New Jersey-born author Drew Pisarra has released a new book called Diabolically Good: The Movie Career and Afterlife of Horror Icon Vincent Price (Anxiety Press 2026).
The author said he had become interested in learning more about this Old Hollywood star when he realized that he was his celebrity lookalike. He had gotten a few comments from friends remarking on his resemblance to Vincent Price.
“I felt compelled to take a deeper look. And wow, what a life that man led. He wrote A Treasury of Great Recipes, the first celebrity cookbook. He was a passionate art collector who now has a museum named after him in Los Angeles. He worked with everyone from Bette Davis to Tim Burton. He even had a muppet made in his honor,” said Pisarra, who began a residency this summer at ARTS 14C, a multidisciplinary arts organization located in Jersey City’s Powerhouse Arts District.
Growing up in New Jersey, Pisarra said that he felt surrounded by Italian-American culture. Being of both Italian and Albanian descent, his family often favored the Italian side because of the rich history of Italians in the United States. Up until he was 8 years old he lived in New Jersey, then he spent the rest of his childhood living in Maryland.
“Think of all the great Italian-Americans from Jersey: Frank Sinatra, Connie Francis, James Gandolfini, John Travolta… Who’d want to relinquish that rich heritage? And as a Jersey boy by birth, I suppose I don’t have to. Also shout-out to Danny DeVito, a Jerseyite who’s Italian and Albanian. Proud of my Albanian-Italian heritage here.”
He explained that what sparked his interest in writing was reading and said that he especially drew inspiration from the works of authors such as Jean Genet, Virginia Woolf, James Baldwin and Gertrude Stein.
“In a way, writing has been my attempt to discover my own way of thinking. There’s something about the process of writing that can be very much about self-discovery and self-perception, just like the act of reading opens your eyes to other points of view.”
Throughout his career, Pisarra has exhibited a very imaginative writing style and his newest work continues this even further.
He has been involved in many different modes of art, including his work as a playwright and the multiple books of poetry he has published. He has already written a play about Vincent Price, titled Price in Purgatory, which chronicles the horror movie legend’s humorous journey out of hell and into heaven.
After learning that Price had a rather devoted segment of fans in the Mormon church after he played Joseph Smith in the 1940 movie Brigham Young, Pisarra became inspired to write the play. In it, Price is resigned to hell because of all the horror villains he represented on screen throughout the decades. Wondering what it would be like if that small fandom carried over into the afterlife, his play features a plotline in which members of the Mormon church lobbied God to allow Price out of hell and into purgatory.
While the concept of purgatory might be more familiarly associated with Catholicism, Mormons, according to mormonbeliefs.org, believe in a similar state of limbo they call the spirit world.
Many people remember Price as a horror icon or perhaps for his voice contribution to Michael Jackson’s Thriller, but he also has risen to icon status in the LGBTQ+ community. For Pisarra, it only makes sense that a countercultural genre such as horror would attract people from marginalized groups.
“What is Get Out if not a critique of racism? What is The Faculty if not a call to action against a corrupt gerontocracy? What is Ex-Machina if not a warning about the dangers of AI? Timeless across the board and proof that horror challenges both the entrenched oppressors and the dehumanizing status quo.”
Many of the roles that Price has played are incredibly campy, something that seemingly always has the power to turn a film into a cult classic.
Aside from just being part of a genre that appeals to the LGBTQ+ community, during his lifetime Price showed his support in a number of ways. Little known to many, Price had actually performed a one-man show called Diversions and Delights that followed the final days of Oscar Wilde.
Pisarra explained that “when homophobe Anita Bryant tried to diss his show, Price supposedly quipped that Wilde wrote a play about her too: A Woman of No Importance.”
Price’s daughter is a lesbian herself and claims that he may have been bisexual. When she came out of the closet, Price became an honorary board member of PFLAG, an organization that advocates for the LGBTQ+ community throughout the entire country.
Even those who have not heard of Price can’t escape the influence he’s had on a great deal of popular culture. His work spanned many decades, and he was an incredibly versatile actor. He made many appearances on television in addition to his numerous film roles. Price’s impressive career became almost a blueprint for the modern celebrity, Pisarra explained in his book.
The book itself includes the author’s live radio play, Price in Purgatory, as well as an extensive review of the many on-screen appearances of Price.
Throughout the first section of the book, Price goes through all of the seven deadly sins in a way that is similar to Dante’s Inferno. One of the most entertaining scenes from this book was when Price’s guide throughout the spirit realm becomes identical to him. At a certain point, they begin to fight, and the reader can only imagine how amusing it would be to see Price fighting Price in real life.
Aside from being absolutely hysterical, Price in Purgatory asks the audience to contemplate morality and the afterlife. This section of the book makes the reader ask questions like what does it mean to be dead? What is it like to encounter God? What are heaven, hell and purgatory like? And, furthermore, where does everyone end up?
There was a part of the story where a Mormon advocacy group became the reason Price was brought out of hell and into purgatory, which was incredibly amusing. The end of the first section leaves the reader confused and disoriented, but in a way that makes you want to know more.
In the second section of the book, Pisarra paints a picture of Price’s very diverse filmography. The film icon was known for playing villains, but Price did not stick exclusively to the film genre of horror. In addition to Brigham Young, he was featured in films of many different genres, including romance, historical fiction, comedy and, of course, horror.
Many of the films Price was featured in are the pinnacle of camp, with him often in the role of an eccentric villain. Especially in the horror film The Tingler, where Pisarra in his book praises him for “his ability to say the most ludicrous lines with the utmost seriousness.” It seems that his line delivery was one of the skills Price had that made him so memorable as an actor, according to Pisarra.
Pisarra wrote that while Price’s reputation as an icon the horror genre has endured, other horror villains have become almost disposable. Villains are now often played by different actors throughout a film’s multiple sequels, whereas the villains that Price played throughout his career are memorable specifically because of his performance. Many people remember characters like Jigsaw and Michael Myers, but not necessarily the actors who played them.
For Pisarra, Price’s signature laugh was one of the qualities that made him so memorable for audiences. And this was for a good reason, the first sound that pops into people’s minds when they hear the phrase “evil laugh” is the star’s iconic cackle that he did in Jackson’s Thriller.
In the book, Pisarra mentions two films, The Fly and The Fly Returns, which are so outlandish that they have left a lasting impression on audiences. His role in this film once again shows audiences his ability to play a convincing villain.
One of the most iconic films in the long list of Price’s career happened to be Edward Scissorhands, which has been loved by many since its release in 1990. This movie, along with The Fly, is one of Price’s better known works. Featuring other household names like Winona Ryder and Johnny Depp, it’s understandable why Pisarra said he had heard of this classic before some of the more obscure films Price starred in.
Reading through all of Price’s accomplishments in acting, Diabolically Good provides an entertaining look into the intriguing life of a man who changed celebrity culture forever.
The book is a delightful combination of his radio play, Price in Purgatory, and an overview of Price’s many career pursuits. Pisarra convincingly shows the reader why Price was such an icon in the horror genre and beyond, covering the decades that the Hollywood star had blessed the silver screen with his visage.
