Category: Releases

Cooking Price-Wise | Vincent Price’s legendary 1971 TV cookery show on Blu-ray for the very first time!

You don’t need to be a master chef to join cinema’s master of terror, Vincent Price, in the kitchen for Cooking Price-Wise, a brilliantly bizarre crash course in very 1970s cookery!

Never previously released before, it comes to Blu-ray courtesy of BFI Flipside on 25 November.

Many extras include a new interview with Victoria Price, new audio commentaries, Silver Screen Suppers’ Jenny Hammerton preparing classic Price dishes and much more – including an article written by Vincent Price Legacy UK curator Peter Fuller.

During the early years of that delicious decade that was the 1970s, while Vincent Price was on a sojourn in England, the iconic screen star and fine-dining aficionado took an unlikely break from macabre movies to rustle up this six-part television series, a labour of love designed to get bored British housewives serving up something a little different.

From melon monsters to crocodile cucumbers, not forgetting the perfect soufflé, the marvellous Mr Price is your genial and garrulous host amid the paisley-patterned saucepans as he demonstrates favourite recipes from around the world – in a fantastic, long-sought-after full-fat celebrity cookery show unlike any other.

Special features

  • Presented on Blu-ray in both High Definition and Standard Definition
  • Until We Eat Again (2024, 18 mins): Vincent Price’s daughter, the writer and inspirational speaker Victoria Price, reflects upon her father’s love of the finer things in life
  • Audio commentaries on selected episodes: Episode 1: Potatoes (Vic Pratt and William Fowler), Episode 3: Bacon (Lisa Kerrigan and Dr Josephine Botting), Episode 4: Cheese (Jenny Hammerton and Peter Fuller)
  • Monster Munch (2024, 25 mins): the Queen of the Kitchen, Jenny Hammerton of Silver Screen Suppers, demonstrates how you too can prepare classic Vincent Price dishes in this all-new kitchen caper
  • Kitchenfinder General (2024, 21 mins): Jenny Hammerton celebrates Vincent Price’s writing on cookery and his love of all things edible
  • A selection of food-related films made by the Central Office of Information (1940-1949, 30 mins total): Oatmeal Porridge, Potatoes, When the Pie Was Opened, How to Cook a Cabbage and The Good Housewife ‘In Her Kitchen’
  • Tea Making Tips (1941, 10 mins): take the strain out of brewing up a perfect cuppa with this handy wartime instructional film
  • Centenary Express (1980, 7 mins): a gastronomic journey from Yorkshire to London on board a special train formed of vintage restaurant cars and hauled by a steam locomotive
  • ***First pressing only*** Illustrated booklet with new writing by Victoria Price, Peter Fuller, Jenny Hammerton and Vic Pratt; notes on the special features and credits

Product details 
UK / 1971 / colour / 143 mins / English language with optional descriptive subtitles / original aspect ratio 1.33:1 // BD50: 1080i, 25fps, LPCM 2.0 mono audio (48kHz/24-bit)

Where to buy: Pre-order from the BFI Shop

Share This:

The Oblong Box (1969) | The British Gothic horror gets a UK Blu-ray debut release

Great news for UK fans of Vincent Price, Christopher Lee and classic British horror, 1969’s The Oblong Box, is getting a Blu-ray release courtesy of the BFI (available from Monday, 21 October 2024).

In shadow-shrouded Victorian England, Sir Julian Markham (Price) is a landowner hiding a terrible family secret, while Dr Neuhartt (Lee) is a surgeon carrying out dreadful experiments upon stolen cadavers. When their disparate destinies entwine – and a mysterious murderer in a red mask begins a mission of vengeance – a series of brazen, bloody atrocities ensue.

Those masters of terror, Price and Lee, are both at their spine-chilling best in this grisly gothic tale of the macabre, inspired by an Edgar Allan Poe story and produced and directed by Gordon Hessler for American International Pictures. Actors and crew that worked on 1968’s Witchfinder General were brought together again for this stylishly shot, fast-paced slice of Grand Guignol from 1969 – featuring customarily powerful performances from its charismatic cast.

Released by the BFI – its first time on Blu-ray in the UK, extras include a newly filmed interview with Victoria Price, who discusses her father’s career, and an article about the film’s production by — guess who? Yep! Me! I do hope you enjoy reading it and adding the film to your Vincent Price Blu-ray collection.

SPECIAL FEATURES

  • Presented in High Definition
  • Audio commentary by film historian Steve Haberman (2015) – ported over from the US Kino Lorber Blu-ray release
  • The Immortal Mr Price (2024, 17 mins): Victoria Price discusses her father’s career and his trips to England in the late 1960s
  • The Bells (1913, 15 mins): Edgar Allan Poe’s poignant poem underpins this silent film rarity, which tells a melodramatic tale of love and death
  • Prelude (1927, 7 mins): Rachmaninov’s wonderfully disturbing ‘Prelude in C-sharp minor’ sets the tone for a silent, nightmarish reverie on Poe’s The Premature Burial
  • The Pit (1962, 27 mins): a strange and experimental gothic short, adapted from Poe’s The Pit and the Pendulum
  • Roger Corman on Edgar Allan Poe (2013, 9 mins): the legendary director and producer discusses his Poe adaptations, including The Pit and the Pendulum and The Masque of the Red Death
  • Image gallery: original stills and promotional materials
  • Theatrical trailer
  • ***First pressing only*** Illustrated booklet with essays by Peter Fuller and Benjamin Halligan: notes on the special features and credits

Pre-order from the BFI Shop

Share This:

Scream and Scream Again | The HD Blu-ray comparisons of this prime slice of Surrey-ealism

So, UK fans have finally been treated with the UK Blu-ray debut of Scream and Scream Again, featuring both the US and UK versions, courtesy of the newly-formed Radiance Films (September 2023).

The film had its first Blu-ray release by Twilight Time in October 2015 (region-free), featuring just the US cut. Both cuts were later included on the Blu-ray release by Kino Lorber in April 2019 (region A) in the US (and the UK, but also Region A) and by Wicked Vision in Germany in April 2021 (region free), where it made its European premiere.

So, is the Radiance Films Blu-ray HD release of the cult 1970s Frankenscience-thriller worth a region-free ‘triple-distilled dip’? Below is how it stacks up against the previous releases.

But in a nutshell… Given that the same Kino print is used in all of the releases (with some extra restoration work carried out on the digital file for the Radiance release), it’s really down to the extras. For me, the Wicked Vision release comes up trumps against the US releases, and even if you can’t read German, it includes a fabulous 24-page booklet.

But I’m really happy to include the new Radiance Films UK release to my Vincent Price collection, if only for the inclusion of the interviews, both new and archive (the Julian Holloway and Clifford Earl ones are the most interesting), Ramsey Campbell’s contribution, and Anne Bilson’s essay (I so chuckled at her calling the film ‘a prime example of Surrey-ealism’). Plus, Jonathan Rigby is always a pleasure to listen to (and comes up with some real trivia gems about some of the film’s major and minor players while also comparing the film with the source novel) – while Kevin Lyons makes a suitable sidekick (offering up some local info on the filming location.

However, as to me gleaning any new info myself from those interviews and commentary… well, a couple of things have been added to my 20 Things You Must Know About… however, the location of the Crossways house used at the end of the film remains a mystery to us all.

HERE’S WHAT YOU GET…

  • High-definition digital transfer of both the US and UK cuts. The British cut was supplied by Kino and is the same one used on the Wicked Vision release.
  • UNIQUE Audio commentary with Jonathan Rigby and Kevin Lyons. Twilight features a commentary by David Del Valle and Tim Sullivan, KIno has Tim Lucas, and Wicked Vision has David Del Valle and writer/producer Phoef Sutton.
  • UNIQUE Interviews with…
    – Actor Christopher Matthews (October 2020, 7 min)
    – Actor Julian Holloway (May 2023, 8min)
    – Editor Peter Elliott (July 2019) and Props-person Arthur Wicks (January 2023, 4 min)
  • Archive Interviews with…
    – Actor Clifford Earl (2015, 18 min): UNIQUE: This was filmed by Derek Pykett, but I don’t think it has been included in any previous DVD releases.
    – Uta Screams Again: actress Uta Levka (2000, 8.43) Available on both the Twilight and Wicked Vision releases)
  • UNIQUE Ramsey Campbell on Christopher Wicking and ‘Peter Saxon’ (2023, 11min)
  • Gentleman Gothic: Gordon Hessler at American International Pictures (2015, 23min) Ported over from Twilight release and also included on the Wicked Vision release.
  • Super 8 Version The Radiance release is a re-creation of the German version, with Scream and Scream Again title in English. The Twilight release has the title: The Living Corpses of Dr. Mabuse, while the Wicked Vision release is: Die lebenden Leichen des Dr. Mabuse.
  • Deleted scenes (included in the UK version)
    – Slyvia and Keith are Watched
    – Bellaver throws rocks
    – Extended Discussion and End as Vincent says: ‘But the dream?’. And Lee replies: ‘ There is only time for nightmare’, before ending with a shot of the empty operating theatre.
    These are also available on the Wicked Vision release.
  • Mick Garris: Trailers from Hell (2013, 2.33min) Also on Kino and Wicked Vision releases.
  • Trailer A blue-tinted German dubbed version is on the Wicked Vision release, while the Twilight Time and Radiance Films releases have the US trailer with the classic Cushing credit error.
  • UNIQUE Reversible sleeve featuring designs based on original posters
  • UNIQUE Limited edition booklet featuring two essays, An Exquisite Corpse of Incongruous Surrey-ealism by Anne Bilson (2023) and A Termite in a Crazy Circus: Chris Wicking (1998/2023) by Julian Petley, cast and crew info and transfer notes
  • UNIQUE Three postcards
  • UNIQUE Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip 
  • NOT INCLUDED: Radio Spot US language version available on Twilight and Kino releases, and a German version available on Wicked Vision.
  • NOT INCLUDED: Isolated score track Included on the Twilight release.

Share This: