Behind the Couch

1959 Dir. William Castle Esteemed pathologist Dr. Warren Chapin (Vincent Price!) discovers that the tingling sensation experienced in the human spine during states of extreme fear is caused by the growth of a creepy parasite that every human plays host to. During particularly lengthy moments of terror, the creature, which he dubs the "Tingler", can grow to such size and strength it can kill its host, and the only way to weaken the creature is by screaming. During the autopsy of a mute woman, whose death-by-fright came about because of her inability to scream, a Tingler escapes and wrecks havoc in a nearby cinema. Cue Dr. Warren urging the audience to scream for its life… While The Tingler is essentially a camp B-horror, nestling amongst the trite and ham are some interesting ideas which would later be explored in grisly detail in what would come to be known as the sub-genre of 'Body Horror.' Central to the plot is the notion that our bodies play host to a par...

1963 Dir. Roger Corman While it takes its name from a poem by Edgar Allan Poe, The Haunted Palace is actually an adaptation of HP Lovecraft’s The Case of Charles Dexter Ward . It’s still regarded as one of the titles in Corman’s Poe cycle, not only because of its title, but because of its shared aesthetic, a gloomily literate script, unyieldingly grim atmosphere, preoccupation with death and mourning, and a household plagued by its dark secrets. There is also the presence of Vincent Price, a stalwart of Corman’s Poe adaptations. While the director had actually been keen to move away from Poe adaptations, he was persuaded not to buck the trend by producers, as their Poe films had been immensely successful. A compromise was reached - the film would be an adaptation of Lovecraft, but would take its title from a poem by Poe. It successfully entwines the themes and sensibilities of both writers and emerges as one of the best horror films made by Corman at this time. Lovecraft’s sto...

1967 Dir. Jeremy Summers While vacationing in Tangiers, Stephen and Marie learn that their friend Fernando’s girlfriend has been reported missing. Before long, Marie is abducted when she attends a magic show hosted by the mysterious Felix Mandeville and his wife, mentalist Rebecca. It soon transpires that Marie is being held captive in a plush brothel along with a slew of other women who have been ‘collected’ from around the globe by the dastardly Mandeville and Rebecca in a covert sex-slave operation! This little oddity, aside from being a lesser-seen Vincent Price vehicle, is a guiltily entertaining romp produced by Harry Alan Towers ( Fu Manchu , Jess Franco’s Justine, Warrior Queen and Howling IV: The Original Nightmare amongst other schlocky delights). According to Mark McGee, author of Faster and Furiouser: The Revised and Fattened Fable of American International Pictures , it is “quite possibly the sleaziest movie AIP ever made.” I'm not sure that's altogether ...

1970 Dir. Gordon Hessler In his attempts to purge his town-land of witchcraft and heresy, a tyrannical ‘n’ puritanical magistrate picks the wrong coven to mess with. After he massacres her followers, local witch Oona invokes a curse upon the magistrate’s family and before long, they are gruesomely picked off by a ravenous beastie… Cry of the Banshee is an intriguing, highly atmospheric hybrid of occult and folk horror shenanigans and werewolf slasher flick (!). Hanging heavy with an eerie, doom-laden atmosphere, it revisits, and arguably rehashes, the story of Witchfinder General - made two years prior - in its tale of a merciless magistrate offing members of his community he believes to be guilty of witchcraft. It certainly revels in the same sadistic violence as its predecessor and boasts floggings, fiery brandings and characters burnt at the stake as witches. Opening with a young woman being forced to confess her involvement in the occult as the pious Lord Edward Whitma...

Born this day one hundred years ago, Vincent Price was an actor renowned for his distinctive voice, wryly theatrical performances and flamboyantly gothic horror films throughout the 60s and 70s. What better way to celebrate the velvet-voiced Price’s centenary than to settle back, raise a glass of something shockingly red and full-bodied, and treat your eyes (and ears) to one of his many atmospheric and cobweb-hewn gothic masterpieces. But where to begin?? I’ve made a list of some of my favourite Vincent Price films - this isn’t a selection of his best films; merely some of the ones I love most and ones that have ensured my admiration of him so much as an actor and a sophisticated master of the macabre. House on Haunted Hill (1959). Eccentric millionaire Fredrick Loren (Vincent Price) has invited five carefully selected strangers to a ‘haunted house’ party and promises to pay whoever stays in the house for the whole night $10,000 dollars. With no way of contacting the outside worl...

1959 Dir. Crane Wilbur Murder-mystery author Cornelia van Gorder rents a country mansion for the summer while its owner, bank manager Mr Fleming, is on an extended hunting trip. Unbeknownst to Cornelia and her faithful PA Lizzie, Fleming has been embezzling bank bonds worth one million dollars, and hidden them in the manor. The two women and their guests are menaced by a notorious killer dubbed 'The Bat' - who uses steel-clawed gloves to tear out the throats of his victims and will stop at nothing to get his hands on the loot! The Bat is based on the 1920 Broadway play of the same name by Avery Hopwood and Mary Roberts Rinehart. It was previously filmed by Roland West in 1926 as The Bat and as The Bat Whispers in 1930. Its stage origins are evident in the sets and locations, mainly limited to a couple of rooms in the sprawling mansion. The premise of a feisty mystery writer renting an old, dark house in the middle of the countryside, while the surrounding area is grip...

1953 Dir. André De Toth This month marks the centenary of the velvet-voiced Vincent Price. Born on May 27, 1911, Price would have turned 100 years old this month. What more reason could you possibly need to revisit one of his classic chillers… Like House of Wax ! In House of Wax , Price plays oddball wax sculptor Henry Jarrod, who seemingly perishes when his business partner deliberately sets fire to their failing wax museum, intending to claim the insurance money. Miraculously, he survives, albeit with severe injuries, and builds a new wax museum. His "Chamber of Horrors" exhibition coincides with bizarre deaths and the disappearance of bodies from the local morgue. Could it be that Jarrod’s waxworks are the wax-coated bodies of his victims? Of course it is! When Jarrod notices a startling resemblance between Sue Allen and his wax model of Marie Antoinette, which perished in the fire, he intends to dunk her in wax and immortalise her in his museum… Cue much maniacal ...

1964 Dirs. Ubaldo Ragona & Sidney Salkow Due to a mysterious immunity he acquired when bitten by a rabid bat (!), Dr. Robert Morgan (Vincent Price) is the sole survivor of a devastating global pandemic. By day he spends his time collecting supplies, strengthening his fortifications and destroying the bodies of the living-dead plague victims. By night he boards himself into his house, as hordes of the vampiric post-human creatures leave their hiding places and congregate outside his home, baying for his blood… How much isolation can one person take? Based on Richard Matheson’s chilling novel, I Am Legend, The Last Man on Earth is a creepy, upsetting and thought-provoking exploration of one man’s increasingly fragile mental state as he struggles to accept his isolated existence in a dark new world. This particular adaptation is the most successful in evoking the desperation, mounting hopelessness and quiet dread of its central protagonist: the other two adaptations, The Ωmega M...

1959 Dir. William Castle Eccentric millionaire Fredrick Loren (Vincent Price) has invited five carefully selected strangers to the house on Haunted Hill for a ‘haunted house’ party, much to the chagrin of his wife Annabelle (Carol Ohmart). Loren promises to pay $10,000 to whoever stays in the creepy house for the whole night. With no electricity, no phones and no way of contacting the outside world, the guests are locked in the house at midnight. As the night progresses, it becomes very obvious that it will be a memorable one! Ghosts, ghouls and murder – oh my! Darkness. A woman’s scream. Creepy moaning. Rattling chains and creaking doors. A disembodied head ponders the restless ‘ghosts’ on the prowl. Just another Saturday evening then – but it’s also the opening minutes of William Castle’s lovably daft House on Haunted Hill. A clunky, but thoroughly enjoyable ghost-train romp through every creaky old cliché in the book and straight into your heart. Constructed as the cinemat...

1972 Dir. Robert Fuest Three years after he murdered the surgeons he held responsible for his wife Victoria’s death, Dr. Phibes (Vincent Price) awakens from his hidden tomb to discover his parchment scrolls detailing the location of a Pharaoh's Tomb have been stolen. The tomb grants access to the River of Life, and could revive his beloved wife. Phibes quickly murders those responsible and reacquires the parchment. But! He soon realises he is not the only one looking for the Pharaoh’s Tomb and the secrets of eternal life – an archaeological team led by the dastardly Darius Biederbeck (Robert Quarry) is close behind him. Phibes, aided again by his loyal assistant Vulnavia, resorts to what he does best to eliminate the competition – killing them off one by one in ever elaborate ways… Flesh crawls! Blood curdles! Phibes lives! Much like its predecessor, Dr Phibes Rises Again is drenched in an irresistible high camp Gothic and grandiose excess. We open with a recap of the even...