1958's The Fly gets a Limited Edition Steelbook Blu-ray release on 3 March

It was only last September that we saw The Fly (1958) get a Blu-ray release in the UK (read all about here). Now, coming on 3 March 2014, is a Limited Edition Steelbook from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. No word yet on the extras, but I will post them here as soon as I get word. Until then, here's the cover art.

Vincent Price guest stars in Columbo: Lovely But Lethal tonight on ITV in HD.

UK fans of Vincent Price can catch the iconic actor in the 1973 Columbo mystery, Lovely But Lethal, tonight at 3.00am on ITV (Sky, Virgin, Freesat 103, Virgin HD 113, Freesat HD 119).

Columbo: Lovely But Lethal

Season 3, Episode – 1

Written by Jackson Gillis (from a story by Myrna Bercovici)

Directed by Jeannot Szwarc

Originally aired September 23, 1973

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Peter Falk as LT. Columbo

Vera Miles as Viveca Scott

Martin Sheen as Karl Lessing

Vincent Price as David Lang

Sian Barbara Allenas Shirley Blaine

Fred Draper as Dr. Murcheson

Gino Conforti as Ferdy

Colby Chester as Jerry

Bruce Kirby as Lab Attendant

John Finnegan as Sergeant

Dick Stahl as Burton

Marc Hannibal as Fingerprint Man

Cosmetics queen Viveca Scott (Vera Miles) has developed a seemingly magic wrinkle remover, but the formula has been stolen by her former lover,chemist Karl Lessing (MartinSheen), who refuses to sell it back to her at any price. Taunted by Lessing, Scott bludgeons him in a fit of rage but also before he can sell it to her ruthless competitor, David Lang (Vincent Price). When Lang's secretary (Sian Barbara Allen) becomes a potential blackmailer Scott kills her as well…

• sourced from The Columbo Phile by Mark Dawidziak

Arrow Video has reserved a seat for you in The Theatre of Blood on Blu-ray

Now this I'm excited about. Arrow Video will be releasing Theatre of Blood on Blu-ray and as a Limited Edition Blu-ray SteelBook on 28 April, complete with a high definition transfer and a stack of special extras. No news yet on what they might me. But as soon as I hear, I'll post it up here. Cross fingers Michael J Lewis' excellent soundtrack is included as an extra. And wouldn't it be a coup to have Dame Diana Rigg interviewed about her time on the film?

Arrow Video announce the UK Blu-ray release of Pit & the Pendulum and the Complete Dr Phibes

Arrow Video have announced the dates for the UK Blu-ray releases of The Pit & the Pendulum and the two Dr Phibes films.

The Pit and the Pendulum will be released on 12 May (just in time for Price's birthday on the 27th) and will include a high definition digital transfer, newly created exclusive content (which is yet to be finalised), reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gilles Vranckx, collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film, archive content and more. Now, will you go for the standalone Blu-ray or the SteelBook?

The Complete Dr Phibes will be released as a two-disc box-set on 9 June, again with HD digital transfers of both films, bonus content, deluxe edition collector’s box featuring original artwork and a 100-Page collector’s booklet. Not sure what the special features will be, but wouldn't it be cool if it contained the two soundtracks and pdfs of William Goldstein's tie-in novels?

 

More signatures needed to honour Vincent Price with a US postage stamp

Until 6 March, the closing date to gather 100,000 signatures to honor VincentPrice with a United States postage stamp, the Vincent Price Facebook group is sharing a photo and a reason day why Vinnie deserves that honour.


Reason No 7 was because he used lots of stamps over the course of his lifetime to send out postcards to fans (like myself). Here's the one that he sent to me in 1987, just after he had just completed filming The Whales of August with Bette Davis and Lillian Gish.

Now, don't forget to keep sharing and urging your friends to sign this petition.

PLEASE CLICK HERE

Sign this petition to get iconic American horror star Vincent Price on a US postage stamp

 

 

A petition has been set up in the States to have American actor Vincent Price follow in the footsteps of classic horror stars Lon Chaney Sr, Lon Chaney Jr, Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff and appear on a US postage.

 

Not only did Vinnie make 105 movies and appear on countless TV and radio shows, but he spent a lifetime contributing to the visual arts in America by serving on the Indian Arts & Crafts Board of the Department of the Interior, the White House Art Committee, the American Archives for the Arts, and countless museum boards.

100,000 signatures are needed, so please head over to the White House website now and sign the petition before 6 March, then share with your fellow VP fans. Click here now: http://ow.ly/tj6FU

Please nominate My First Trip Abroad for a Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award

Voting for the 12th Annual Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards opens this coming Sunday, 9 February 2014. You'll find the ballot at the Classic Horror Film Board and at the Rondo website. Voting will last for six weeks, ending on Sunday evening on 23 March.

But there's still time to make my real-time online recreation of iconic actor Vincent Price’s 1928 journal, MY FIRST TRIP ABROAD, a potential nominee for this year's awards. Please e-mail the Classic Horror Film Board or David at taraco@aol.com and include the following link with you email: http://vincentpricejournal.wordpress.com/

Thank you ever so much for supporting Vincent's legacy online.

RIP Gordon Hessler | Director of Cry of the Banshee, The Oblong Box and Scream and Scream Again

Tributes have been pouring in for Gordon Hessler, who has died at the age of 88. The director is best known for working on three AIP films with Vincent Price in the UK in 1969/1970: The Oblong Box (which he inherited after the untimely death of the film’s original director Michael Reeves), the cult sci-fi/horror/thriller Scream and Scream Again, and the underrated Cry of the Banshee. Hessler also helmed one of my childhood favourites, Ray Harryhausen’s The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973) and the real guilty pleasure, Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park (1978).

For more about Hessler’s life and career, issue 98 of Tim Lucas’ Video Watchdog is a great starting point, and contains an intimate interview conducted by David Del Valle, who writes on his Facebook page that Hessler’s favourite film was his rarely seen 1988 supernatural thriller The Girl on a Swing. There’s also a super interview that George Reis conducted back in 2002 which you can read over on the DVD Drive In website.

RIP Gordon Hessler (1926-2014)

Vincent Price’s dramatic reading of The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe

DID YOU KNOW? The 1845 poem, The Raven, by Edgar Allan Poe, was first attributed to the struggling writer in print in the New York Evening Mirror on 29 January 1845, just four years before his mysterious death on 7 October 1849.

To celebrate Poe's 205th birthday (19 January 1805), here's Vincent's dramatic reading to savour.

Vincent Price: The Elegant Side of Evil | The new official website dedicated to the legendary actor

 

Now here’s something fantastic to start off 2014 – a new website Vincent Price: The Elegant Side of Evil has been launched by Victoria Price, the actor’s daughter, to preserve her father’s legacy online. 

The News and Events pages is where fans can keep up-to-date with Victoria’s projects, including the insightful talks about Vincent’s life and career as an actor, writer, gourmet and art collector that she presents at festivals across the US, as well keep up to date with the four books Victoria plans to publish over the next year, including a reprint of her intimate 1999 memoir Vincent Price: A Daughter’s Biography. The new site is also the place where you can purchase brand new VP-related merchandise, including t-shirts, exclusive lobby cards and prints, and classy phone cases. Bookmark and follow, now!