mostly impeccably detailed, especially in terms of emphasizing details of set decoration, but which occasionally reveals swimming digital re- pair streaks in black areas (see the disembodied head monologues) and excessive grain-freckling on facial features (see Carol Ohmart at 10:30).
Unlike the majority of the other features in the VPCII set, it is given its own disc, allowing for a modest enhancement of its bit rate. Steve Haberman is on hand with the first-ever audio commentary for the film. His talk is eloquent, especially when he describes the appeal of Vincent Price and the effectiveness of this particular film and its workings, but is also let down by some post- production carelessness not his fault. His voice is heard without the usual cushion of background movie sound, so that its silent passages sound uncomfortably stark and exposed, and here as else- where, his occasional stumbles over his reading— this happens to anyone doing this job—are left intact, though they could easily have been edited out. I will lay at Steve’s door, however, the lack of any mention of Leona Anderson, responsible for the film’s biggest scare, who was likely hired due to her novelty album MUSIC TO SUFFER BY and 45
rpm single “Fish” (featured on THE ERNIE KOVACS SHOW), which made Anderson as much a part of the Sick Humor cultural landscape as Vampira or Lenny Bruce.
The extras mostly originate from MGM’s 2007
release VINCENT PRICE: MGM SCREAM LEG- ENDS COLLECTION: “Vincent Price: Renaissance
Man” (27m 20s), “The Art of Fear” (12m 13s), and “Working with Vincent Price” (15m 26s), which in- clude input from Haberman, Kim Newman, David Del Valle, Price exhibit curator Richard Squires,
screenwriter Christopher Wicking and RETURN OF THE FLY/TWICE TOLD TALES co-star Brett Halsey.
Also, carried over from the previous VINCENT PRICE COLLECTION set is “Introductory Price: Undertak- ing THE VINCENT PRICE GOTHIC HORRORS,” in which former Iowa Public Television producer Paul Larson and director Duane Huey recount the taping
of the introductions for THE RAVEN and THE COM- EDY OF TERRORS included in THE VINCENT PRICE COLLECTION II. There is also a repetition of the roughly 25m bounty of Price trailers that pre-
viously accompanied THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH in the previous set, some of which feature exclusive footage of Price breaking the fourth wall
to address the audience, as in the legendary [THE] HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL trailer itself, also included (1m 40s).
Produced by Robert Lippert for 20th Century Fox, RETURN OF THE FLY is commonly criticized for being a black-and-white CinemaScope follow- up to the CinemaScope DeLuxe color original, but
HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL: Vincent Price ponders the question of why he ever married duplicitous Carol Ohmart. It must be because she was so amusing.
Video Watchdog 179 Digital Exclusive 35-B
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