As a pretty dedicated fan of horror films, I have definitely come across Vincent Price in the past. I grew up watching him on the Hilarious House of Frightenstein, enjoyed him at a young age on late night TV in The Fly and loved his cameo as The Inventor in Edward Scissorhands.
As I’m currently working my way through the classics of horror (I’m spent a large part of the last year watching Hammer Horror films), I’ve started digging in to the Roger Corman Classics of the 1960s. Over the last week I’ve watched Mr. Price in The House of Usher (1960) and The Pit and the Pendulum (1961), and after finishing the latter, I’ve really got to admit I’m really impressed with his acting!
Considering I grew up watching him effectively lampoon his own horror movie persona in Frightenstein (it aired early Saturday mornings, and as an early riser, that meant I watched it every week), it really surprised me to see just how good he was in these films. I have seen him in other works and really enjoyed his work, but honestly, as the grieving widower Nicholas Medina in The Pit and the Pendulum, I really felt his sorrow and deep sadness over the loss of his wife Elizabeth (played by Barbara Steele).
The movie works as a straight out horror film, and considering it’s fifty years old, I’ve got to say it really scared me. If you can lay your hands on a copy it is definitely worth the watch.
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