approached Price after the show and got his autograph.

“Although I was gutted when he showed more attention to my sister than he did his number one West Australian fan,” he said. A few years later, Price sent Fuller a postcard from the set of  The Whales of August.

“I always counted Vinnie as a special person in my life,” Fuller said. “When Vinnie died in 1993, I felt a huge sense of loss.”

Fuller said the Vincentennial brought him the closure he needed, celebrating Price’s life in the company of so many like-minded fans.

Victoria Price facing away from a photo of her dad and herself in his final days, surrounded by friends and family. Photo: RC

Fuller reported that he enjoyed the 35mm screenings of Price’s films and the two evenings with Roger Corman, but the “icing on the cake” was Victoria Price’s “Reflections from a Daughter” presentation delivered on Vincent Price’s 100th birthday.

“Victoria gave us a moving, inspirational portrait of Vincent,” Fuller said. “Not only as an actor and cultural icon, but as a caring, loving dad.”

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CHARLES HERBERT

Charles Herbert & young fan Johnny Forbes in a homemade Fly costume. Photo: MC

Charles Herbert, a former child actor, has over 60 credits in films and television. He’s well known to classic horror fans for his roles in 13 Ghosts and the Vincent Price film The Fly (made when Herbert was nine years old.)

Herbert readily states what set Price apart from many other adult actors he worked with as a child: “He spent time with me. We did a lot of talking. He always made sure that he took time every day to talk to me. ”

Asked about specifics of those chats, Herbert says ”I was very young, so I don’t remember all that much, but it was always a pleasure to see him in the morning. He had a great sense of humor and made me feel comfortable. He was very helpful; a very nice man.”

Herbert feels that Price was a rare performer who will always be appreciated both as an actor and a performer.

“Here we are nearly twenty years after his death and we’re still having tributes to him, shows for him.  There’s a handful of actors that are in that classification. You know, fifty years from now the people will be having tributes to Vincent Price,” he stated.

Pausing thoughtfully for a moment, Herbert added,  ”That’s the point. He’s a name that will live forever.”

Charles Herbert and Vincent Price.

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MAX CHENEY

Max Cheney doesn’t have to beat himself up anymore.

The Vincentennial healed a wound that has bled since 1981, when a then-19-year-old Cheney was attending Arkansas State University. One day, he noticed fliers posted around campus advertising the arrival of Vincent Price’s “Diversions and Delights” one-man show.

A monster kid since childhood, Cheney desperately wanted to see Price in person. But there was a problem. Tickets cost $8. He didn’t have the money.

“I was flat broke,” Cheney said. “I didn’t have eight lousy dollars.”

Cheney knew Price often met with fans backstage. So he was not only missing the chance to see the actor he admired perform; he was missing the chance to meet him face-to-face. Cheney tried to tell himself it didn’t bother him, but it did.

“All this time, I’ve been beating myself up about it,” he said. “I should have held up an old lady or knocked over a bank. If I’d just done something a little more creative or a little more desperate, I might have met Vincent Price.”

Now 50, Cheney lives in Pittsburgh with his wife, Jane Considine. He met Vincentennial organizer Tom Stockman at the 2010 Famous Monsters convention in Indianapolis. Stockman told Cheney about his plans to honor Price’s 100th birthday in St. Louis. Cheney knew St. Louis well, having lived there 15 years.

“As a fellow film collector, I was acquainted with Tom, but he was a different guy when he started talking about his wish to create a hometown celebration of Vincent Price,” Cheney said. “He was far less laid back and almost like a Poe character in his describing this idea that was compelling him to act.”

Cheney gave Stockman advice and put him in touch with Price collector Robert Taylor. He watched with interest as Vincetennial plans solidified. When the festival opened, Cheney and Considine drove from Pittsburgh to spend two weekends in St. Louis.

Price fans Jane Considine, Max Cheney, and Robert Taylor. Photo: RC

“I wanted to participate in this unique event where a whole city and all these organizations would come together for a whole month to celebrate one guy,” Cheney said. “If he had been George Washington or Martin Luther King, well, that’s been done. But he was not a politician or statesman. He was a dead horror star. To my way of thinking, nothing could be cooler than that.”

Cheney said the “emotional heart” of the Vincentennial was Victoria Price’s presentation, which included family photos, videotaped memories and rare commentary from her media-shy older brother, Vincent Barrett Price.

Cheney thanked Stockman for erasing some of the unhappiness he felt for missing Price in 1981.

Victoria Price listens to her brother describe their dad. Photo: RC

“He provided me with something nearly like meeting Vincent Price,” Cheney said. “It presented all the different facets of this man – actor, father, friend. I feel like I was given a second chance to know him as well as possible, given the fact that he is dead.”

But Price’s legacy lives on, as evidenced by the broad cross section of fans who sacrificed time and money to take part in the Vincentennial.

“I just couldn’t believe what was going on,” Cheney said. “I couldn’t believe that all these people had come together – film lovers, horror lovers, younger people, older people, middle-aged people like me, St. Louisans, people from England and New York – all proud of this one guy, this actor who could be mordant and mirthful, playing villains and monsters with a gleam in his eye.”

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TERRY MOORE

Terry Moore, the female (and human) co-star of the original Mighty Joe Young (1949), is still acting in movies, and has a long list of television credits. She acted with Vincent Price on live TV in the 1950s (“The Clouded Image” on Playhouse 90) , and remembers Price very fondly. She sat down for an interview with me and talked about Price not just as a performer but also as a guest.

He was a great painter, did you know that? He did painting–he talked about that a lot–he loved to paint. And he was completely down to earth. He made me his friend; I felt like I had known him all my life. And he came home to dinner with me.

Max Cheney and Terry Moore. Photo: MC

Who cooked?

My mother cooked – he loved that. (I’d worked with Dame May Whitty – she came home to dinner!) I loved bringing these people home. My parents were just lovely, and whoever I was working with I always would invite ‘em home for dinner – I took Pat Boone, Marilyn Monroe – and Vincent really loved coming to my house for a home-cooked dinner. My family were very down-to-earth and wonderful; he loved that. And I remember his being a connoisseur of wines.

Did Vincent bring wine? What do you remember of the meals themselves?

He brought wine, and I can remember what we had because my father wanted steak and potatoes and salad with Roquefort cheese dressing every night. And so that’s what it would be. And we had ice cream for dessert.

 How did your family take to conversing with celebrities? And particularly Vincent Price?

Well, they’d kind have got used to it. They loved it when I brought home people. And he so charming. I mean, he was such a gentleman. I forgot he was born in St. Louis.  Isn’t it funny – he seemed more like he’d be born in England.

In terms of how he spoke and acted – was he as  articulate, with the same sense of humor and as graceful? Was he much the same off-screen as on?

Very much so, very much so. Most stars are, unless they’re doing a character role.

What did you like about him as a performer?

I loved him because he was so professional. He always knew his lines. As you know, Playhouse 90 was an hour-and-a-half show. It was live TV and you did it on the spot. I mean, a lot of actors didn’t dare do it. But he was so accomplished, he did do it. And I loved that. He was always there. You knew if you forgot your lines he would step in and ad-lib until you caught up.

What would you like to say about his films?

I sure enjoyed them. I enjoyed watching him.

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TIM LUCAS

Vincent Price's star in the St. Louis Walk of Fame. Photo: MC

For 21 years, Tim Lucas has published the bimonthly film magazine Video Watchdog with his wife, Donna Lucas. Vincentennial organizers invited Lucas to conduct two live interviews with legendary filmmaker Roger Corman before 35 mm screenings of two of his Edgar Allan Poe collaborations with star Vincent Price – The Tomb of Ligeia and The Masque of the Red Death – May 21-22 at the Hi-Pointe Theatre in St. Louis. The historic interviews covered Corman’s career and his observations on Price. The event culminated with Cinema St. Louis presenting Corman with a lifetime achievement award. I talked to Lucas about his Vincentennial experience.  

RC: How and why did you become involved with the Vincentennial?

I was invited by Cliff Froehlich and Tom Stockman, who conceived and organized the event. Cliff is the executive director of Cinema St. Louis. I believe it was Tom Stockman, a Video Watchdog reader, who suggested me for the job of interviewing Roger Corman. Cliff told me that, when he mentioned my name to Roger as apossible interviewer, Roger accepted with great enthusiasm. That made me feel terrific. It was a tremendously exciting opportunity, because Roger has always been a hero of mine; but it was also a great honor to be part of this tribute to Vincent Price, whom I once had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing.

How did you approach the Corman interview? Had you interviewed him before?

A: Roger is someone who’s been interviewed a great deal, and has a certain number of set answers in mind, which I knew would be very entertaining. But there were many other questions I’d always wanted to ask him, if I ever had the opportunity. So I pretty much let myself be guided by my own curiosity. I’d never interviewed him before, but we had spoken on the telephone a couple of times – for the first time when he read the screenplay I’ve written about him, “The Man with Kaleidoscope Eyes”, to which he gave his full blessing.

Give me some impressions from that weekend. What moments or anecdotes stand out in your mind?

Roger Corman recalling Price for Tim Lucas and the full house of the Hi-Pointe. Photo: MC

Some of my favorite memories of the Vincentennial weekend are of standing outside the Hi-Pointe Theatre, under a fully lit marquee – something I haven’t been able to do here in Ohio since the 1970s; being driven by Tom Stockman past Vincent’s childhood home and seeing the exact route he walked to visit the local art museum; attending the “psychedelicized”  Tingler screening and seeing The Tomb of Ligeia  in 35mm for the first time; going to the memorabilia exhibit and seeing, among other things, Vincent’s letter of condolence to Boris Karloff’s widow, Evie; and, of course, the interview sessions.

Lucas speaking before his Corman interview. Photo: RC

I look at photos from that evening and see Roger and me alone in that spotlight beam and I feel incredibly fortunate and privileged. I also got to interview Roger privately on one morning, just about his movie THE TRIP (for a possible book project), and I had dinner on our last night with Roger, his wife Julie, Tom and Cliff. The conversation never stopped.

When I got back home, I wrote to Elizabeth Shepherd, who is a Facebook friend, and told her how warmly her videotaped message had been received, and how well LIGEIA continues to hold up. Parts of that film, especially the scene in the bell tower, I found incredibly moving in 35mm.

Did you see the exhibits or sample other parts of the Vincentennial? What did you think of the event?

I thought it was a splendid event. I only wish I could have attended the rest of it. I would have loved, for example, to see my friend David Del Valle interview Victoria Price and to see her presentation.

What did it mean to you personally?

It had the feel of a bookmark in my life and career, strangely enough. I met my wife because I went to a theater one night to see Theater of Blood, which starred Vincent Price.

Vincent Price was an early interview of mine, when I was only 19 years old, and when I told him this story he said, “I met my wife on Theater of Blood too!”

Some years later, when I was more established, I was invited to speak about him on an episode of A&E’s Biography which ultimately aired the week he died (he saw it in advance and sent me a lovely thank you note). When we were preparing a special issue of Video Watchdog in his honor, he sent at my request an inscription which we superimposed on a photo on our inside front cover, which said “For Video Watchdogs everywhere, Vincent Price” – which was very likely his final public gesture.

Today, and for the past 28 years, my wife and I have lived in an area of Cincinnati called Price Hill. So it was really very lovely and meaningful to me that it was under Vincent’s auspices, so to speak, that I would finally meet Roger Corman and have that unique time with him. It was Vincent’s birthday, but I felt like he gave me a gift, and it was one of the great times of my life, truly.

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DAVID HEDISON

Like Terry Moore, David Hedison’s performing career spans the latter half  of the 20th century and continued through the first decade of the 21st. Also like Ms. Moore, Hedison talked easily, enthusiastically and at length with me about Vincent Price, whom he remembered well.

MC: You both starred in The Fly–can you describe getting to know him?

 On The Fly, I didn’t get to know Vincent that well because we didn’t really work together.

David Hedison clowning around with a toy fly. Photo: MC

When I was on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, he came on as a guest star. So we became great friends. And he’d come to work every day, and we’d laugh and kid around. He said, “Oh David, I remember you as being so serious.” And I said, “Well, I guess I was serious making The Fly, I didn’t feel like laughing much. But now I’m having such a wonderful time laughing with you and clowning around.” So he invited me to his house for dinner, and they were wonderful cooks. It was he and his then-wife Mary. And they cooked up this marvelous meal. And he had invited Richard Basehart and his wife, and me and Anne Baxter, the actress, and we went then and had the most wonderful dinner. And he became a great friend. I would see him every now and then, walk by his house, and we’d go in and talk, or look in his garden. So he was always there. He was always somebody that you’d admire, look up to, respect, and be inspired by.

I really loved knowing him, and I miss him very much.

Did he discuss his interests in art?

I knew he was very interested in art. We would discuss various artists and people like that, and I told him I was interested in buying a few things. And he suggested– There was a picture at the Kennedy Gallery by Alfred Bierstadt, [of]  the Hudson River School of painters. He does all these wonderful mountain pictures and whatever. And there was this one incredible painting, huge painting, and it was for 1500 dollars. So, you know, I thought, “Yeah, I’ll buy it, I’ll buy it.” So I did. And then after about a year, I saw another picture that I liked better by Streeter Blair, very colorful shot, very primitive. So I sold the picture that Vincent had recommended. Alfred Bierstadt.The picture now is worth millions, believe it or not. And this was like, 1965 or something. The  picture I would say is worth quite a lot of money. Into the millions. All of Bierstadt’s stuff now is incredibly high. But there you are – I was stupid.

If you came to Vincent’s house to socialize, did you go in the kitchen? Did he show you what he was cooking?

Of course he did! Oh no, he’d show me all the instruments, and this one, and this spoon is for this, and this is for that, the garlic cutters and you know…he was very enthusiastic. I mean he really loved it, and so did his wife. And then when I got married, I called him and said “I’ve just gotten married,” and he said, “Oh, how wonderful, dear boy. We must meet her.” And then in the mail the next day was a copy of his cookbook. Marvelous cookbook, you know. If you look at it today — it’s a little high in cholesterol. But –  wonderful recipes. There was one particular recipe there, it’s called “Calve’s liver with avocado.” And it was absolutely marvelous. And I cooked it and made it. And it was fabulous. Really good. But you know, again, a little high in cholesterol. But it was really great. He was such a wonderful man.

You mentioned “clowning around” on the set. Do you remember him playing jokes or cracking wise?

No, not really. It’s just that he just took things very lightly any time anything was very serious.

Could you tell how Vincent approached his parts? Did he improvise, was he a stickler for having every line exactly right, or in-between?

No, he was professional. He’d done a lot of stage work. So he, when he learned his lines, he knew them — cold. He knew them backwards and forwards. And so therefore, he was very good that way. Not like a lot of actors who change their words or whatnot and make it sloppy or whatever. So he was really, really a pro.

Any last thing you recall or want to say about working with Vincent Price?

I wish I’d known him more and seen him more. But I have great memories of Vincent, and they’ll always be there.

The Hi-Pointe Theater, where many Vincent Price movies and memories were shared. Author Tim Lucas seen at right. Photo: MC and George Chastain.

More photos and comments on the Vincentennial can be found here, and video footage from Victoria Price’s presentation can be seen at this link.

Due out on October 31, 2011, William Castle Productions proudly presents House on Haunted Hill: A William Castle Annotated Screamplay. The book features legendary horror filmmaker William Castle’s authentic working script from his 1959 classic thriller with original formatting and Castle’s own hand-written notes.  This collector’s item even comes with a new twist on Castle’s famous theater gimmick, Emerg-O. The 248-page book includes a foreword by acclaimed director Joe Dante (Gremlins, The Howling, Matinee), hailing the book as “an important artifact.” It also includes an introduction by William’s daughter, Terry Castle, who shares her personal thoughts on this seminal piece of film history. A critical perspective of the film by writer and illustrator Charlie Largent is also included as well as a special welcome from William Castle himself. The Screamplay will be available in print for $24.99 via Amazon and select retailers through the recently resurrected William Castle Productions (ISBN-13: 978-0578092928)

House on Haunted Hill – the movie –
House on Haunted Hill remains a classic chiller to this day. Produced and directed by William Castle and written by Robb White, the shocker is beloved not only for Castle’s suspense-filled direction but what came to be known as “The Gimmick,” carnival sideshow trickery that both scared and delighted the audience. The original film stars the inimitable Vincent Price and features the classic gimmick Emerg-O – an inflatable glow in the dark skeleton attached to a wire that floated over the heads of the uproarious audience during the final moments of some showings of the film to parallel the action on the screen…

House on Haunted Hill: A William Castle Annotated Screamplay –
The Screamplay features the House on Haunted Hill script’s original formatting, maintaining the integrity of the authentic screenplay replete with Castle’s own hand-written notes. In addition, the book cover imitates the leather-bound binders that Castle used for every movie. William Castle Productions, in keeping with the spirit of “The Gimmick,” presents this book with Emerg-O – simply flip through the pages and scare yourself silly!

The annotated script “pulls back the curtain on the film,” writes Charlie Largent on the artifact, “Castle’s copious notes shine a light on both his own working methods as the director and Robb White’s as the screenwriter … It’s the closest thing we’ll ever have to an alternate director’s cut of this seminal spookfest.”

Castle is perhaps best known, however, for the marketing strategies he developed to get his fans into theaters. In addition to the tingled butts of movie-goers at The Tingler screenings and insuring moviegoers against death by fright for Macabre, he also created “Illusion-O” a ghost viewer/ghost remover for 13 Ghosts, a “Punishment Poll” for Mr. Sardonicus, and Homicidal audiences were introduced to “Fright Breaks” and the “Coward’s Corner.”  He also introduced audiences to new film making and viewing techniques such as “Percept-O” and “Emerg-O.”

Holy cow do I wish I lived in an era where my butt got tingled while I sat and watched a horror movie.

If you’re in the LA area on October 22nd, drop by the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, where Terry Castle (William’s daughter) will be on hand to sign copies and introduce a screening of HOH as part of America Cinematheque’s Vincent Price Centennial Weekend.

The festival started Friday with showing of the short and feature length films from amateur and student film makers entries. Also showing was a collection of Stephen King Dollar Baby’s, followed by a panel of film makers including Mick Garris and Mark L. Lester. The evening wrapped up with a showing of the original House on Haunted Hill and a showing of our very own Phil Kim’s post collapse Downstream.

Saturday fans got to meet with Victoria Price and Roger Corman as part of the Masque of Red Death panel. In the evening we all were treated with an amazing print of Dracula followed by a Q&A with Bela Legosi Jr. and Carla Leammle. The night ended with a very rowdy shadowcast production of Repo: The Genetic Opera. Bill Mosely was kind enough to drop by for the fans and with a surprising visit from Abe Sapien himself, Doug Jones.

Sunday Victoria Price returned to honor us with a spectacular and touching remembrance of her father Vincent Price. Rare photos and video clips, along with Victoria’s own memories of her father made with an amazingly special event. As Sunday drew to a close, a special awards ceremony was held for the indy filmmakers whose hard work held make the festival a success.  Below is the list of winners:

Best Animation – DemiUrge Emesis

Best Sci Fi – Solatrium

Best Scare  – Enter The Dark

Best Effects – An Evening With My Comatose Mother

Best Direction – Deriva

Best Cinematography (Short) – The Sleuth Incident

Best Cinematography (Feature) – Wanderlost

Forry Award – A Tragic Tale of Flies and Men

Best Short – An Evening With My Comatose Mother

Best Feature – The Feed

The festival ended with selected showing of H.P. Lovecraft inspired short films. Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time.

We at Famous Monsters would like to thank the filmmakers and the fans that came out to support out little endeavor. At the end of the day, it is your love and passion that makes the job worth while. We hope to see you all at further events. And for all of you coming to San Diego for ComicCon, be cure to stop by the booth and say “Hi”.

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Spread the joy of this Terror-ific Trivia far and wide, monster kids! If you want to know how the Ghouly One’s distant, distant relative Movie Irv reviewed the low-budget sensation Monsters, you need only visit his home on MovieFanFare.  And, look here on FM for Dave’s written evaluation of the British shocker.

And don’t forget to drop by the Famous Monsters of Filmland Forum and say hello! There are crypt-fuls of worthy conversations to be had in its dark recesses…

And lastly, scroll down the list of previous MovieFrightFare installments below to make sure you’re caught up:

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There are those who think humanity is worth preserving, and those who believe we ought to self-destruct our way back into a feral wasteland. That’s the discussion that takes place in Irwin Allen’s first live-action feature film, The Story of Mankind.

And that discussion is a hoot and a half!

Readers of Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States and devotees of Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen’s A Patriot’s History of the United States can at last rally around something, and that something is this always daffy, sometimes dull, and surprisingly still provocative 1957 film based on the children’s history book by Hendrik Willem van Loon.

Cult film fanatics who’ve yet to see this one can’t call their education complete until they do. Imagine Ed Wood mounting a historic costume production based on Conversations with Elie Wiesel and you start to get the unique flavor of this one-of-a-kind celestial courtroom drama.

OK, maybe the Ed Wood comparison is not really fair – it’s Irwin Allen, after all, the man who would eventually give us enduring disaster classics like The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno – and, it’s a little too easy to say that some members of the all-star cast embarrass themselves in career-low appearances, and that the philosophical content plays a little too much like “Cosmos of the Network Stars.”

Cheesy? Oh, yeah. Sadly laughable? In parts.

Still got something to say?

Amazingly, yes!

The film opens with a blustery musical overture, with each cast member receiving his (or her) own trumpet fanfare: RONALD COLMAN! VINCENT PRICE! HEDY LAMARR! GROUCHO MARX! CHICO MARX! HARPO MARX! JOHN CARRADINE! CHARLES COBURN! VIRGINIA MAYO! CESAR ROMERO! PETER LORRE! DENNIS HOPPER! AGNES MOOREHEAD! HENRY DANIELL! CEDRIC HARDWICKE!

If that assemblage of star power doesn’t sell you already, read on. Here’s the setup:

Fade up on a vast starscape and a conversation taking place between two angels (depicted as twinkling stars). The angels are hemming and hawing over mankind’s “discovery of the Super H-Bomb” (which sounds a lot like the Solaranite device of Wood’s legendarily bad-great Plan 9 from Outer Space). It isn’t so much that man has discovered the bomb, it’s that he’s perfected the lethal doomsday device “60 years before he was scheduled to do so.”

“Why, they’re not ready or wise enough to handle it yet. If exploded now, the bomb would blow man and his Earth sky high!”

This dialogue is pure joy. And there’s so much more to come.

Disturbed by mankind’s moral transgression, otherworldly judges immediately convene a trial…in outer space. Chosen to represent the world’s people is the Spirit of Man (Colman), “a wanderer through time who was a combination of all men, of the pious and the fallen; the bold and the meek; the dreamers and the builders; the chaste and the guilty; the great and the small men of all times.”

Prosecuting the case—that is, making the argument that mankind deserves to perish for its numerous sins—is none other than the great Satan himself, personified by the suave, smoothly rude Mr. Scratch (Price). If, by the end of the trial, mankind is found worthy of preservation, divine intervention will prevent the bomb’s explosion. If not, we are told, the imminent detonation of the bomb will be permitted to destroy the world.

The ground rules for the trial are set – with both Colman and Price allowed to “visit” Earth at any time or place to present evidence to the interstellar court. And thus the sweeping rush through time begins!

After a brief stop in the caveman era where the quest for fire is quickly re-enacted, Scratch calls Egyptian pharaoh Khufu (Carradine) as his first witness—since the ruler apparently made a deal with Scratch to facilitate the construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza. We’re whisked into the world of ancient Egypt—which is to say that we’re treated to a clumsy blend of grainy stock footage mixed with inserts that include somnambulist extras walking in and out of frame as the stars stare offscreen.

At this point in the proceedings, friends, we’re about a half hour into the movie. And we’re only at the time of the pyramids. Here’s where viewers might start thinking, “My God. This is going to be a long, painful slog.”

But then, we get Peter Lorre as Nero, in maybe the most wrongfully enjoyable screaming fit ever filmed, left unequaled until Gene Kelly took to the screen in Viva Knievel! We get Christopher Columbus (Anthony Dexter) counseled by Chico Marx. We get Harpo Marx as (the harp-playing) Sir Isaac Newton. And, we finally get to Groucho, who portrays Peter Minuit, the man who reportedly swindled Native Americans out of Manhattan for what amounted to $24.

It’s hard not to notice Groucho looking deeply uncomfortable onscreen even as he gamely makes his way through some Marx-style banter that’s a pale shadow of the anarchic wit he and his brothers perfected in their best comedies:

“So you think you’re being robbed, eh? Be glad it’s not 300 years later. You might have been wiped out in the stock market.”

Yes, it’s a train wreck kind of pleasure you get when Lamarr’s Joan of Arc goes up against Daniell’s Bishop Cauchon in a perversely odd sequence that plays like an unholy collision between Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc and Victor Fleming’s tussle with La Pucelle starring Ingrid Bergman.

I haven’t even scratched the surface involving the scenes depicting Moses (Francis X. Bushman), Queen Elizabeth and Shakespeare (Moorehead and Reginald Gardner), Abraham Lincoln (Austin Green) and Adolf Hitler (Bobby Watson). The highlight of the whole enterprise, however, is decidedly the sequence involving Napoleon (the very, very young Dennis Hopper). When Josephine casually remarks to him that modesty isn’t one of his virtues, you can really see that Frank Booth look come into his eyes, decades before David Lynch cast him as everyone’s favorite gas-huffing madman.

The trial finds Colman and Price continually countering one another, examples of mankind’s transgressions met with stories about humanity’s continuing moral progress. The burning of Joan was an outrage? Sure, but there was the Renaissance! It doesn’t make a whole lot of narrative sense to have Mr. Scratch’s panties in a bunch over Joan’s martyrdom–after all, if the event really represented one of man’s most egregious moral failures, you’d think he’d be thrilled and not indignant, as he is.

“Love and Hate are really the same.” Logic weeps.

The Story of Mankind offers a truly kaleidoscopic experience of mad wonderments. The film is a colossal aggravation and hypnotic in its appeal. The picture’s most bizarre charm, however, rests in how the film manages to burrow its way into your head and, yes, for a few moments here and there, actually forces you to think about the onerous issues concerning our lives and behavior here on the Big Blue Marble.

The film audaciously promises a sequel after a climax that actually took me by surprise. The producer of When Time Ran Out is long gone, but I say it’s up to someone to bravely take up this mantle and assemble a cast to rival this one. There’s a lot of historical pageantry to add to this film’s material, since Mankind has a lot to crow about—and answer for—since the dropping of the atomic bomb.

Spirit of Man? Morgan Freeman. Mr. Scratch? Penn Jillette, with Teller alongside him (just as Price comes with a sidekick).

The High Judge? Why not Betty White? She’s up for everything now, isn’t she?

And since Mel Gibson’s The Birth of a Nation remake has probably been stuffed promptly into turnaround (just kidding, kids—as in, he’s not planning one), maybe this would be the perfect new epic project for him.

Don’t miss this movie. Cult fans of a younger generation won’t recognize some of the once-world-famous faces (as I certainly did not), but there’s so much to devour here. You can see it, and be dazzled, or not.

“THIS CHOICE IS ENTIRELY UP TO YOU.”

George D. Allen produces the MovieFrightFare videos hosted here on FM (which will return soon–we promise!), and also writes articles for and produces videos for the Movies Unlimited blog MovieFanFare.

Discuss this post and others by visiting the Famous Monsters of Filmland Forum!

When I was about 13-years old my mother brought home a number of science fiction digests from a local drug store. These were not quite in my line but I still perused them with interest, particularly the ads. Before Ebay, Amazon and Ioffer, this was the only way to locate unusual items otherwise unavailable in one’s area. I remember pouring over the full-page spreads hawking Hildebrandt-style fantasy art and bejeweled daggers – somehow those stark, simple images transported me to another world much more vividly than the purple prose that surrounded them.

I sent away for a number of the catalogs offered by various companies in the classified section. One was for something called Bud Plant. I almost forgot about it until one day something the size of a telephone book came in the mail for me. Bud Plant was a comics/collectibles dealer and their catalog was truly a Bible on the subject. I lost myself in page after page of illustration and description in black and white newsprint. Superhero comics, underground comics, reprints of those EC comics I’d heard about on The Horror Hall of Fame, Disney, Dark Horse and Dr. Octopus. Everything was there. I was, and am, not a comic book fan per se but the thrill of discovering this material for the first time was nevertheless exhilarating.

One listing was especially enticing. It was for Famous Monsters of Filmland # 201; the cover, as best I could make out given the blotchy printing, depicted the then-just-deceased Vincent Price in Masque of the Red Death. So somebody decided to re-launch this thing, eh? The description noted the issue’s contents and the fact that Forry Ackerman was at the helm. I decided to order immediately; at last I’d have a look at what I’d heard the likes of John Landis, Joe Dante and Rick Baker tout so enthusiastically.

Famous Monsters # 201, which I still retain after 16 years. It has since been signed by Forry and Jim Warren.

I’m fairly certain there was such a thing as First Class, if not Priority, mail in 1993 but neither I nor my mother were apparently adept enough to choose that option. It was, as I recall, two agonizing months until I finally received the package containing FM # 201, a copy of Stephen Jones’ excellent The Illustrated Vampire Movie Guide (a book I‘d get much use out of for years to come), and an issue of Cult Movies that no 13-year old should’ve been reading.

It was an extremely fortuitous issue of FM to begin with. There was much coverage of Forry and his interests that further filled in the gaps in my knowledge of him. Also included was an extensive look at an FM convention held in Virginia to celebrate the re-launch of the mag. Many genre celebrities that I recognized took part and, from the photos, the dealer tables were stacked high with monster-related bric-a-brac. It would’ve been nirvana for me, if only I’d known such a thing was taking place – but then, it wouldn’t have made much difference anyway. I was in Kentucky to stay and my mother always made it plain that we were in no economic condition to go on trips.

I received the Bud Plant catalogs regularly thereafter. The next FM I got through them was 202, with a painting of Boris Karloff’s Frankenstein Monster on the cover. This was done by an artist named Osman Askin. Little did I know then that one day I’d be working in the name of the Forrest J Ackerman estate, cataloging examples of this artist’s work for one of the world’s major auction houses.

I so vividly recall the first time I became aware of his existence. I was ten-years-old at the time, living a generally unhappy existence in Newport, Kentucky. My parents had divorced two years earlier; and the trials and travails of those proceedings lumbered along their miserable course. I lived with my mother in a two-story brick house, the top floor of which contained my bedroom. Not having the means to amass a collection of the sort I’d later find in the Acker-mini-mansion, my proudest possession, an autograph of Vincent Price purchased for $50 via mail order, stood out lonely and distinguished on the otherwise bare walls. This was the setting into which, one late October night in 1990, The Horror Hall of Fame came beaming.

THHF appears to have been, more or less, an attempt by Universal to create a horror aficionado’s version of the Oscars. Fright flicks of the past and present, along with their creators, were presented not with a golden Deco Adonis, but rather a grimmer than grim reaper, hood down, atop a slab of marble for achievements in various fields of genre-related endeavor. The show was hosted by Robert Englund and featured a particularly moving appearance by Vincent Price; the sickly actor was still a sport, accepting his award from Roddy McDowall via satellite.

What most captured my imagination, however, was a profile on one of the other inductees into the Horror Hall of Fame, a man I’d never heard of before, someone called Forrest J Ackerman who lived in a grand mansion in Hollywood that was filled from top to bottom with sci-fi (a word he’d invented!) and horror memorabilia. My eyes grew wide with fascination as the camera prowled down the mind-bogglingly overstuffed hallways of his Ackermansion. I wanted to drink in every angle, every detail no matter how fleeting. I found him ten times more fascinating than any of the feature films discussed on the program that night. Here was a man who lived, breathed, ate, and slept the things that I loved and made a living doing it in faraway, fairytale Hollywood, CA. It was absurd to even think that I’d ever make my way to sunny SoCal, let alone cross paths with this curious character.

And yet, somehow I just knew…some faint but firm voice was whispering into my ear, “Here lies your destiny.” And so it was.

A couple of cool action-figure announcements for those of us crazy enough to spend our hard earned dollars on molded plastic figures during these harsh economic times. Okay, that held a hint of sarcasm, honestly I would buy toys even if a meteor was heading towards Earth and we only had six months until total destruction.

The gods over at Hot Toys have recently announced the ultimate X-Men movie line, featuring characters spanning all four films, including the upcoming X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Even though I wasn’t a fan of the X-Men trilogy, I do have a glimpse of hope for Wolverine and I am curious to see what Hot Toys will do with such a vast array of cool characters. According to Cool Toy Review the line is expected to launch with a figure from each film.  Expect to see images of Rogue, Nightcrawler, Colossus and Deadpool, with the main X-Men coming later. I know Medicom has produced a decent line of 12-Inch Marvel figures over the past few years based on their comic-book incarnations-I even own the Wolverine-but I can’t help but hope that Hot Toys will take a crack at the Marvel comic world if the X-Men movie line is a success.

In other toy news, head over to Sideshow to pre-order a few awesome figures from Amok Time:

Vincent Price as Masque of the Red Death.

IT! The Terror from Beyond Space.

Boris Karloff as Frankenstein’s Monster.

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again; it’s a great time to be a toy collector!