A: To
be perfectly honest, the setting was entirely pragmatic. Theater is so
prohibitively expensive to produce nowadays that I decided to write a
play with the lowest overhead I could imagine. And what could be more
minimalist than Purgatory? I mean, what's there? Nothing but you and
your sins. And it's such a great place for drama. The stakes are high.
The internal conflict unavoidable. How long's it gonna take for our hero
to work through his shit to get to Heaven? Well, since it's a play, I
promise it'll be under 90 minutes.
Q: It’s pretty clear from Price In Purgatory, and the delightful journey
through Vincent’s films featured in Diabolically Good: The Movie Career and Afterlife of Horror Icon Vincent Price, that you have a
real love for classic cinema. The film guide is written with wit, style
and obvious affection for Vincent and his work. It’s an enjoyable read,
and a wonderful trip through his expansive filmography. Was he a hero
of yours growing up?
A: He
was definitely a source of fascination. He could be so effortlessly
distinct, so strangely 19th century. By turns sly and sinister, silly
and suave, he set off my gaydar before I knew what gaydar was.
Ultimately, for me, Price registered as a man who wasn't afraid of being
typecast and someone who knew that being bad could be fun. I think
subliminally, he emerged as a kind of role model for how to exist in the
world. Not the torture thine enemies part. More the embrace your
eccentricities thing. Be your one-of-a-kind self!
Q: I love that you singled out The Haunted Palace as the best of the
Corman/Poe cycle (and noted the film’s H.P. Lovecraft connection),
praised his enjoyably over the top performance in His Kind of Woman, and
saluted his work in House on Haunted Hill, all of which are favorites
of mine, as is The Baron of Arizona. Do you have any special favorites
among Price’s films?
A: One new favorite initially proved to be quite difficult to find: Return of the Fly.
But I eventually tracked it down in laser disc form at the Film
Archives at Yale then spent a joyous afternoon in a booth watching it
alone. Shot in black and white with a terrific noir score, this sequel
to The Fly is B-movie perfection: A
cautionary tale about teleportation in which a mad scientist's son ends
up doomed to swap heads with an insect just like his dad. The sins of
the father revisit the next generation! And as ridiculous as this
sounds, I'm still haunted by that movie's image of a guinea pig who re-materializes with a pair of human hands. Dumb yes, but scary, too.
Q: What I also appreciated about the film guide in Diabolically Good is
that you also take time to celebrate Price’s work in some of the lesser films
among his oeuvre. Can a movie with Vincent Price in it
really be all bad? You also mentioned re-watching some of his movies
while preparing the book. Did your opinion on any of those films change
when you saw them again?
A: When revisiting his filmography, I was reminded that The Ten Commandments is
a Vincent Price movie too. Price may not get star billing like Charlton
Heston and Yul Brynner but in terms of villainy, he's the most twisted.
Which is saying a lot. There's a reason that Heston's Moses
bare-handedly strangles Price's character in a fit of rage. That movie
also may have been when I realized that Price is a star no matter how
he's billed and how many lines he's given. He's consistently memorable.
Q: You honor and acknowledge the fact that Vincent has become something of
a queer icon. He’s certainly a charismatic performer who appeals to a
wide spectrum of fans. Do you think he would have embraced that status?
A: Price was ahead of his time in terms of LGBTQ+ rights. He
toured an unapologetically gay-affirming one-man-show about Oscar Wilde
internationally in the 1970s. He was an honorary board member of PFLAG.
He made PSAs about AIDS when most of his peers were afraid to do so. So
while he may not have been out as bisexual, he was fearless in many
other ways that count.
Q: Horror is a genre that has cycled in and out of popularity throughout
the years. The fright films which are currently successful are,
for the most part, quite a bit different than the ones that were
released in Price’s heyday. Do you think we’ll ever see the style of
films which featured iconic performers like Vincent Price, Christopher
Lee or Boris Karloff again, or has the cinematic world of horror changed too much?
A: I
wonder if what's changed is the medium. Marquee stars still headline
horror if you consider TV. We've been blessed with Jessica Lange on American Horror Story, Winona Ryder in Stranger Things, and Sarah Paulson in Ratched. On the big screen, there's also been an unforgettable Glenn Close and Mo'Nique in the underrated The Deliverance. And may I remind you how many Price fright flicks have come back to haunt us in new versions: Cronenberg's brilliant The Fly, the star-studded remake of House on Haunted Hill, and two updates of The Last Man on Earth -- The Omega Man and I Am Legend. Vincent Price will never die.
Many thanks to Drew Pisarra for chatting with me about his latest project, Diabolically Good: The Movie Career and Afterlife of Horror Icon Vincent Price. This terrific book, which also includes thoughtful and well-written introductions by Sean Redlitz and Maitland McDonagh, is now available from Anxiety Press, and can be purchased from online retailers like Amazon.
