13 Nights of Shocktober: The Haunted Palace

by A.J.

Night 9: Roger Corman Memorial Night/Vincent Price Night

“This isn’t a house. It’s a madman’s palace.”

The Haunted Palace

It’s not Shocktober without Vincent Price and here Price and legendary producer-director Roger Corman, who passed away earlier this year at the age of 98, take on the unfilmable eldritch horrors of H.P Lovecraft in The Haunted Palace. If you’re thinking that The Haunted Palace is an Edgar Allen Poe poem and not a Lovecraft story, you are correct. By 1963 Corman and Price had made several Poe adaptations, with varying degrees of success, including House of Usher, The Pit and the Pendulum, three Poe stories in the anthology Tales of Terror, The Raven and Corman wanted to tackle new material. Corman’s investors were hesitant for him to stop making Poe adaptations, so the compromise was that he would adapt another American horror author, H.P. Lovecraft, but the title would be taken from an Edgar Allen Poe poem, which Price recites excerpts of to justify the title. So, the title was taken from Poe’s The Haunted Palace and the plot was taken from H.P. Lovecraft’s The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. The result is a Roger Corman/Vincent Price movie that checks all the right boxes, yet in some ways is darker than their previous collaborations.

The story opens in colonial New England with villagers capturing and burning Joseph Curwen, a warlock attempting to summon dark, evil forces. Before Curwen is burned, he puts a curse on the village of Arkham (a frequent setting for Lovecraft). 110 years later, presumably some non-specific decade of the 19th century, Charles Dexter Ward, a descendant of Curwen, and his wife Ann arrive in Arkham after Charles inherits the old Curwen castle. They do not receive a warm welcome from the villagers and are told either to avoid the castle or leave Arkham altogether. Of course, the castle comes with a creepy caretaker (Lon Chaney, Jr), as spooky castles often do. Charles becomes possessed by the spirit of his evil ancestor and once in control of Charles’s body, Curwen returns to his work of using the Necronomicon to summon the dark Elder Gods.

Unlike in The Pit and the Pendulum there is no young hero to duel with Price. Instead, Price gets to duel with himself as Charles and Curwen fight for control of his body. Price goes from sinister to sympathetic easily and believably. When he’s Curwen his skin takes on a greenish-yellow hue that no one seems to notice, but even without the makeup it would be easy to tell when he is Charles and when he is Curwen. It is great to see Price play both the villain and the hero in the same role. Curwen is a dark and evil character with a horrendous plan—Price’s darkest role would  come a few years later as the real-life “witch hunter” Matthew Hopkins in Witchfinder General.

The setting may be Arkham and the source material may be Lovecraft but The Haunted Palace has all the hallmarks of a Corman-Poe adaptation: period setting, vibrant period costumes, low cut gowns for the women, foggy exteriors, lightening, characters with torches, and a spacious gothic location with secret chambers and passageways. The main difference with this movie is that it is more sinister than you might expect. The curse Curwen puts on the village manifests itself as deformities (like being born with no eyes) in the village children. Also, Curwen’s plan to summon the Elder Gods involves mating humans with the monstrous, otherworldly beings.

My friend and podcast co-host Bryan Connolly and I had an in-depth review and discussion of The Haunted Palace as part of our series on Francis Ford Coppola (episode 20, Coppola Cast #2), who at the time in 1963 was Roger Corman’s “ace assistant." Like all the better Corman-Price movies, this is a spooky but not scary movie that still has great entertainment value. Nearly everything looks fake and artificial but that is part of the charm and atmosphere of the movie. Corman is presenting a tale of the fantastic so any noticeable artifice, even stiff acting or over acting, only enhances its storybook/campfire tone. 

The Haunted Palace is streaming for free on Tubi.

13 Nights of Shocktober: House on Haunted Hill (1959)

by A.J.

Night 13: Happy Happy Halloween

“I’ve rented the house on Haunted Hill tonight so my wife can give a party. A haunted house party… You’re all invited.”

House on Haunted Hill (1959)

Fright Favorites written by David J. Skal and published by TCM describes House on Haunted Hill (1959) as “one of the most preposterous movies ever made—and one of the most enjoyable.” “Preposterous” and “enjoyable” are the key words to House on Haunted Hill, one of the classic “so bad it’s good” movies. It is also genuinely entertaining and even has a good scare or two. It was produced and directed by William Castle, who was as much a showman as a filmmaker. He would incorporate carnivalesque gimmicks into the theatrical experience and since his movies were typically low budget and cheesy, this only made them more fun. His most famous gimmick was rigging certain theater seats with a buzzer and hiring actors to jump in their seats during a scene when the monster escapes in The Tingler. For House on Haunted Hill the gimmick was presenting the film in “Emergo'' which meant that for a certain scene a model skeleton, seeming to emerge from the screen, would fly over the audience. The effect didn’t always work. Castle was well aware of his audience, mostly younger people and children, and knew how to give them a good time. House on Haunted Hill is still a good time 

The plot is a take on the ‘old dark house’ story, a type of whodunnit where people gathered in a creepy house had to solve a mystery or murder. The possibility of the supernatural loomed but the solution was rational. Horror legend Vincent Price stars as Fredrick Loren, the host of the party; he also feels like a master of ceremonies. He has invited 5 strangers to a supposedly haunted house he rented to have a party for his wife and is offering $10,000 to the guests if they make it through the night, or he’ll give it to their nearest relative if they don’t survive. So, the bottom line is he’s giving away money no matter what. He may also be using the party as an elaborate way to kill his wife, Annabelle (Carol Ohmart). They cannot stand each other and she only speaks to him with contempt. In one scene he looms over her, pulls her by her hair, asks, “Would you adore me as much if I were poor?” and gives a sinister chuckle. The haunted house party was her idea but he is the host and their continued bickering over whose party it is makes for an unusual, likely unintentional, running gag. 

The protagonists should be Nora, a secretary, and Lance, a test pilot, but she does little more than wander into one spooky situation after the other and scream at everything and Lance proves to be an uncharismatic dolt. Elisha Cook Jr plays the Elisha Cook Jr role, meaning he is the weak pushed around nerd and/or geek. He is the owner of the house and also the most afraid of it. He plays his character well but has little more to do than show up and rattle on about ghosts. Price and his charisma really hold the movie together. You know he is up to no good but want to see where he is going. 

Just how ridiculous is this movie? It opens with a montage of screams over a black screen followed by not one, but two floating heads that appear and explain the premise of the movie. The house has a pre-existing pool of acid in the basement, you might call it Chekhov’s pool of acid. One jump scare that legitimately works, even after repeat viewings, has Nora being surprised by the creepy witch-like face of one of the caretakers. This is immediately followed by one of the most hilarious moments on film as the caretaker-witch simply glides away as though she is a mannequin being pulled on a skateboard. The most preposterous moment of the movie has all of the characters agreeing to a good idea: they will stay in their rooms for the rest of the night. Then they all leave their rooms and start wandering again and no one ever brings up that they were supposed to stay in their rooms. In a great reveal, Price emerges from the shadows wearing an elaborate marionette pulley system and he sells it completely. 

This movie is not scary but it is so much spooky good fun. I think William Castle would be satisfied to hear that his House on Haunted Hill is still entertaining people in the 21st century, even without an inflatable skeleton flying over them. He also wouldn’t be surprised. House on Haunted Hill is in the public domain so you can easily find it streaming and on DVD in both colorized and original black and white (naturally I recommend the black and white). For some extra fun, you can watch the RiffTrax Live version, currently streaming on Tubi, featuring the former stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000, Mike Nelson, Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy, providing a hilarious commentary to the movie as well as some shorts.

13 Nights of Shocktober: Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972)

 by A.J.

Night 5: Vincent Price Night

“The incredible legends of the abominable Dr. Phibes began a few short years ago, all of them unfortunately true!”

Dr. Phibes Rises Again

The Abominable Dr. Phibes is one of the best Vincent Price movies, if not the best. It is a totally fantastic, wildly entertaining movie that I’ve written about before and could write about even more. It has to be seen to be believed. Topping a movie like The Abominable Dr. Phibes is pretty much impossible, but the sequel, Dr. Phibes Rises Again, comes very close. 

If you haven’t seen the first film, not to worry, as the sequel opens with a narration and recap. Dr. Phibes (Price) was an Egyptologist who was horribly disfigured in a car accident and presumed dead. He actually survived but wears an incredibly realistic mask of his former face and can speak only through a special device connecting his neck to a speaker. Due to medical neglect his beloved wife, Victoria, died, but Phibes has her preserved in a suspended state. The Abominable Dr. Phibes had Phibes taking elaborate revenge on the team of doctors who failed to save his wife. Dr. Phibes Rises Again has him seeking the hidden River of Life in Egypt that will revive his wife and give them both eternal life. 

Dr. Phibes’s rival in the search for the River of Life is an archeologist named Darrus Biederbeck (Robert Quarry) who steals an ancient papyrus scroll from Phibes. So, Dr. Phibes unleashes his elaborate wrath on Beiderback and everyone standing in his own path to the River of Life. Biederbeck is arrogant and suspicious, and while he eventually earns some sympathy he never quite comes off as a hero or protagonist. Phibes, of course, is a murderous mastermind whose preferred execution method is elaborate and ridiculous devices, but in this film he comes across as more of an anti-hero; in the first film he was a charismatic and sympathetic villain. The closing credits group Phibes and Biederbeck together under the heading “protagonists” but Phibes is the character you are rooting for, or at least find more entertaining.

Many of the distinct stylistic elements that made the original film so memorable are also in the sequel. The elaborate art-deco design of Phibes’s lair is replicated in his Egyptian lair. His band of automaton musicians, The Clockwork Wizards, are now The Alexandria Quartet. Phibes’s beautiful but silent assistant, Vulnavia (this time played by Valli Kemp), is once again ready to help. And of course, Phibes still kills with ridiculous methods. One of the simpler kills involves distracting a man with a mechanical snake while a real snake attacks. Other deaths include but are not limited to: a raptor pecking someone's face to death and Phibes and Vulnavia faking a sandstorm to cover up the sounds of a man being crushed in a box. Robert Fuest returns as director for the sequel and once again his background in production design provides an exquisite, fun, and distinctive look.

Dr. Phibes was one of Vincent Price’s favorite roles and it is easy to understand why. Phibes is technically a villain but is sympathetic; he is vengeful but not hateful. He is devoted to Victoria and thanks to Price’s performance, Phibes’s love comes across as genuine and true instead of obsessive. Phibes is also a silent character, sort of. Since he must be connected to a machine to speak, his lips do not move while he talks, meaning that Price acts along to a recording of his voice. If acting is reacting, then Price gets to do both with the same character in the same scene in the same performance. The phonograph crackle of the speaking machine adds a nice eerie layer to the dialogue and monologues delivered wonderfully by Price. Dr Phibes is indeed one of Price’s best performances. 

The Phibes movies are not scary but they are excellent horror entertainment. They are campy, pseudo-slasher movies. If you ever wondered what the SAW movies would be like if all of the gruesome gore and cynical dread was replaced with fun, you should watch The Abominable Dr. Phibes and/or Dr. Phibes Rises Again. Like the original, the Dr. Phibes Rises Again revels in the ridiculous, the baroque, the weird. In one scene, Phibes puts someone in a catch-22 torture device. In another Vulnavia is wearing a sousaphone for no reason. The first time I  saw The Abominable Dr. Phibes was on Halloween night in 2015. I watched Dr. Phibes Rises Again on also on Halloween night. Watching either film is a perfect way to celebrate the Halloween season.  

For a long time both movies were very hard to find but thankfully they were recently released as a double feature Blu-ray. Both films will air on TCM as part of a late night Vincent Price marathon beginning on Tuesday, October 24th at 11PM CT with The Abominable Dr. Phibes followed by Dr. Phibes Rises Again at 12:45AM CT Thursday, October 25th. Dr. Phibes Rises Again is also currently streaming on Tubi and Freevee.

13 Nights of Shocktober: Tales of Terror

by A.J. 

This is my favorite time of year, second only to Christmas. Autumn has arrived, the weather is cooling down, and October becomes the month-long celebration of scary movies called Shocktober. So, for the days leading up Halloween I’ll be posting some horror movie recommendations to help you celebrate Shocktober.

Night 11: Vincent Price & Roger Corman Night

“And it is with death and dying that we concern ourselves. What happens at the point of death? What happens afterwards? What happens after death to someone who does not choose to stay dead…”

Tales of Terror

Here are two of my favorite Shocktober subgenres in one movie: a Vincent Price-Roger Corman movie and a horror anthology. It gets even better. Tales of Terror is made up of three short films, each starring the great Vincent Price and each based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe. I’m not sure it gets more Shocktober than this. Legendary B-movie producer-director Roger Corman made so many films of such wildly differing quality that you never know if you’re going to watch a quality entertaining picture or fodder for Mystery Science Theater 3000 or Rifftrax. Corman hit his stride in the early 1960’s with a cycle of Edgar Allan Poe adaptations starring Vincent Price. The best of these is The Masque of the Red Death (1964), probably the worst is The Raven (1963). Tales of Terror (1962) leans more toward The Masque of the Red Death on the Corman-Price spectrum. 

Each of the three stories is prefaced with a narration by Price and red silhouettes on a black screen hinting at the story to come. The first story, based on Morella, has a young woman, Lenora (Maggie Pierce), arriving at the dilapidated mansion of her long-estranged father, Locke (Price). Her mother, Locke’s beloved Morella, died in childbirth and he blamed and resented his daughter so much for “killing” Morella that he sent her away. He begins to open up to her but mysterious apparitions and Lenora’s own sickness intervene. It is a weird, creepy story that maintains a tone very much in keeping with Poe’s more melancholy, macabre stories. 

The second story is the standout of the anthology. In an impressive feat, it successfully combines Poe’s The Black Cat, The Cask of Amontillado, and even touches upon the Tell-Tale Heart. Of course, an adaptation of any Poe short story necessitates expanding the characters and plot. In a brilliant stroke, screenwriter Richard Matheson (writer of several The Twilight Zone episodes and author of I Am Legend) combines two stories with the same plot device (hiding a body behind a wall) and allows the expansion to come from Poe’s stories. The Black Cat is about a man who murders his wife and then must dispose of her body. In this short film, he murders her is because she was having an affair with his rival. The choice to make the man Montresor (Peter Lorre) and his rival Fortunato (Vincent Price) is such a smart one that it seems obvious. This is the comedic entry in the anthology and it blends comedy and the macabre well. The comedy doesn’t really kick in until Price makes his entrance and starts hamming it up as the vain and ridiculous Fortunato, a famous professional wine taster. Peter Lorre is great as Montresor, a down on his luck wine taster. They have a wine tasting duel which is pretty silly and very entertaining. Montresor is a mean drunk always in search of money but Lorre plays him as a buffoon. This doesn’t make him sympathetic but makes him a tolerable character, especially since you know he is headed for a comeuppance. 

The final installment is an adaptation of The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar, not exactly a horror story but a macabre one. It involves a dying man, Valdemar (Price), hypnotized at the moment of death to allow for a more peaceful crossing into the afterlife. However, the hypnotist, Carmichael (Basil Rathbone), is a cruel and sinister man with designs on Valdemar’s soon to be widow, Helene (Debra Paget). Rathbone is most famous for playing Sherlock Holmes in a series of films in the 1940’s, but he is also great at playing a dastardly villain. This short departs the most drastically from Poe’s original work, involving a zombie of sorts, but the additions work and it provides a nice conclusion. 

Each of these tales plays like a daytime friendly Tales From the Crypt episode. They involve unsavory or cruel characters but the short length makes them easy watch. As with Corman’s other Poe adaptations, the period costumes and sets go a long way to creating atmosphere. Each of the characters Vincent Price plays are very different from each other, allowing him to show off his range and skill as an actor. In Morella he is a cruel, cold person haunted by heartbreak. In The Black Cat he is an immoral but ridiculous character. In the last story he is a kind, innocent old man, who, in a macabre way, ends up being a hero. Price is easily convincing in all three roles. One of the great things about Tales of Terror is it also has great roles for Peter Lorre and Basil Rathbone to show off and have fun. The special effects are dated but that is part of the atmosphere and appeal. These Vincent Price-Roger Corman movies are not scary, but they are spooky great fun to watch on any Shocktober night.

Tales of Terror is streaming on Amazon Prime Video and Paramount Plus.

13 Nights of Shocktober: The Pit and the Pendulum (1961)

by A.J.

This is my favorite time of year, second only to Christmas. Autumn has arrived, the weather is cooling down, and October becomes the month-long celebration of scary movies called Shocktober. So, in the days leading up Halloween I’ll be posting some horror movie recommendations to help you celebrate Shocktober.

Night 12: Vincent Price Night

“The razor edge of destiny.” The Pit and the Pendulum (1961)

I may seem like I’m repeating myself but I cannot emphasize enough how with a Roger Corman movie, more so than with any other filmmaker, you never know what you’re going to get: B-movie dreck, campy fun, or something genuinely good, even great. The Pit and the Pendulum is definitely in the top tier of Roger Corman/Vincent Price movies. Like all of Roger Corman’s Edgar Allen Poe adaptations, you’ll find period costumes and sets, a spooky castle, occasionally stiff acting, low budget charm, and a great performance from Vincent Price. 

Unsurprisingly, the screenplay by Richard Matheson adds quite a bit to Poe’s very short story, which is mainly an elaborate description of the titular torture devices and light on plot. Set in Spain during the 1500’s, Francis Barnard (John Kerr) arrives at the castle of Don Nicolas Medina (Price) to investigate the sudden death of his sister Elizabeth (Barbara Steele), the Don’s beloved wife. Don Medina is still in mourning and heartbroken over Elizabeth’s death, but the lack of details about her death raises Barnard’s suspicions. As Don Medina, his sister Catherine (Luana Anders), and the doctor who treated Elizabeth each fill in the details, the cause of Elizabeth’s death only becomes more mysterious. We also learn that Don Medina’s father was involved with the Spanish Inquisition and the dungeon of the castle still has the torture devices. In a blue tinted flashback, the young Nicolas witnesses his father torture and kill his mother and uncle for their adultery. 

If your plan involves driving Vincent Price insane, it’s not going to work out for anyone. Usually, though not always, Price played the villain or ended up becoming the villain through spirit possession or madness. Don Medina begins as a seemingly sympathetic character, but there is also an air of suspicion around him. As the plot unfolds it becomes clear that Don Medina was not involved in Elizabeth’s death but his paranoia and misplaced guilt threaten to drive him to a nervous breakdown. This gives Price some great scenes to show off. He gets to play a heartbroken widower, a doting husband in flashbacks, a man losing his sanity, and, finally, an all-out mad villain. 

The opening titles play over a swirl of psychedelic colors and ominous music. The costumes and sets create the atmosphere but the performances and story provide the tension and excitement. The titular pendulum, the swinging blade slowly lowering itself closer and closer to a bound victim, is genuinely intimidating. The clank of the gears that lower the blade and the whoosh as it swings through the air make the whole scene very tense. 

The Roger Corman/Vincent Price films are great to watch anytime, but they are especially fun to watch around Halloween. The additions to the original story are in keeping with Poe’s themes like a lost love, fear of premature burial, and madness. So, the connection back to Poe feels merited (unlike like Roger Corman’s The Raven). This may not be exactly scary, but it is a great old fashioned gothic horror story, thoroughly entertaining and thrilling.

13 Nights of Shocktober: Madhouse (1974)

by A.J

This is my favorite time of year, second only to Christmas. Autumn has arrived, the weather is cooling down, and October becomes the month-long celebration of scary movies called Shocktober. So, in the days leading up Halloween I’ll be posting some horror movie recommendations to help you celebrate Shocktober.

Night 4: Vincent Price Night:  
“I must play the final scene. The death of Dr. Death!”

Madhouse (1974)

It just wouldn’t be Shocktober without Vincent Price. He appeared in so many horror movies, turning out such quality performances, that he became a horror cinema legend. Some of those movies are genuine classics, others campy fun, others forgettable. Madhouse, released in 1974, combines the campy entertainment of Price’s most famous horror films (the Edgar Allan Poe adaptations he made with Roger Corman) with a more hard edged 1970's horror sensibility. It is also, in its own way, a tribute to Price’s career in horror.

Price plays Paul Toombes, an aging actor famous for playing the character Dr. Death in a series of horror movies. After his fiancée is murdered gruesomely, Toombes suffers a mental breakdown and disappears from the limelight. The writer of the Dr. Death movies, Herbert Flay (Peter Cushing, another horror legend), arranges a comeback for Toombes with a new Dr. Death series. Yes, putting a traumatized man who may or may not have murdered someone into a situation similar to the one that traumatized him in the first place is a bad idea. Toombes arrives in London and even before the cameras roll, the bodies start piling up.

Madhouse is ostensibly a murder mystery (who is dressing up like Dr. Death and murdering people?) though there is little doubt about the identity of the killer and their goal of framing Toombes for the murders, or driving him mad, or both. That doesn’t hurt the film, however, because the real entertainment comes from its approach to horror: a mixture of shock visuals, admiration for the genre, and a dash of camp. The plot follows the structure of a slasher movie though that subgenre would not be solidified until the early 1980’s. One by one people are murdered in different and more elaborate ways: decapitated, hanged with their own hair, crushed by a bed. The kills are not especially gory or violent especially when compared to other 70’s horror films like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, released the same year as Madhouse, or Wes Craven’s The Last House on the Left, released two years earlier.

There’s a sly sense of humor to Madhouse. Any horror movie with characters named Toombes and Flay can’t take itself too seriously. There's even a costume party scene that has Peter Cushing (famous for playing the vampire hunter Van Helsing in numerous Hammer Films) dressed as Dracula. Living in the basement of Cushing’s house—a dungeon straight out of a Hammer horror movie—is his ex-wife Fay Flay (Adrienne Corri), who was disfigured in an accident and is now obsessed with spiders. The clips we see of the “Dr. Death” movies are actually scenes from older Vincent Price movies: Roger Corman’s The Raven and Tales of Terror, both distributed by AIP, the company behind Madhouse. Using footage from another movie to pad out a new low budget movie was something fairly common at the time, especially in horror (Roger Corman would do this several times with footage from The Terror). In Madhouse this device feels a bit more justified since the story is about a horror movie star confronting his past. Viewing the film today, these clips of Price’s older movies feel like a tribute to his career and talent. Though Vincent Price’s career would continue into the 1990’s, by 1974 he had already appeared in enough horror movies that a film playing on his horror career felt justified.

The reason to watch Madhouse is, of course, Vincent Price. Other roles have given him more to sink his teeth into but he still plays the part of a reluctant actor unsure of his sanity very well. For me the highlights of the movie are his speeches; these are the scenes where he really gets to shine. Watching him talk about death while lighting candles is just what you want from a Vincent Price movie. My favorite scene is of Price talking about the nature of horror movies and their appeal to viewers. A TV interviewer asks, “Why do you think that your films have been so very successful?” Toombes replies, “Well, I think it’s because they’re not about the ordinary everyday world around us. They’re about a world that’s deep inside of us. A world of impulses and instincts that we have been taught to suppress. That sounds a bit spooky…” Spooky and true sentiments, wonderfully delivered by Vincent Price.

13 Nights of Shocktober: Witchfinder General

by A.J.

This is my favorite time of year, second only to Christmas. Autumn has arrived, the weather is cooling down, and October becomes the month-long celebration of scary movies called Shocktober. So, in the days leading up Halloween I’ll be posting some scary movie recommendations to help you celebrate Shocktober.

Night 7: Vincent Price Night
“They swim. The mark of Satan is upon them. They must hang.”

Witchfinder General 

Vincent Price played villains and antiheros throughout his career, but he never played a character as evil as Matthew Hopkins, also known as the Witchfinder General. Matthew Hopkins and his assistant/enforcer John Stearne were real people that traveled from town to town during the time of the English Civil War offering to root out any witches, for a fee, of course. Hopkins declared himself “Witchfinder General” and during his reign of terror from 1644-1647 he was responsible for more executions of accused witches than all other witch hunters in England over the previous 100 years combined. It only makes sense that a movie about Hopkins would be a dark and violent one.

Though Matthew Hopkins and John Stearne are historical figures, Witchfinder General is not technically based on a true story. The source material is a novel by Ronald Bassett which fictionalizes the story of Matthew Hopkins. The plot follows Richard (Ian Ogilvy), a soldier in Oliver Cromwell’s army, rooting out remnants of the royalist supporters of King Charles. He is engaged to Sara (Hilary Heath), who, along with her uncle, is targeted by local Cromwell supporters. Hopkins and Stearne ride into town and arrest her uncle as a witch. Hopkins tells Sara that he will spare her uncle’s life for a lascivious price. Hopkins also tortures and executes other innocent people while holding Sara prisoner. After learning what has happened to Sarah, Richard becomes obsessed with taking revenge.

The details of the plot are fictionalized, but the means of torture used by Hopkins and his desire for personal and political gain are unfortunately accurate. Vincent Price gives an unsettling but excellent performance as Matthew Hopkins. Director Michael Reeves wanted Donald Pleasance to play the Witchfinder and was reportedly standoffish with Price. Reeves claimed he acted that way intentionally to get Price to give an angry performance. Personally, I think Vincent Price was professional enough and talented enough to give a great performance without the director intentionally pissing him off. Price comes across as the kind of actor that could pick up on the exact tone and needs of a film and deliver a performance to match. He could go over the top, or be subtle and nuanced with ease. As a villain, he could be comedic, campy, sinister, or even sympathetic, but as Hopkins he is completely vile, cruel, sadistic, and malevolent. Though he played murderers in movies before and after this, Matthew Hopkins is Price’s most heinous role.

Witchfinder General feels more violent than it actually is. In terms of blood and gore it is mild by today’s standards, but its violent moments feel as intense and shocking as anything from a more explicit modern horror movie. Even though the scenes of torture were edited to satisfy the British censors, it still received an X rating and caused controversy when released. The reason this film feels so brutal is because it does not shy away from showing the methods of conducting a witch “trial.” Sara’s uncle is stabbed with a needle repeatedly to search for a spot that doesn’t bleed (a sign of witchcraft). A group of poor villagers are thrown into a river to see if they will swim (also a sign of witchcraft). People are dragged screaming to the gallows or burned at the stake. The film also doesn’t shy away from showing the witchfinders as sexual predators as well.

Reeves said he wanted to make an antiviolence film, which is usually just an excuse for showing a lot of violence, but it’s likely Reeves was sincere because there is nothing entertaining or thrilling about the violent scenes in Witchfinder General. This is a very dark movie thematically but it is also a very good one. And, of course, it has one of Vincent Price’s best performances. This is a horror movie without the slightest hint of the supernatural, but it is just as intense as any monster movie or ghost story.