The Tingler (1959)

I grew up with a copy of the Cinemania 97 CD-ROM as a kid, which featured a John Waters commentary all about 1950s filmmaker William Castle who was a great influence on Waters and other filmmakers (including Joe Dante who made a fictional tribute to the guy in the John Goodman comedy, Matinee). A sort of bargain basement Alfred Hitchcock, Castle was known for his sense of showmanship and applying gimmicks to the low-budget horror and thriller B-movies he made. Watching The Tingler (1959) now, one of his most notorious horror movie gimmicks, there are obvious markers of its original cinema context; from Castle’s own intro to the camera at the start where he explains to audiences that screaming is the only defence against the titular monster (it feeds on fear, yet is released by screams) – to the ‘interactive’ scenes where the screen goes dark and we hear Vincent Price yell at us i.e. the cinema audience in the movie (one of the major suspense set pieces takes place in a repertory cinema) to “keep screaming!” I found all of this to be a lot of kooky fun, even divorced from its original context, which was for The Tingler to be viewed in a cinema of kids with rigged seats zapping them into believing The Tingler was on the loose. Yes, cinemas showing The Tingler would have cinema seats adjusted with a buzzer, which was promoted as the ‘Percepto!’ and involving an audience plant – a screaming woman – to get everyone on edge and ready to join in. Talk about participatory cinema! This doesn’t even cover the wacky concept of the movie, which is about an undiscovered creature that lives inside all of us and seeks to grip the spine when the body is experiencing waves of fear, or how many times people say the phrase “The Tingler” (which becomes the defacto name for this scientific discovery), or Vincent Price’s vindictive wife who is constantly two-timing him and they seem to be a film noir subplot of their own, just with a squid-like monster in the mix, or the hapless cinema owner and his deaf-mute wife, or the use of colour within a black-and-white film in one memorable sequence (recently quoted in the Ethan Hawke movie The Black Phone). Or my favourite part when Vincent Price wants to experience fear, tells his colleagues that nothing scares him, and then proceeds to lock himself into his lab in order to self-dose on medical ‘acid’ and freaks the hell out (“The walls!! The walls!!”). In conclusion: I love Vincent Price! Available to stream on Tubi in Australia. Recommended.

Laura (1944)

Laura (1944) has always been held up as a classic and a key title when it comes to the genre of film noir. What I was surprised by was, in comparison to say Raymond Chandler adaptations, there is something sophisticated about this film, a drawing room mystery rather than a plunge into the dark, gritty streets. The tone is set by newspaper columnist Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb), an older gentleman with rapier wit and refined tastes who initially narrates the film’s opening and is interrogated while tapping away on a typewriter in his bath. He is investigated by Detective Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews), the “uncouth” element in this world of high flyers and wealthy types, concerning the murder of successful advertising executive Laura (Gene Tierney). As the Detective listens to the story of Laura’s rising career and her connection to Lydecker as a mentor, he begins to become more personally involved, particularly with every gaze he throws at a portrait of Laura in her own apartment. The twists and turns I won’t spoil, but this also includes Vincent Price as a leeching playboy engaged to Laura and Laura’s socialite aunt Ann (Judith Anderson). Adapted from Vera Caspray’s novel and directed by Otto Preminger, this is a classy, almost elegant affair, which also contains the DNA for many a mystery and noir afterwards of obsession and psychosexuality albeit hinted at discreetly here. Webb is good as the fastidious, snobby Lydecker and Dana Andrews moves from initially low-key energy into a cagey, involved sleuth. And of course, Gene Tierney is very good and iconic as the glamourous object of fascination. It also clocks in at a tidy 88 minutes and did not disappoint with its reputation as a classic. Recommended.

Witchfinder General (1968)

Deeper into the Vincent Price Blu-Ray boxset, I’ve finally come to the acclaimed folk-horror film, Witchfinder General (1968), which has the reputation of being one of Price’s finest performances. Having seen it, I think his acting is as good as he is in many of the other Corman/Poe movies, but maybe it is more that director Michael Reeves aimed for a more intense, realistic film. That, and whereas there’s usually something likeable or charming about Price’s other villains – here, he’s quite a hateful sort. There’s still plenty of derring do here, but no actual witches or anything supernatural. Rather, the horror comes from the era of lawlessness, superstition and manipulation in representing a version of the notorious Matthew Hopkins (Price), the self-appointed Witchfinder General during the English Civil War of 1645, who with his thuggish assistant John Stearne (Robert Russell), moves from village to village, collecting money from country folk to “investigate” witches or those in league with the devil. This basically amounted to torture and murder, and it’s even a more grim prospect when you read up on the fact that it was real (resulting in hundreds of deaths). Thankfully the movie deviates from history and offers a revenge plot: a dashing soldier (Ian Oglilvy) seeks out Hopkins on account of how he’d tortured and abused his bride (Hilary Dwyer) while sentencing her uncle, a priest, to death. Even for a late-1960s film, there is some nasty violence (despite the red paint looking blood) and the fastidious Hopkins and the loutish Stearne are truly a despicable pair. Apparently, director Reeves clashed with Price on set – he’d originally wanted Donald Pleasance but producers cast the more bankable Price; still, the result was something Price was proud of despite the on set tension, and it became a cult classic, particularly a key text in the area of ‘folk horror’ (along with the original The Wicker Man). Recommended.

The Masque Of The Red Death (1964)

Delving further into the Blu-Ray boxset of Vincent Price movies I received last Christmas, I watched another Roger Corman directed Edgar Allan Poe adaption, The Masque Of The Red Death (1964), which I believe is one of the best of them. Set in Medieval Italy (though no Italian accents, mainly British aside from our main character), Price plays the delightfully wicked Prince Prospero who worships Satan, kidnaps a young Christian villager Francesca (Jane Asher) for his own designs, and holds an ongoing party for his wealthy friends within the walls of his castle as the red plague sweeps the land, spreading and killing all of the poor villagers. Meanwhile the Red Death itself (John Westbook) waits outside like a Roger Corman version of Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal. Alongside Price’s devilish performance, Patrick Magee from A Clockwork Orange plays a sinister lord and Hazel Court is Prospero’s wife who plans to give herself to Satan. This movie has a great visual style thanks to cinematography from a young Nicolas Roeg. The presence of the Red Death (clad in red robes with red skin) is striking as are the coloured rooms of the castle. The film apparently used sets left over from the film Beckett, and there’s enough overall intrigue (and subplots) to keep it all cooking right up to the satisfying comeuppance for Prospero and his wealthy guests. Watching it now, the story’s symbolism made me think of the 1% and climate change as the oncoming spectre of death avoided by a closed wall community (there could be a new version with that theme in mind). Recommended.

House On Haunted Hill (1959)

I received a 9-Movie boxset of Vincent Price movies one Christmas and slowly intend to work through them all. First, William Castle’s low budget hit House On Haunted Hill (1959) where a millionaire bets five strangers to stay the night in a haunted house for $10,000 each. This was a lot of fun. Even when the special effects were hokey, I loved it, and it still had some effective spooky moments and satisfying twists (though an abrupt ending). Price is awesome, just a charmingly debonair and sinister presence that keeps everything cooking. Classic character actor Elisha J. Cook is worth his weight in gold as the continual harbinger of doom. Recommended.