Cavalcade of Awesome

It’s the Vincentennial! Vincent Price would be 100 years old this year, so people all over the net are celebrating the films of the godfather of horror. Strange Kids Club has been having Price-centric articles all week. I wrote one about Vincent Price and the origin of the Michael Jackson song Thriller.  Today, I thought I’d continue the celebration with a look at some awesome and vintage movie ads for some of Vincent Price’s films.

Some of these movies are his most popular (The Fly, Masque of the Red Death) and some may surprise you (Beach Party?).  Regardless, they are an awesome bit of marketing and movie history.  So without further ado, here are 10 vintage ads for movies starring Vincent Price.  I’ve put them in chronological order.

The Fly (1958) – One of his most famous. And a suitably creepy movie on its own.

Return of the Fly (1959) – Rushed sequel that can’t really live up.

The Bat (1959) – A serial killer called The Bat terrorizes the residents of a creepy mansion.

Beach Party (1963) – Yes, Vincent Price played Big Daddy in this Annette Funicello-Frankie Avalon beach comedy. I love the art and how busy this ad looks. The ad itself is huge, so click the image to see it FULL SIZE.

Masque of the Red Death (1964) – A Satan worshipping prince provides shelter to his supporters during a plague known as The Red Death. Soon, a very real killer, dressed all in red, is stalking the Prince. Click the image to see it a bit bigger.

Twice Told Tales (1964) – This movie contains three smaller stories based on the writings of Nathanial Hawthorne.

War Gods of the Deep (1965) – I featured this ad on Held Over earlier this year for my underwater disaster series.  The movie title is super bad ass and I love the look of this ad.  The alternative title was City in the Sea, which, honestly, is LAME in comparison to War Gods of the Deep.

House of Wax 3D (1981) – A pretty good horror story about the creepy owner of wax museum. You can also see Charles Bronson in this movie. This would be remade in 2005 with Elisha Cuthbert and Paris Hilton.

The Great Mouse Detective (1986) – Disney’s anamorphic animal take on Sherlock Holmes. Price voices the villain, Professor Ratigan. It’s a classic and definitely worth watching, especially if you are a Holmes fan.

Edward Scissorhands (1990) – In one of his last filmed movie roles, Price plays the Frankenstein-like Inventor to Johnny Depp’s Edward. While he takes his lumps from “The Internet”, for me, Burton is mostly good. I enjoy Batman, Beetlejuice, Ed Wood, Nightmare Before Christmas and Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. I do not enjoy Planet of the Apes, Mars Attacks! or Big Fish. And there are other movies of Burton’s I just enjoy regardless of how good they are.  I do, however, like this movie. It’s not a “sit down and watch at any time” classic like Nightmare Before Christmas or Beetlejuice, but I think it’s a good movie.  Anthony Michael Hall is hilarious as Jim.

This entry was posted on May 27, 2011 at 10:45 am and is filed under advertising, movies, pop culture, Vincent Price with tags advertising, Held Over, movies, nostalgia, pop culture, vintage. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.