(Streamed via YouTube)
Vincent Price hosts this silly shot on video look back at the Golden Age of Horror. He sits down and reminisces about horror films and stars with the likes of Frank Gorshin (who does a good Karloff impression), John Carradine (who discusses silent horror films like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The Golem, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and The Phantom of the Opera), and John Astin (who helps plug Famous Monsters of Filmland). Later, he goes down into “the dungeon” where a make-up man transforms Candy Clark into a witch. A vampire expert also shows up to talk about Dracula Has Risen from the Grave. It all ends with a tribute to Price complete with clips of House of Wax, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Raven, and his (then) latest film, Madhouse.
The Horror Hall of Fame was co-written by Famous Monsters’ Forrest J. Ackerman who I’m sure supplied as much information about the movies as he did the bad puns. That’s kind of the problem, as there’s more time devoted to unfunny shtick (the comic relief hunchback sidekick is rather unbearable) than an actual informative exploration of the subject. The constant use of phony canned laughter and applause gets irritating after a while too.
Since it was made in ’74, they spend more time talking about the then-current horror films like The Exorcist and Blacula and briefly talk about the “new popular stars” like Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. While there are brief segments on Boris Karloff (Die! Die! My Darling), Peter Lorre (Mad Love), and Bela Lugosi (Mark of the Vampire), there really aren’t as many clips as you’d think. I did like seeing part of the Schlock trailer though.
The best part is when Price talks about how big-name movie stars often get their start in monster movies and shows scenes of Michael Landon in I Was a Teenage Werewolf and Steve McQueen in The Blob before introducing clips from Beast from 20,000 Fathoms and Them. While this sequence is little more than a greatest hits compilation, at least it’s better than all the comic relief shit. It’s also cool seeing Price showing off props from Ackerman’s memorabilia collection and hocking Godzilla model kits, but ultimately, connoisseurs of the subject will find little of substance here. Kids might get a kick out of it though.
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