Customer Reviews

Theater Of Blood/MadHouse (Midnite Movies Double Feature)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I remember seeing THEATRE OF BLOOD back in 1992 on Halloween of all days. I saw the second half of it and it pretty much disturbed me and haunted my nightmares. But last night I bought this new DVD (with MADHOUSE on the other side) and watched it. And now I find it to be alternately shocking and side-splittingly funny! As for MADHOUSE, I only saw half of it but so far I am impressed.

THEATRE OF BLOOD is the ultimate wish-fulfillment movie for anybody in the movie industry or theatre that has ever had scathing reviews levied against them. Edward Lionheart is a Shakespearian actor who employs death scenes from the Bard in his vengeance against nine critics who have been really harsh on him to say the least. This movie is DR. PHIBES with a theatrical element in lieu of the Biblical plague thing, but on its own, it's very good. The highlight is the salon electricution, especially seeing Price disguised as Butch! The great music score is a precursor to what Pino Donaggio would do for Brian DePalma! And there's a great punchline!

MADHOUSE has Price as a horror movie actor doing a TV movie and getting stuck in the middle of a killing spree. Plus, there's Count Yorga as a producer and Peter Cushing as a director! A reunion from DR. PHIBES RISES AGAIN! The murders are inventive and predate FRIDAY THE 13TH and its ilk. And another great music score punctuates the prodeedings. This is what makes Best Buy so awesome (and makes me happy that it finally came to Dover); they work with MGM to provide double the pleasure in horror movies!

Ahh, Vincent Price the world would have been boring without his droll delivery. Without wearing any make up, Price became a horror icon in the 60's and 70's while appearing in "The Tingler", "The Last Man on Earth", "The Mask of the Red Death" and the "Dr Phibes" films. "Theater of Blood" the first film in this twofer from MGM is one of Price's finest 70's horror films. Price plays Lionheart a Shakespearean actor denied a major critics award out of spite who commits suicide. Or did he? Two years later on the anniversary of Lionheart's death the critics that snubbed him begin to die like the characters from the plays that Lionheart was performing prior to his death. Featuring British vets Jack Hawkins, Arthur Lowe and the lovely Diana Rigg as Lionheart's daughter, "Theater of Blood" ranks up there with the witty "Dr. Phibes" films one of Price's later films.

One of the finest moments is a fencing scene where the two opponents face off on the floor, on a trampoline and various gym equipment. It's quite well staged and entertaining.

"Madhouse" the flipside of this twofer is a lesser film but features a stellar cast. The predictable plot focuses on an actor Paul Toombes (Price again naturally) who returns to acting after suffering a nervous breakdown as a result of his the murder of his fiance. Twelve years have passed and now Toombes returns to acting only to find that those around him are now being murdered! Toombes wonders if he is the cause of it all or if someone is out to incriminate him. The marvelous cast of Price, Peter Cushing ("Horror of Dracula", "Curse of Frankenstein", "Star Wars", "She") Robert Quarry ("Count Yorga Vampire", "Dr. Phibes Rises Again")makes the film memorable. Director James Clark (editor of "Vera Drake", "Copycat", "The World is Not Enough")does a stylish job with the predictable screenplay by Ken Levison and Greg Morrison. It's a blast to see Cushing, Price and Quarry together (along with archieval footage of Boris Karloff). A pity there was no way to fit Christopher Lee into the mix (he was busy shooting "The Man with the Golden Gun" and "The Wicker Man").

As usual the transfer look pretty good given the age of the negatives although "Theater of Blood" looks a bit washed out. Then again, it's always looked like that as long as I can remember. A pity that Clark wasn't asked to do a commentary track. It's one of only three or four movies he directed. The late Hickox who directed "Theater of Blood" primarily directed mini-series for TV after the film. The first film deserves a strong four stars while "Madhouse" deserves 2 1/2 for effort and performances. Theatrical trailers for both films are included.

If "Theatre of Blood" were the only film on this DVD it would still be worth the price. Make that the Price. Made more than a decade before the legendary actor's graceful last act, which began with "The Whales of August" and culminated in "Edward Scissorhands," this was by far Vincent Price's best film. Playing the demented (and supposedly dead) dreadful classical actor Edward Lionheart, Price gets a chance to strut his stuff like never before in a host of Shakespearean snippets (and his Shylock and Richard III are gems). In addition, he gets to gruesomely murder the critics who have assailed him over the years -- dead critics...what's not to love? Even more fun is the fact that the smarmy critics are played by a host of some of the best supporting actors Britain then had to offer.

"Madhouse," made only a year later, doesn't exactly try to copy the format of "Theatre of Blood," but it has certain elements of it in its story of horror film actor Paul Toombes (Price) who may or may not delve too deeply into his signature character "Dr. Death" and kill young women. "Madhouse" is basically a murder mystery disguised as a horror film, and not a bad one, but it suffers from a few too many ingredients. The character of Dr. Death (Price in rather simple, but very effective skull-face makeup) is clearly patterned after "Dr. Phibes," the two-film series that had been hugely successful a few years earlier, while Paul Toombes (who is nothing like the character from the source novel, "Devilday," by Angus Hall) is slightly reminiscent of the character Jon Pertwee played in "The House That Dripped Blood" -- a role for which Price had been sought. In structure, the film is also a bit reminiscent of the 1969 oddball film "Scream and Scream Again," which involed a serial killer stalking young girls in London, and there is a very peculiar subplot with Adrienne Corri as a burn-scarred and crazy former actress hiding in Peter Cushing's cellar, which seems like something out of a mid-1960s Italian horror film. It's quite a stew. Where the picture really drops the ball, though, is as a conscious effort to do for Price what Peter Bogdanovich's "Targets" did for Boris Karloff: present him with a canny career summation role in which he more or less plays himself. Price does more or less play himself -- an affable, good natured man who has managed to retain his professional integrity even after years of questionable films, which he gamely continues to make even as he believes himself to be unfairly exploited -- but the use of old film clips from past AIP epics (including "House of Usher," "Pit and the Pendulum" and "The Raven") does not have the resonance that "Targets"' employment of old clips from "The Terror" did. A prolonged sequence of Toombes appearing on Michael Parkinson's chat show is more dull than illuminating. "Madhouse" does at least offer Peter Cushing a decent role, after years of wasteful cameos in AIP's British productions, and a good one for Robert Quarry, who AIP was then grooming as a horror man for the 70s, as a shady producer. Director Jim Clark stages some very effective, atmospheric scenes of Dr. Death stalking the countryside, but it must be said that the identity of the killer is not a big shock to anyone paying attention. "Madhouse" was not widely released in the US and for years was something of an "unknown" Price movie, which makes its availability doubly attractive. It's no "Theatre of Blood," but it's fun.

I personally love the MGM Midnite Movie imprint for some great to not so great horror and cult offerings from the 60s and 70s. In particular the Vincent Price two packs are wonderful, especially for a 30-something like myself who has just fallen for Mr. Price and can't wait to make it through a good chunk of his flicks. The discs are affordable and the quality is great, what more can you really ask for? As for the two movies in this set...

Madhouse is basically a horror infused send up of Price's own film career. He plays an actor named Paul Tombs who is best know for staring in a series of gruesome horror flicks all surrounding the character Dr. Death. At the height of his career as the gruesome doctor, Tombs finally decided to settle down and marry one of his leading ladies, the announcement of which he made at a gala New Years party with all of his friends and colleagues. Unfortunately not everyone is so happy with his impending nuptials and ends up killing his bride to be (beheading her in fact), though the question is raised, did Tombs kill her himself. After a lengthy hiatus from film making (not to mention a stay in an asylum) Tombs decides to re-embark on his film career at the behest of his best friend and co-creator of Dr. Death Herbert Flay (played by the ever awesome Peter Cushing.) Of course, straight away the bodies start piling up again, as do the questions as to who is killing all of these people.

At then end of the day I really enjoyed the first two thirds of the film, but it really suffered from an almost incomprehensible climax and resolution. It didn't help that the film was filled with plot holes and some questionable directing (way too many red herrings, a fact that is actually celebrated in the final act with an actual dish of red herring.) Price and Cushing do their best with what they have, even though their effort barely rescues this film from complete disaster. At a time when the modern horror landscape was drastically changing, and surrounded by the likes of Black Christmas, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Night of the Living Dead, and Last House on the left, flicks like Madhouse with their questionable effects work (many obviously rubber spiders abound) and poorly written scripts just a little past their day.

Theatre of Blood on the other hand takes a nice cue from the Dr. Phibes movies in both it's overall plot structure and tone, though it feels more in tune with the turning tide of the realistic horror output of the day (whereas the Phibes films feel more like his Corman Poe work from earlier, more theatrical.)

Price plays Richard Lionheart, a dedicated Shakespearean thespian who decides to extract revenge against the critics who had slammed his beloved performances time and time again.

Overall this is a nice selection that showcases Price at his best and worst towards the end of his career. This double bill is also available in a nice set put out by by MGM a year or so ago called the Vincent Price: MGM Scream Legends Collection (The Abominable Dr. Phibes / Tales of Terror / Theater of Blood / Madhouse / Witchfinder General / Dr. Phibes Rises Again / Twice Told Tales).

Price is a joy to watch in any film he is in but this DVD is a mixed bag.

Theater Of Blood is the better of the two films here and involves Price as Edward Lionheart a stage actor believed to be dead who is killing off his critics using methods based on the Shakespeare plays the acted in. The other actors supplement Price's performance perfectly and there are few dull moments.

By contrast Madhouse misses the mark in so many areas. The basic premise of a horror star (Paul Toombes-Price) who had a nervous breakdown years ago as a result of his new wife being murdered in a manner used by the character he played (Dr. Death) and brought out of retirement by his fellow actor (Herbert Flay-Cushing) only to find the man who revealed that his wife had been fooling around that night (Quayle-Quarry) is the producer of the new Dr. Death series was a good one.

The first problem with Madhouse is the pacing--it moves along with all the urgency of a turtle out for a walk. Part of this is due to the padding with clips from several Price films presented at being from "Dr. Death" pictures even though the characters in those films (Pit and the Pendulum, Fall of House of Usher) look *nothing* like Dr. Death. It certainly doesn't help that the clips are shown in a manner that suggest they might have been edited in a cuisinart.

The second problem is the supporting cast. Quarry appears so infrequently that he might as well been billed as a cameo, Cushing gets a little more screen time but not much more than Quarry and the rest of the cast seems to be phoning it in. Price himself is simply not on screen enough as Toombes to make up for this.

The third problem is the mystery. Unlike Theater Of Blood the cops here are portrayed in a manner that implies they must have gotten their badges out of cereal boxes (For example they somehow loose track of Toombes while he is in front of a live audience) so there is none of competence seen in Theater Of Blood. Then when you find out who the killer really you realize that some of the murders make no sense as there was no way for him to have known some of the people were a threat to his plans.

The final problem is the ending involves a supernatural element which is a problem in a film that up to that point had played things "realistically".

Sure I liked "Theatre of Blood".What got me was the lack of remorse from Diana Rigg.She watches poor George Maxwell get butchered by a drunken mob with no feelings.Think about the murder settings.Do not you think the policemen could of heard Chloe Moon scream(Even a gagged scream)?Would not there have been police around the hair salon?Do not you think the police have lab work to investigate murders?By the way which one of "The Meth Drinkers"was Tutte Lemkow?Jeffrey Lynn Haag is my name.

Paul Toomes *Vincent Price) is an aging horror star who is coaxed out of retirement to return as Dr. Death, the famous character he once played. But what keeps haunting him is the tragic and gruesome death of his fiancee twelve years before. As shooting begins on the new Dr. Death series, people start to become victims of Dr. Death's old murder techniques. Paul seeks solace with his old friend and screenwriter Herbert (Peter Cushing), but as Paul reviews his old films he's not so sure he is innocent of these new crimes. Is his mental breakdown over his fiancee's death coming back to haunt him? Lots of action, blood, gore (by seventies standards) and plot twists. The ending is a surprise (at least to this old whodunit aficionado)!

The "Theatre of Blood "in this DVD is a much better copy than the usual esp. British version. This copy is the proper cinema widescreen size and seems to be a better print. If you wish to see a superior British tongue in cheek horror-comedy with the redoubtable Vincent surrounded by his excellent thesbian contemporaries this is the one. I saw it in 1973 when the world was pretty ratty and everyone sane needed a long cynical laugh. This is the movie that gives it.
Well done Vincent and friends.
Long may you all be remembered!

A cracking boxset if you like your horror traditional, not that frightening and just a little camp. The story which runs through each film is not that different, but there are some serious actors in both whose performances can not be over looked. Classic. Well worth an evening's watch.

MADHOUSE IS AN ENJOYABLE HORROR-MYSTERY FILM THAT IS AN ODE TO THE LIKES OF PETER CUSHING AND VINCENT PRICE. I WAS SURPRISED BY THE EXCELLENT CAST, WELL WRITTEN SCRIPT, PHOTOGRAPHY, DIRECTION AND PACING OF THIS STORY. EVEN THE MUSIC WAS GREAT AND ATMOSPHERIC. REALLY WORTH WATCHING.

THEATER OF BLOOD IS ALSO A GOOD HORROR-MYSTERY FILM THAT IS VERY ENTERTAINING.YOU FIND YOURSELF ROOTING FOR VINCENT PRICE, EVEN THOUGH HE PLAYS THE BAD GUY. OVERALL, THESE TWO FILMS WERE CAREFULLY CRAFTED WITH A KEEN WIT AND ALOT MORE INTELLIGENCE THAN, SAY, THE USUAL HORROR FILM FROM THE MID-1970'S AND WELL WORTH THE PRICE, NO PUN INTENDED.