10 Vincent Price Movies To Consider For October/Halloween

To all celebrating The Ides of March, I need you to go watch Theater of Blood right now, where Vincent Price plays a proto-slasher who kills people in the manner of deaths from Shakespeare plays. (Titus Andronicus is especially gruesome!)

When the movie opened with a scene where a wife tells her husband “Please don’t go out today, your horoscope is all wrong!” I think I cheered.

request for you mommy - favorite gifs or screencaps of our favorite six foot five grandpa from theater of blood? preferably ones that show his thick pencilstache.... mmm

Your wish is my command, mah hear.

Some of my favorite gifs of him in this movie.

Vincent Price as Edward Lionheart - Theater of Blood (1973)

Theater of Blood (1973) 

Hubris Bracket Side A Poll 5: Edward Kendal Sheridan Lionheart (Theater of Blood) vs SHODAN (System Shock)

Propaganda below (may contain spoilers)

Edward Kendal Sheridan Lionheart

Convinced he is the world's greatest Shakespearian actor despite being hated by critics, Lionheart was so sure he was going to be awarded Best Actor by the Critics' Circle that he had already risen to his feet to accept it before it was announced it was going to someone else. He then walked into the critics' meeting to demand they hand him the award as "the whole world knows that it is mine by right" (yes, he sometimes speaks in iambic pentameter even when not acting). They refuse and he attempts suicide by throwing himself into the Thames while holding the award (after reciting To Be Or Not To Be on the ledge). He survives, and then decides to murder the critics one by one in ways based on different Shakespeare plays before capturing the final surviving one and threatening him into handing over the award. However, the critic still refuses to give him the award, and Lionheart resorts to having his daughter present him with the award, then setting fire to the old theatre he's been using as his base when the cops arrive. His daughter is killed in the chaos, and her death absolutely destroys him--he climbs to the roof of the burning building, carrying her dead body and reciting quotes from King Lear, then falls to his death. He has everything--the ego, the dramatics, the tragic fate... despite the many many crimes he commits you can't help but feel sorry for him (at least I can't).

SHODAN

A rampant space station AI who declares herself god and starts building killer cyborgs and mutagenic viruses about it. Ultimately brought down because she is so obsessed with the deadly perfection of her creations that it never occurs to her to just depressurize the entire deck her nemesis is on.

(via Home / Twitter)

Vincent Price and Diana Rigg in Theater of Blood

You may be fabulous...but are you Vincent Price as Butch "Butchie" The Hairdresser?

Vincent Price and Diana Rigg for Theatre of Blood (1973).

The Price May Be Right - Number 9

Welcome to “The Price May Be Right!” I’ve been counting down My Top 31 Favorite Vincent Price Performances & Appearances! The countdown will cover movies, TV productions, and many more forms of media. Today we focus on Number 9: Edward Lionheart, from Theater of Blood.

Earlier in the countdown, I talked about Vincent’s titular role in the Dr. Phibes films. Those movies, if you recall, blended a combination of satirical, campy humor with genuine horror and grotesque scenes of death and torture; sort of a precursor to the “Scream” films in their combination of comedy and gruesome frights. The 1973 one-off motion picture “Theater of Blood” was, in many ways, an answer to the popularity of the two Dr. Phibes films, as it used a similar sense of style and tone. In fact, the producers initially offered the movie to Robert Fuest, who had directed the Phibes movies. Fuest, however, turned the project down, as he felt the movie was TOO similar to those earlier pictures, and he wanted to try and work on other projects. The movie was ultimately directed by Douglas Hickox. In the film, Vincent plays one Edward Lionheart: a Shakespearean performer who genuinely believes he is the greatest actor in the entire world. Seriously. As a result, when a group of critics pan and humiliate him at an awards ceremony, the disillusioned performer vows bitter vengeance. He first fakes his own apparent suicide, then goes on a gory quest to destroy those who attacked his work, aided by his daughter, Edwina (played by Diana Rigg). Lionheart uses the works of Shakespeare as the motif tying all his killings together, and quotes lines and passages from the Bard throughout the picture. That lattermost point is the reason why Vincent often claimed this was one of his favorite roles. Despite the sheer breadth of his work, from the stage to the silver screen and even to television…somewhat surprisingly, Vincent never actually got to play a part in any Shakespearean productions. This was somewhat saddening to Price, as he was, in fact, a fan of Shakespeare’s works, and desperately longed to perform in a Shakespearean play. In “Theater of Blood,” Price got a chance to quote, recite, and perform some of the Bard’s most popular characters and stories: it was the closest to Shakespeare the actor ever got, and he relished every moment of it. The film was rewarding for Price in other ways, as it was during the making of this movie he met his third wife, Coral Browne. Ironically Browne plays one of the critics Lionheart murders in the movie…I guess they were getting the relationship battles out of the way ahead of time. :P While the movie has several similarities to Dr. Phibes, with its story and its tone, I think it still stands on its own well enough. Interestingly, Price disliked a lot of the movies he made around this time period, as he felt the increasingly explicit and gory trends of fright films in the late 60s and throughout the 70s clashed with his own moviemaking philosophies as an actor. “Theater of Blood,” however, was one he never had anything but good things to say about, and apparently many other actors on the cast – which featured a veritable “Who’s Who?” of great performers, mostly from the UK – felt the same. The film is both classy and completely irreverent; terrifying and yet totally silly. What better blend to match the power of Price? Tomorrow, the countdown continues with Number 8!

Vincent Price // P.R.I.C.E. is for.... // edit

Happy Birthday in the afterlife to Vincent Price!

May I request some Theatre of Blood gifs if you can find/make them? That movie absolutely slaps (and according to his daughter he loved making it). Thanks for all you do to make tumblr a brighter/spookier/classier/hotter place!

PS, hugely recommend The Mads Are Back’s episode on The Tingler, which features an after-show Q&A with Victoria Price. She tells some truly amazing stories about her dad!

You're in luck!! I have some stashed away!!! I love him in the movie! He was so goofy and I know he had to enjoy killing all of the critics - I mean, he is Vincent Price and the more evil and mean the character, the more he loved it! I just love seeing him be delightfully evil!!!

Theater of Blood (1973) - Australian Poster

xarpus sketches