The Vincent Price Tag

The Vincent Price tag, an online game between horror movie fans in which one fan tags another to answer a list of questions concerning their fandom of Vincent Price, has been spreading across the internet on YouTube and assorted blogs.  My friends Derek M. Koch and Dan Day Jr. have provided their answers recently, and thought I would provide my own at their kind suggestion.

THE QUESTIONS

1) What is your favorite Vincent Price horror film?
My favorite is a somewhat unusual choice, compared to others' preferences, 1954's The Mad Magician, Price's follow-up to House Of Wax, and a role that features him in one of his few roles without his trademark mustache.  In this film, Price plays Gallico a designer of death trap illusions for magic shows, and when his boss derails his plans for a career of his own on the stage, Gallico turns his illusions deadly for revenge.  In some ways the film mimics House Of Wax, but the combination of Price's ferocity during his murders, and his clever covering up of his crimes, sold me on this one.

2)  What is your favorite Vincent Price non-horror film?
I would have to say 1951's His Kind Of Woman- Price isn't the star, as it's a vehicle for Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell, but he's a hoot in his role as Russell's character's boyfriend, a milquetoast actor.  The story concerns a criminal plot to pass a criminal over the border at a Mexican resort, where Mitchum falls for Russell.  But Price upstages his co-stars in a climactic fight with gangsters, using witty insults as he confronts the men.

3)  Who would win in a fight between Vincent Price, Peter Cushing, and Christopher Lee?
The three horror icons of the 1950s-1970s each had many sinister film roles, where they played nefarious and frightening characters.  My thinking is that Lee, as his ferocious Dracula, would bite Price and turn him into a vampire and they would gang up on Cushing, who in his role of the fearless Dr. Van Helsing, would defeat them with the cross and stake, and then switch to his part of Victor Frankenstein, and reassemble their bodies into a new monster.

4)  What was the better Vincent Price contribution to a musical album- his work on Michael Jackson's Thriller, or his participation in Alice Cooper's "Welcome To My Nightmare?"
To be honest, I haven't seen Cooper's video, but remember watching Thriller when the video came out, and it's impressive how Price's dialogue added to the chilling mood.  My girlfriend, a big fan of the Bee Gees, would probably suggest a third option, Price's portrayal of a villain in their mini-movie, Cucumber Castle.

5)  If you could replace one actor in any horror film with Vincent Price, which role would you choose?
It's hard to pick one, especially among good or great horror films where the star made a role his own. I'm thinking then of a lesser horror film, like 1967's The Deadly Bees, where Price would fill in nicely in Frank Finlay's role as a homicidal beekeeper, and perhaps add more menace to his character.

6)  If you met Vincent Price in a movie, he would probably kill you.  How would you want to be killed by Vincent Price?
I'm a wimp, so am immediately ruling out painful deaths.  I'd envision being framed by Price for a murder he committed, and facing execution in the gas chamber or by lethal injection.

7)  Vincent Price guest-starred in several classic TV shows.  What is your favorite appearance?
I'm thinking of an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, "The Perfect Crime" which was directed by Hitchcock himself.  Price plays a detective who is convinced he's always brought the right man to justice, but when an attorney challenges him on a recent case that may have doomed an innocent man, Price does what Price will do.

8)  Vincent Price starred in eight films with the word "house" included in the title.  Which one of these is your favorite?
I'll have to go with House Of Wax, in which Price is just so perfect in his role as a sculptor of wax figures who survives the destruction of his studio, and convinces the audience he's a sympathetic victim, until the memorable climax.  This was the film that really jumpstarted his career in horror films, and his characterizations are excellent.  

9)  If Vincent Price could read you a bedtime story, which one would it be?
A favorite book from childhood was "The Monster At The End Of The Book," a Sesame Street production featuring the muppet Grover begging the reader not to turn the pages, groveling in fear about encountering the monster.  Of course, when you get to the end of the book, the only creature there is Grover, who realizes he's a monster, and the monster in the title.  I can imagine Vincent reading this to youngsters and reveling in the irony.

10)  Vincent Price lent his voice to several animated shows and films.  Which voice over is your favorite?
I'm going to go with Tim Burton's original short for Disney, Vincent, in which Price narrates the tale of a young boy obsessed with the films of Vincent Price, perhaps representing the director himself, and everyone who's fallen under the actor's spell.