13 Nights of Shocktober: The Tomb of Ligeia

by A.J. 

 

Night 4: Vincent Price Night 

"She will not rest because she is not dead…to me."

 

The Tomb of Ligeia 

 

It's just not Shocktober without Vincent Price. The Tomb of Ligeia is the 8th and final film of what came to be known as the Corman-Poe cycle, that is: movies produced and directed by the legendary Roger Corman, based on the works of Edgar Allen Poe (or at least titled after Poe works), released by American International Pictures, and starring Vincent Price (the only exception being The Premature Burial (1962), starring Ray Milland). These films, like a great many Corman movies, vary in quality, but Price and Corman together mean you are in for a good time.

Naturally, any movie based on an Edgar Allen Poe story requires expansion and it is a pleasant surprise to see the adaptation was written by Robert Towne, one of many Hollywood legends who got their start with Corman—Towne would later win an Oscar for writing Chinatown and become a revered screenwriter. While the screenplay adds a lot, the eerie gothic tone of Poe is strong as are many Poe-esque themes such as being haunted by a lost love, black cats, and mesmerism. Set in vaguely the 19th century, Vincent Price plays Verden Fell, a wealthy widower whose dead wife Ligeia, a scandalous figure when she was alive, still looms large over his life. Ligeia insisted that she would never die and Fell treats her as such until he meets Rowena, who is instantly drawn to his outsider charms and goth style. He indeed makes a striking impression dressed in black with a top hat, cane, and strange but stylish wraparound sunglasses, perhaps a bit too stylish for the 19th century. The sunglasses he says are "the result of a rather morbid reaction to sunlight." However, as the film goes on, he needs the sunglasses less and less until they are forgotten. Elizabeth Shepperton plays both the dark, evil Ligeia and the sweet Rowena. Not long after Rowena and Fell get married, she finds herself troubled by Fell’s inexplicable disappearances at night. It is clear the spirit of Ligeia means to possess Rowena, although the movie is not entirely clear on how this works, but a black cat seems to be involved. In one of the standout sequences Rowena follows a mysterious black cat through the house into a bell tower while Price’s voiceover delivers a monologue about Ligeia and death. This stylistic touch adds to the surreal off-kilter nature of the scene because it seems so out of style with previous Corman movies, or American movies in general, and more influenced by the French New Wave.

 

Price delivers a different take on the man-driven-to-madness character that he often played throughout his horror career, and especially in the Corman-Poe movies. He is more sympathetic here because as the movie goes on it becomes clear that he lacks agency—this is where the mesmerism comes into play. In at least one interview Price spoke fondly of "Ligeia" but it is a role that he almost did not get. Corman wanted a younger actor, but AIP would not fund the movie unless Price played the lead. Corman says that Price's age was his only concern with his casting; the producer side of Corman no doubt wanted a younger actor to bring in a younger audience. Price's performance is proof that he was the right choice.

 

The climax of the movie has Price battling an evil black cat, which of course is just a regular cat and/or cat puppet thrown at him from off screen. He does his best to sell it when the cat attacks (is thrown at) his face and he has to wrestle with it. On one hand it works in camp value and is fun, on the other it does not match the eerie gothic story we have just seen. Like Corman's infamous The Terror, one of the ultimate so-bad-it’s-good movies, Tomb of Ligeia requires a servant character to come right out and explain what exactly has been happening the whole time. Unlike The Terror, what the servant reveals more or less makes sense. Robert Towne admits that he and Corman were a mismatch creatively. Towne thought that supernatural and psychological explanations should be equally plausible. Corman wanted a straightforward horror story.

The gothic atmosphere is enhanced greatly thanks to filming, at least in part, on location in England. The half-crumbled walls and archways of Castle Acre Priory are great scenery and make for eye-catching shots. Even more gothic atmosphere comes surprisingly from the use of pre-psychedelic imagery: blue and green candles, Rowena's colorful flowing gowns and robes, and, of course, Price's sunglasses. Rowena's dream has some striking and surreal imagery like a bouquet of flowers with a bleeding fox head.

 

Unfortunately, The Tomb of Ligeia did not do as well at the box office. The Corman-Poe cycle felt played out and after 7 films together in 4 years, Corman, Price, and the public were ready for something different. Yet, this does not mean that Ligeia is a lesser entry in the Corman-Poe cycle. The Tomb of Ligeia is a good spooky-but-not-scary movie, a good moody horror movie bridging the transition from the classic to modern eras.

 

The Tomb of Ligeia is available to stream on Prime Video, Hoopla, and Youtube.  

13 Nights of Shocktober: House of Wax (1953)

by A.J.

Night 11: Vincent Price Night

“To you they are wax, but to me, their creator, they live and breath”

House of Wax (1953)

Here’s a Vincent Price classic for your Shocktober viewing: the horror remake House of Wax, not the 2005 remake, but the 1953 version which was a remake of the 1933 film Mystery of the Wax Museum, itself a horror classic. House of Wax (1953) is significant for two reasons: 1) Though it was not Vincent Price’s first appearance in a horror movie—he had previously voiced the Invisible Man in some of the Universal Studios sequels—it marked the significant shift in his career to the horror genre and solidified his standing as a horror star; 2) Though it was not the first 3-D movie, it is one of the more significant and famous examples of the short lived 3-D fad of the 1950’s. This will explain the completely unnecessary scene of a carnival barker hitting a paddle ball at the camera, the close ups of high kicking can-can dancers, and why so many characters and objects fall towards the camera. This is also why the 88 minute movie has an intermission since the 3D would cause headaches if people watched for too long without a break. Of course the real reason House of Wax has endured and become a horror classic has everything to do with the movie’s willingness to have fun and the performance of Vincent Price.

The plot is little changed from Mystery of the Wax Museum, aside from removing a reporter character and moving the setting from contemporary times to the late 1890’s. Vincent Price plays Professor Henry Jerrod, a master wax sculptor who prefers recreating historical scenes and figures instead of the macabre but lucrative “chamber of horrors” exhibits. His business partner sets fire to the museum to collect insurance money and Jarrod is presumed dead in the fire. Years later the business partner is murdered by a mysterious figure dressed in black and Jarrod returns with a new wax museum, this time with a chamber of horrors and wax figures that seem just a bit too realistic. 

Not a lot makes sense in House of Wax, but it is fun nonetheless so it’s easy to overlook the plot holes. Jarrod is in a wheelchair and his hands are disfigured and useless, so he has his henchmen–one of whom is a young Charles Buchinsky, later to be Charles Bronson–presumably following his verbal instructions, but he is plenty capable of working the giant wax vat at the end of the movie. The reveal of a character wearing a wax mask is a great horror moment, but the implied realism of the mask is a bit of a stretch.

Vincent Price’s role has all the hallmarks that would become part of his horror movie persona. He begins as a sympathetic character; then he is wronged, driven mad, and becomes a villain sometimes bent on revenge, sometimes bent on mayhem, sometimes both. Still, he is so charismatic you almost want him to succeed (except for when he played the real-life monster Mathew Hopkins who executed hundreds of people during one of England’s witch panics in Witchfinder General). As Price wheels his way through the wax museum leading a tour he is utterly delightful in his wry delivery of gallows humor and bad puns. When he is in disguise, Price does a great job sneaking around (he really knows how to twirl a cape). Not only is he great as a mad villain but he is also believable in the scenes where Jarrod talks about his love of art and sculpting.

The highlights are the epic fight between Price and his business partner as the original wax museum burns down around them. The other is the climax which has Jarrod’s intended victim strapped to a table under a giant vat of boiling wax as the police race to find her. The secret workroom resembles a classic mad scientist's lab. The 3-D gimmick scenes, even without the actual 3-D effect, stick out like sore thumbs but still contribute to the overall entertainment value. This is not exactly a campy movie, even with its dated effects and acting styles. It is less concerned with creating chilling scares than making sure you have a horror-themed fun time. It worked then and it works now. 

House of Wax airs on TCM on Halloween at 9AM CT and is available to stream on HBOmax.

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.