Vincent Price London Legacy Tour Update | Tickets Selling Out Fast!

In just a few weeks time, the Vincent Price London Legacy Tour will kick off on 4 November celebrating Vinnie’s passion for the UK, where he filmed some of his most iconic films like Theatre of Blood, as well his passion for food, with the UK launch of the 50^th anniversary edition of his and Mary’s celebrated cookbook, A Treasury of Great Recipes

Tickets are selling like hotcakes for all of the events, so if you planning on attending any of them, now is the time to get booking.

 VISIT THE ORIGINAL FILM LOCATIONS

Throughout his 50 years movie-making career, Vincent travelled the globe to make in excess of 100 features, with 13 of them filmed in the UK. Over the five days, the festival will visit the locations used in three of them: Witchfinder General (1968), with a trip to the historic medieval town of Lavenham in Suffolk; Cry of the Banshee (1970), with a lunch tour of Grim’s Dyke Hotel, the former home of dramatist WS Gilbert in north London, and Theatre of Blood (1973), with a walking tour of Kensal Green Cemetery. Please note that due to the popularity of these events, only a handful of tickets remain for the Kensal Green walk and the Grim’s Dyke lunch, so book now by clicking on the links.

• Theatre of Blood at Kensal Green Cemetery | Film Location Tour
• Cry of the Banshee at Grim’s Dyke | Lunch & Tour
• Witchfinder General | Film Location Tour

MASTER OF MENACE, LOVER OF LIFE

While we all know Vincent Price as the Master of Menace, his daughter Victoria knows him as the Lover of Life. In this London exclusive, staged at Barts Pathology Museum, one of London’s hidden gems, Victoria will present a special multi-media presentation dedicated to her dad and his lifelong passion for the arts and his love for the UK. Also included will be a screening of the sci-fi cult, Scream and Scream Again, (which is being shown also to honor the late Christopher Lee and the legendary Peter Cushing). For more information and how to book, click on the links.

• Vincent Price: Master of Menace, Lover of Life | Talk & Film Screening

VINCENT THE GHOULISH GOURMAND

Vincent and Mary’s celebrated cookbook A Treasury of Great Recipes, celebrates its 50^th anniversary this year with a brand-new reprint and Victoria be hosting a special breakfast at Harrods, followed by a tour of the famed Food Halls before the crowds are let in. Plus, there’s a scrumptious Treasury Taster evening celebrating Vincent’s passion for food. Please note that the Harrods event has been extremely popular and only a handful of tickets remain.

• A Treasury of Great Recipes at Harrods | UK Book Launch, Tour & Breakfast

THE ORIGINAL LAST MAN ON EARTH
The 5th of November in the UK is Guy Fawkes Night, which is celebrated with bonfires and fireworks all over the country. So what better way to get into the spirit that with an explosive musical performance set from Sheffield electronica duo Animat, who put a blazing new spin on the cult sci-fi classic The Last Man on Earth with an ambient and atmospheric live soundtrack.

• The Last Man on Earth with Animat | Performance & Film

For the full schedule check out the website: http://vincentpricelegacy.uk/

Catch Vincent Price, Jane Russell and Victor Mature in 1952's The Las Vegas Story today on Movies 4 Men

THE LAS VEGAS STORY (1952) screens today at 9.50am on Movies 4 Men (Sky 325, Freeview 48, Freesat 304)

A minor RKO gem starring Jane Russell as a singer returning to Vegas with her gambler husband (Vincent Price), and picking up with her former lover (Victor Mature). But when a man is murdered, the film changes from romantic melodrama to action adventure, complete with a helicopter swooping through deserted hangars and Mature getting all athletic to save his Jane.

Vinnie is in suitably slimy form - and its suits him well...

 

 

 

Cry of the Banshee | The Vincent Price London Legacy Tour of Grim's Dyke Hotel almost sold out!

London: Actor Vincent Price needs all the puff he can muster as he attempts to blow out the one hundred candles on this immense cake, presented to the actor during a recent champagne party held at Grim’s Dyke House in Harrow, England. The party began on a Saturday night and continued until the early hours of Sunday morning. The party was held to celebrate Price’s 100th film ‘Cry of the Banshee.’ Much of the filming was done at Grim’s Dyke House.

Only 6 tickets left for the 5th November lunch and tour of Grim's Dyke Hotel, the spiritual home of the kings of horror Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, part of the VINCENT PRICE LONDON LEGACY TOUR.

Book now before its too late! (click here for tickets)

The shock of this vintage poster will make you… Scream and Scream Again!

 

This poster was one of many included in the original American International Pictures campaign pressbook that was given out to film distributors to help sell the hip 1970 sci-fi horror film, Scream and Scream Again, starring Vincent Price.

On Friday 6 November 2015, the Vincent Price London Legacy Tour will screen the cult chiller as part of the Master of Menace, Lover of Life evening at Barts Pathology Museum, where Victoria Price will present a London exclusive multi-media presentation on her father's life and legacy. Won't you join us?

Book Now (just click here)

Taboos of the World (1965) | It’s the picture that OUT-MONDO'S them all!!

Narrated by Vincent Price (English version) and Stefano Sibaldi (Italian version), this 86-minute travelogue, edited in the same shockumentary style of 1962’s Mondo Cane, was directed by Romolo Marcellini and produced by Royal Film and Guido Giambartolomei. It was released in Italy on 5 December 1963 as I tabù, in West Germany on 22 May 1964 as Die Tabus der Welt, and in the US in April 1965 as Taboos of the World. The taglines were pure exploitation gold:

‘It’s the film that starts where the other MONDO pictures chickened out!’ 

‘It’s the picture that OUT-MONDO'S them all!!’

The original Italian version ended up on VHS in the 1980s with an uncredited British actor dubbing Vincent's narration. To date no copies of the English version have resurfaced since, however clips from that 1980s redub have turned up online to buy privately.

The director, Romolo Marcellini (born 1910-1999), was by all accounts a fascinating filmmaker.  After writing 1934's Stadium, the journalist and former air force officer made his directoral debut with 1937's Sentinels of Bronze, which triumphed at the Venice Film Festival. He then went on to make a series of war documentaries on the intervention of the fascist regime in the Spanish Civil War, based on the same format as American newsreels, to show the heroics of Italian volunteers fighting for Franco. His other documentaries included War on War (1946), The Treasure of Rommel (1955), and The Great Olympiad (1960), which was nominated for an Oscar for best documentary in 1962, The East (1960), and Russia Under Investigation (1963).

Below are a selection of lobby cards and the US press campaign booklet for Taboos of the World.

You're invited to join me on a free Theatre of Blood London Walking Tour on Saturday 8 August

Next Saturday (8 August), I will be taking all London-based Theatre of Blood fans on a walking tour through the city visiting many of the locations used in the black comedy horror.

It's FREE, but you will need some stamina. As this will be an all-day tour, lots of Tube and bus journeys will be required, so you will need a valid travelcard or Oyster card and lots of patience getting around.

I have arranged the itinerary that will cover many of the locations used in the film – from Michael Horden's flat at Digby Mansions Hammersmith right through to the film's climax which were shot at the Putney Hippodrome (now demolished). 

While some of the sights are out of the way and only of significance to uber-fans (like our first, The Causeway in Wandsworth) others will take in some popular London sights, including Harrods on the Brompton Road, the Serpentine Pavillon, Cheyne Walk and the King's Road in Chelsea (where other horror film locations will be visited), Tate Britain and Bond Street.

If you want to familiarise yourself with the London locations, check out my post (here) that I did for The Spooky Isles website.

To keep up to date with what's happening, check out the official Facebook event page.

DATE: Saturday 8 November

TIME: 10:15am

MEETING POINT: Outside East Putney underground station

Das Haus de Tausend Freuden (1967) | Check out the sexy German lobby cards from the Vincent Price Euro thriller

Thought I'd share with you this collection of German Lobby Cards from 1967's House of 1000 Dolls - aka Das Haus de Tausend Freuden. Why? Because this film is one my all-time guilty pleasures. Check out my film review here.

Kino Lorber to release Vincent Price's Dr Goldfoot films on Blu-ray in October

 
Yep! You heard it right, Kino Lorber will be releasing 1965's Dr Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine and its 1966 sequel, Dr Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs on Blu-ray in the US on 12 October.

No word as yet on the specifics or the extras, but let's hope Kino are wise enough to include the Shindig episode, The Weird World of Dr Goldfoot, which featured some musical numbers to attract the teenyboppers, and the Italian release of Girl Bombs, Le spie vengono dal semifreddo, which was a hugely different film to the AIP release, and a vehicle for Italian comics Franco and Ciccio.

To get you in the mood, here's that infamous Shindig episode in full, which comes from my dedicated Vincent Price YouTube channel.

From A Whisper to a Scream (1987) | Vincent Price's final horror film on Blu-ray

Back in 1980, The Monster Club, starring Vincent Price, became the final nail in the coffin for horror anthology-styled chillers that had peaked in the 1970s in a series of Amicus-produced frighteners.

Seven years on, however, first-time director Jeff Burr tried his hand at resurrecting the genre in From a Whisper to a Scream (aka The Offspring), and even convinced retired horror movie icon Vincent Price to appear.

Now, the film, which ended up becoming Price’s final role in a horror movie, has been has been given a Blu-ray release from Scream Factory in the US, loaded with specially-commissioned extras, including two audio commentaries and two feature-length documentaries.

WELCOME TO OLDFIELD
On the night that his serial killer niece Katherine (Martine Beswick) is to be executed, historian Julian White (Vincent Price) reveals to a journalist (Susan Tyrell) the sinister secrets of his hometown, Oldfield, Tennessee. But as the town’s murderous legacy is exposed by his chilling accounts – about a necrophiliac (Clu Gulager) and the monstrous offspring that results in his coupling with his dead sister; a centuries-old hermit (Harry Caesar) with life-prolonging powers; a ruthless carnival leader (Rosalind Cash) who uses voodoo on those who dare to leave her troupe; and a Yankee soldier (Cameron Mitchell) who discovers a legion of children with an appetite for murder – White doesn’t realise that he is about the write the final chapter of Oldfield’s horrible history… in his own blood!

ONE IS NEVER TOO OLD FOR NIGHTMARES
Shot on location in Dalton, Georgia and in LA by Burr (who was just 23 at the time) and a group of friends in 1985 and 1986, this low-budget flick was released in the US as The Offspring and everywhere else as From A Whisper to a Scream (the title was changed for the DVD and Blu-ray releases).

In securing Price to appear, the now famous story goes that Burr brazenly rolled up at Price’s LA home, where he was invited inside by the polite Price, who read the script, but later declined to appear until Max Von Sydow's agent convinced him otherwise. Price, wearing his own clothes and a favourite vintage jacket, recorded his sequences in two days at the same studio in Venice, California where he had filmed his classic Poe films with Roger Corman – who ended up visiting Price, along with Hazel Court, Price’s two-time co-star, while he was on set. This incident is well covered in the Blu-ray extra, as is Price's expletive-laden ship-to-shore telephone call to Burr over changes in the script that was to turn in character into a hook-handed, disfigured Dr Phibes character.

For many Price fans, myself included, Vinnie’s scenes in the movie are the only reason for visiting Oldfield. It’s great to see our childhood hero back in the genre that had made him famous, and its nice to hear his iconic voice once more growling out some suitably menacing dialogue. But this wasn't the right vehicle for the veteran horror actor. It was exactly the kind of ‘gore’ picture, as he called them, that he disliked. Not surprisingly, Price later regretted taking on the role (he said he only did it for the money). It's a rather sad cameo, not unlike his brief appearance in another low-budget flick, the 1988 action comedy, Dead Heat. It was only by sheer luck that Tim Burton would give Price the fitting swansong that his Merchant of Menace persona so richly deserved, in the short film Vincent and in Edward Scissorhands.

Thank you card from director Jeff Burr

THE SCREAM FACTORY BLU-RAY RELEASE

The Scream Factory/Shout! US Blu-ray release is based on a new HD transfer, presented in the original 1.85:1 aspect ratio. All previous releases of the film were cursed by being dark and grainy, so this is a huge improvement. I was lucky to get mine direct from Scream, so I got a nice little thank you card from director Burr as well as a film strip, featuring Anglo Rossitto

The special features include:
• Return to Oldfield: The Making of Whisper to a Scream. This labour of love documentary contains lots of new and old interviews with the cast and crew, behind-the-scenes footage, and never-before-seen images of Vincent Price (including his letters to Burr). While you may not like the movie, Burr and his dedicated team should be praised for staying true to their purpose in giving the Hollywood bigwigs a run for their money. Their slick slice of American Gothic may not be perfect, but you can feel the love that went into making their dreams come true. This is the reason I got this release, and it's worth every pence/cent. It even made me want to watch the film again, and not just Price's bits.

Original film cell from A Whisper to a Scream

• A Decade Under the Innocence: Adventures in Super 8 Filmmaking This one explores Burr and his Dalton, Georgia pals’ lifelong obsession for the film medium. Monster Kids will relate to this one (I know I did).
• Audio commentary with writer/director Jeff Burr. From script to screen, Burr leads us through the whole process of getting his film made, and talks about working with Price and Cameron Mitchell. Although packed with insight, there's a bit of repetition in the documentary.
• Audio commentary with writer/producer Darin Scott and writer Courtney Joyner.
• Animated Gallery. Burr comments (with lots of emotion) on the film’s production stills, press reviews and behind-the-scenes shots, including personal letters from Vincent Price.
• Theatrical trailer and TV spots.

Cover art for Kino Lorber's The Oblong Box Blu-ray release unearthed!

Here is the cover art for the 20 October Blu-ray/DVD release in the US from Kino Lorber of The Oblong Box. Interestingly, according to The Vincent Price Exhibit curator Rick Squires, it wasn't the first time that American International Pictures had used the same illustration. As you can see below, it was used as pre-publicity for the US release of Witchfinder General (The Conqueror Worm).

Kino's Oblong Box release will include an audio commentary from film historian Steve Haberman and one very exciting extra that I have never seen before, the 10-minute 1969 World Wide Adventures short Annabel Lee narrated by Vincent Price. Transferred from an original 35mm print, this has come from the personal collection of Price fan and Drive In Super Monster-Rama head honcho, George Reis. Now this is something worth checking out.