After being out-priced (no pun intended) from our regular SHOCK IT TO ME! venue, we resigned ourselves to foregoing our annual October show this year, and instead turn our efforts to 2010. Then, about 14 days ago, I was contacted by a friend at Landmark Theaters, who asked if we could help them with a show for two night that they had available at the end of the month. Within seven days, we came up with an excellent night of prime Vincent Price:The San Francisco-based classic horror film festival, SHOCK IT TO ME!, in conjunction with Landmark's Clay Theater, are presenting a very special two-night, "Vincent Price Double Feature" event, boasting a pair of true horror classics dug up deep from the vaults of American International Pictures (courtesy of MGM): THE LAST MAN ON EARTH and TOMB OF LIGEIA, as well as a cache of classic horror trailers and other spooky surprises.
Sidney Salkow’s THE LAST MAN ON EARTH (1964), features Vincent Price as the sole survivor of a world-wide biological disaster, which has rendered mankind a race of nocturnal, vampiric ghouls, whom he hunts by day – to drive stakes into their hearts – but must stave them off in a barricaded house by night, tormented by their unrelenting sieges.
Based on Richard Matheson’s “I Am Legend”, THE LAST MAN ON EARTH was one of the inspirations for George Romero’s seminal Night Of The Living Dead (1968), and was revisited as the Charlton Heston vehicle, The Omega Man (1971), and then as I Am Legend (2007), starring Will Smith. But, neither of these over-bloated productions had the grit, the oppressive, doomed atmosphere or the pathos of the original Vincent Price film.
Roger Corman’s TOMB OF LIGEIA (1965) was the final, triumphant entry in a series of eight, ground and box office breaking films based on the works of famed American Gothic writer Edgar Allen Poe, all (save for one) starring Vincent Price. Beautiful color cinematography shot on location in Norfolk, England, highlight this tale of love and obsession beyond the grave, from a screenplay by Chinatown's Robert Towne.
Price plays Verden Fell, a man obsessed by the certainty that his dead wife has returned in the form of a black cat, seeking to possess his new bride-to-be—a dual-role played by Elizabeth Sheppard (originally cast as Emma Peel on The Avengers). Ultimately, Fell must face the spirit of Ligeia, and resist her hold on him or suffer his own horrible demise.
This double-feature presentation (both films screen on the same night with an intermission between the features) will be presented in shocking, new 35mm prints! Tickets for the show are a scream at only $10.50 (General) & $8.00 (Seniors/Child/Student), and are prices you can't shake a stake at these days for these two great thrillers, starring the "Merchant of Meance" himself, VINCENT PRICE! Showtime each night starts at 7:00 pm.
The Clay Theater is located at 2261 Fillmore Street in San Francisco. Call 415-346-1124 for more information.
JUST ADDED! In a special arrangement with the producers, copies of the brand-new NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD documentary,
AUTOPSY OF THE DEAD, will be on sale in the Clay Theater lobby during our Vincent Price Double Feature Show! A few lucky attendees may also receive a free copy of the documentary as a special door prize! Attendees will also have a chance to grab a promotional poster for this undead documentary!
Watch the
AUTOPSY OF THE DEAD trailer!
Purchase advance tickets: Landmark Tickets
Official event website: SHOCK IT TO ME!
Venue website: Clay Theater
Landmark's event website: Landmark After Dark
