This movie started with a solid 'wronged artist' revenge tale similar to another Price 3D film, House of Wax, as other reviewers have said, but is sunk by too many lame plot contrivances. I'm a fan of Vincent Price's old horror films and I really think this could have been a much better film if they had worked out the kinks in the story as ridiculously unlikely things happen at almost every turn that made me groan and want to yell at my TV. If there's one thing that annoys me, it's when a good horror movie idea is ruined by inept writing.
I had several problems with this movie, including: *SPOILERS ALERT* -Price is crazy enough to drag a dummied up corpse to a bonfire but smart enough to don a disguise (of the murdered man). When bones are found in the ashes, wouldn't someone remember the one guy who dragged a humanoid bundle to the top of the fire and as such wouldn't Price's magician then be smart enough to ditch that disguise afterward so as not to provoke potential police questioning about the bonfire? Why would Price not adopt a completely NEW disguise before renting out that room? -The crematorium device pulls the body into the chamber BEFORE it is heated when first demonstrated. This is important so as not to scorch the person entering the chamber before they get dropped through the trap door in the bottom of the device. Yet when the plot needs a clichéd fight and time for his potential victim to escape he heats the chamber first thereby giving the policeman ample time to get out and turns his back completely on the man to go to the door without continually looking back. As another poster said, the device is created for a repeat performance back into the fiery chamber a short time after the first only so that it can backfire against it's magician creator later when Price dies in a stereotypical fashion.
I had several problems with this movie, including: *SPOILERS ALERT* -Price is crazy enough to drag a dummied up corpse to a bonfire but smart enough to don a disguise (of the murdered man). When bones are found in the ashes, wouldn't someone remember the one guy who dragged a humanoid bundle to the top of the fire and as such wouldn't Price's magician then be smart enough to ditch that disguise afterward so as not to provoke potential police questioning about the bonfire? Why would Price not adopt a completely NEW disguise before renting out that room? -The crematorium device pulls the body into the chamber BEFORE it is heated when first demonstrated. This is important so as not to scorch the person entering the chamber before they get dropped through the trap door in the bottom of the device. Yet when the plot needs a clichéd fight and time for his potential victim to escape he heats the chamber first thereby giving the policeman ample time to get out and turns his back completely on the man to go to the door without continually looking back. As another poster said, the device is created for a repeat performance back into the fiery chamber a short time after the first only so that it can backfire against it's magician creator later when Price dies in a stereotypical fashion.