10 Memorable Vincent Price Characters

Paul Toombes is one of the most successful horror actors in Hollywood, known for playing Dr Death, a character who resembles The Crimson Ghost, in 5 pictures. Following a screening of his latest film, he learns that his bride-to-be once worked for a sleazy adult film producer, which leads to an argument. Attempting to make amends later, Toombes approaches her in her dressing room and discovers she’s been decapitated.

Years later, after a spell in a sanitarium, Toombes returns to the franchise that made him famous, but when his colleagues start dying in gruesome ways inspired by the Dr Death films, he begins to wonder: is someone attempting to drive him insane or is he capable of murder without remembering it?

Based on a novel by Angus Hall, Madhouse bears little resemblance to the source material, where Toombes is portrayed as an overweight slob. In his memoir Dream Repairman, director Jim Clark recalls that the script was constantly being rewritten on set and Price often got into heated arguments with the producers – all while wearing his Dr Death make-up, no less.