Customer Reviews

Theatre of Blood

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As incredibly good as this movie is, one must give pause before attempting to review it; after all, Vincent Price plays an actor who murders the critics who panned his performances and cost him the acting award he felt he deserved. I find it something of a relief to have nothing at all negative to say about this unusual, almost brilliant movie. This is essentially a slasher film, but it differs markedly from its modern counterparts by injecting the story with intelligence, culture, and actual feeling. Vincent Price plays Edward Lionheart, a Shakespearean actor who deigns to perform no dramas not penned by the Bard. There is no better actor, he truly believes, than himself, and thus he is slowly crushed by the stream of bad reviews the local critics hurl down upon his performance in one play after another. After facing humiliation at an annual awards banquet, he takes his own life-or at least so everyone thought at the time, despite the fact that his body was never found. Two years later, a literary critic dies mysteriously on the ides of March of multiple stab wounds. Then a second critic is killed and his body dragged through the streets behind a horse. As more critics die, it begins to become clear, even to the rather ineffectual police, that the murders are all patterned on the death scenes of Shakespearean dramas. After the fourth murder, where the culprit deviates from the script of The Merchant of Venice by literally taking a pound of flesh from the victim, the de facto leader of the critics knows that Lionheart is the murderer because "only he would have the temerity to rewrite Shakespeare." The deaths here range from the somewhat comical to the ludicrously horrid to the deliciously gruesome, with a few nice touches of 1973-style blood thrown in for good measure. Each murder is of course accentuated by a vainglorious dramatic performance by Lionheart. This imbues the movie with both maudlin comedy as well as academic pretentiousness. At the very end, even more unexpected emotions bubble up in the viewer, a phenomenon manifesting itself through a combination of Price's perfectly over-the-top acting and a wonderfully evocative soundtrack.

One actually gets something of a lesson in Shakespeare in this film. Lionheart doesn't base his revenge killings on Shakespeare's most famous plays-instead, he draws on several that I and probably many others are not intimately familiar with-yet the magic he breathes into each scene makes one anxious to delve into the Bard's original plays themselves. In total, the following Shakespearean plays serve as the basis of the murders: Julius Caesar, Troilus and Cressida, Cymbeline, The Merchant of Venice, Richard the Third, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Henry the Sixth, part 1, Titus Andronicus, and King Lear. A little Hamlet is also thrown in for good measure. I must say that the cast is a great complement to the storyline, although even the lovely Diana Rigg of Avengers fame pales in the shadow of Price's mesmerizing aura as he brings to life a character seemingly written especially for him. Who else could have played such a convincing Shakespearean actor and ingeniously mad killer simultaneously? I must admit it is somewhat strange to watch Rigg play the role of Lionheart's fiercely loyal daughter, though, and I daresay that many Rigg devotees such as myself may not even recognize her when she first appears.

Theater of Blood is truly one of Vincent Price's most memorable performances. His ability to morph into and truly become different Shakespearean characters is superb, and the range of emotions he is able to express is pretty powerful, especially in the closing moments of the film. A couple of the killings are somewhat farcical, but most of them are rather ingenious and fascinating. Just wait until you see Price playing the role of a bushy-headed hairdresser. The best killing, without a doubt, involves a surgical gown, a scalpel, and a handsaw-I'll let you figure out what Lionheart does with these items. The idea for this movie may not be wholly original, but Theater of Blood works magnificently, and the combined talents of Price and Rigg make this a classic that really should find a home in the collection of all horror movie buffs.

In an interview with NPR's Terry Gross, late great Vincent Price's daughter was asked which of her father's films was his favourite. She said he loved Theatre of Blood because he got to do Shakespeare.

1973's Theatre Of Blood followed the two Dr. Phibes films which were marvelously devilish black comedies. In Theatre Of Blood, Price tops his Phibes performances. Price plays Edward Lionheart, a Shakespearan actor loved by his fans but mercilessly reviled by a group of snobby theatre critics who berate his performances in print and later humiliate him at an awards ceremony. Lionheart sets out to get revenge on the nine critics by use of murder plots in Shakespeare's plays. The makeup and costumes are superb as well as the supporting cast -- particularly the lovely Diana Rigg, Milo O'Shea, and Robert Morley. Price dons dozens of disguises as he methodically carrys out his mission. He's hysterically funny as "Butch", a hairdresser for one of the female critics. This film should be considered among his essential works.

Price decided to ham it up for the Abominable Dr. Phibes and Dr. Phibes Rides again. Riding on a tide, he took up this high camp film, and some of England's biggest name actors came out to play his victims. In Phibes style, you have a series of set victims - in this case, Stage critics - and the much scorned Shakespearian Actor Edward Lionheart extracting his revenge by killing his victims through acting out a scene from Shakespeare's plays. Deliciously witty Diana Rigg is there to support Price as his doting, darling daughter Edwina, who mourns her father's recent death, and hisses at the critics who refused to honor his talent while he was alive.

Price's all-star victims include his real-life wife, Coral Browne, Harry Andrews, Ian Hendry, Jack Hawkins, Robert Morley (especially funny twist on the tale!), Denis Price and Diana Dors and more. Hot on the trail of the killer, with Hendry in tow, are Inspector Boot (Milo O'Shea) and Sergeant Dogge (Eric Sykes), but Price and his "helper" are one step ahead.

It's Price at his wickedly delightful best. And great to see the funny takes of the Bards tales being used as a murder medium. Douglas Hickox (Zulu Dawn, Sitting Target), ably orchestrated the marvelously talent crew of actors through this

black humor marathon.

Any actor who ever suffered a barrage of bad reviews will want to rush out and add this gem to his/her video collection. What a brilliant concept for a Vincent Price movie: A Shakespearean actor perpetually panned by the critics returns to murder them one-by-one according to the death scene from whichever Shakespeare play they gave him the bad notice for. Absolutely brilliant! Don't overlook the subleties such as each critic's name matching up with his demeanor or the droll throwaway lines ("Why don't you let me try something campy with your hair, like flame with ash highlights") and Lionheart's (Price) passionate "What know you of the toil and sweat of a theatrical production? . . ." speech to Ian Hendry in the sword fighting scene - excellent! A nod to Robert Morley's performance, but above all, who else except Vincent Price could re-write The Merchant of Venice to obtain the pound of flesh? It's gory but great, great fun!

Among the best efforts of this badly underated actor. Price had a glorious time with this movie. Like in his Phibes movies his audience is kept cheering for him all the way. The bad guys (critics) are gruesomely slain one by one in highly creative ways. If you are a Shakspeare fan as am I, you should enjoy the carnage even more. My personal favorite scene is the woman getting electrocuted while getting her hair done. Unfortunately the movie is flawed by an ending much inferior to the Phibes movies. Highly recommended.

Although Theater of Blood is not so much a horror film as a suspense/black comedy, it keeps getting cited in horror film references. This is probably due to the presence of Vincent Price. If Theater of Blood had nothing else going for it, Price's performance alone would make it worthwhile.

But Theater of Blood also has ... blood. Blood aplenty. And class, and style, and pathos, and hilarious black comedy, and ... Vincent Price.

In the film, Price portrays Edward Lionheart, a hammy, egomaniacal Shakespearean actor who fails in a suicide attempt after being passed over for a Critic's Circle award, then uses his second chance at life to kill his critics by methods drawn from Shakespeare's plays.

Opening credits play over old silent film footage of Shakespearean actors. While nothing in Theater of Blood indicates that Lionheart ever worked in film (it's stated he never performed anything other than Shakespeare), Lionheart, like Norma Desmond, belongs to an earlier era. Lionheart predates the rise of The Method in the 1950s, with its "naturalistic" acting style often derided by practitioners of "classical theatrical style" as producing actors who dressed dirty and mumbled incoherently. (Marlon Brando and James Dean were accused of such). Lionheart accuses his critics of denying him the award to give it to a youth "who can barely grunt his way through an incomprehensible performance."

Lionheart's egomania shows when he kills one critic by cutting out his heart, thereby altering The Merchant of Venice. Lionheart's arch-foe, critic Peregrine Devlin (Ian Hendry), remarks, "Only Lionheart would have the temerity to rewrite Shakespeare." Not having a son to christen Edward Jr, Lionheart names his daughter Edwina (Diana Rigg). That Lionheart wanted a son is implied by Edwina's usual disguise of male clothing and mustache, by her incessant (insecure) desire to please him, and by finally dying happily in his appreciative arms, happy to have served him well.

A darkly comic commentary on the shared egomaniacal roots of artists and political activists is drawn when Lionheart concludes a thunderous oratory to his ragged street devotees, followed by a recording of a speech by Hitler (a former artist) inadvertently played on Lionheart's applause machine.

Theater of Blood depicts an actor's exaggerated view of critics. They can afford expensive homes and lavish offices, exploit young actresses for sex, and expend more effort in writing clever insults than in staying awake to see a complete play. They enjoy hurting actors. Devlin confesses to the detective inspector that when Lionheart broke into the Critic's Circle meeting after losing the Best Actor Award, they had fun at his expense.

Critics are twice criticized for their abuse of power. Once when the detective inspector suggests possible motivations as to why someone may want to kill them. A second time when Lionheart justifies his murders to Devlin. In both instances, the point is made that a negative review can close a production, ruin reputations, bankrupt people, destroy lives. Few, if any, critics have such power today (perhaps more so in theater than in film, more so in Britain than in the U.S.). But to insecure actors in an insecure profession, reviews take on exaggerated importance.

If Lionheart is an egomaniac, his critics are worse. They too have egos, but they lack Lionheart's cunning intelligence and perverse imagination. One lecherous old man readily accepts that a young actress (Edwina) is flirting with him. Another is unsuspicious when Lionheart selects him alone to report the exclusive story of Lionheart's comeback. Another sees nothing amiss with a TV crew arriving unannounced at his house, himself the center of attention. Another shrugs off Princess Margaret's hairdresser coming in after-hours, especially for her. Another agrees to help police toss out squatters, because the police need someone with an air of authority (something the police lack!). All traps by Lionheart, all successful because these critics' egos block their brains.

The one critic who survives is Devlin, who doesn't trust Edwina's pretty, frightened daughter act. Devlin tells her there is a homing device in the car's glove compartment, but not about the police constable in the trunk. He is also the only critic of those given time to recant, who refuses to change his critical opinion of Lionheart's abilities (others deny their past comments or agree to everything Lionheart says).

There is a nascent astrology motif. One critic's wife cautions him about his horoscope. Another critic wears a huge gold Scorpio medallion around his neck. Most likely, this is merely reflecting the times.

Theater of Blood's gruesome murders are leavened with campy black comedy. Even as Lionheart decapitates one critic, he rolls eyes at Edwina's theatrical handling of medical instruments. And his forcing one effete critic (Robert Morley) to eat his poodles, baked in a pie, is a classic scene of horror black comedy.

Theater of Blood is a sumptuous production with lavish sets and costumes. Extreme high and low camera angles heighten the melodrama. The sudden switch from a straight-on to extreme high angle just as the critics open the drapes to view Lionheart about to jump off the balcony creates a sense that we are looking down on a stage with the curtain opening upon a performance. Anthony Greville-Bell's literate script artfully integrates select Shakespearean dialogue into contemporary proceedings that are alternatingly macabre, comic, or poignant. The musical score supports the story, shifting from gentle to dramatic as required, without ever overwhelming events on screen. However melodramatically the music swells, Lionheart matches it. Vincent Price shines.

A year later, tables were turned on Price in Madhouse (aka The Revenge of Doctor Death). In this film, Price is a has-been horror film star victimized by frustrated writer Peter Cushing. Yet while vengeful writers have their own subgenre, Theater of Blood's enduring fame compared to Madhouse's relative obscurity demonstrates why actors get the glory while writers more often toil in anonymity. Lionheart's extroverted exuberance, shameless scene-stealing, and indestructible ego is a crowd-pleaser, easily steamrollering over the vengeance meted out by cool Cushing's introverted writer. As the tabloids have long known, actors make for colorful villains, which is why they get the cover while writers must settle for a byline.

Theater of Blood is bloody good entertainment: horrific, insightful, and wryly humorous.

While it is not without it's flaws (particularly, the fact that it strangely tips it's hand so early as to the killer's accomplice), "Theatre of Blood" is not only one of the great revenge movies every made, but one of the best, if unorthodox, examples of Shakespeare on film. Vincent Price, in the role of a lifetime, plays hack British actor Edward Lionheart, who goes to extremes to get revenge upon a group of smug theatre critics who denied him a Best Actor award. Price is obviously having a glorious time as Lionheart (and his snippet as Shylock is so wonderful it makes one wish he had gotten the chance to do the entire play on film), but the film also features an incredible supporting cast as the critics, all of whom wryly represent one of the seven deadly sins each. On top of that, there's the beauteous Diana Rigg in her prime. Some of the murders are overly gory, one or two are overly spoofy, but even that can't detract from a terrific black comedy featuring truly stellar, Oscar-worthy work by Vincent Price. There was talk of a remake in recent years, but really...who's out there today that could pull this off?

Vincent Price in his finest role - it's as simple as that.
Not only does it feature a fantastic ensemble cast, but it also allows Vincent to showcase his trademark theatrical approach to Shakespere.
Viewers may not realise Vincent Price was a Hollywood heart-throb years before Roger Corman came calling and Poe came tapping, as if someone gently rapping, rapping at Vincent's trailer door.
Vincent has a roaringly good time playing Edward Lionheart correcting 'critical miscalculations' by a bunch of snobbish theatre critics.
With enough references to the Bard you could shake-a-spear at, Theatre of Blood is pure educational, entertaining escapism.
Lets hope the proposed re-make remains not to be.
The actual DVD is a bit of a disappointment though.
It's widescreen, but not anamorphic and looks a little rough around the edges. The sound has the occasional crackle to it and the only extra is the theatrical trailer.
Lets hope they release a special edition of this magnificent movie...."Ah to dream"..

One of my favorite movie themes are tales of revenge. Perhaps it is because I have felt wrong so many times and would give anything to "repay favors." Another is the systematic elimination of a group of people, with the reader/viewer wondering who will be killed next and how. Call this second the Ten Little Indians theme popularized by Agatha Christie.

Theater Of Blood evokes both themes, taking the revenge theme of The Abominable Dr. Phibes, also starring Price, further, in terms of gore and violence. The tale of Edwin Lionheart, a hammy theater actor who seeks revenge after the critics who denied him the Critics Circle Award for Best Actor. He murders them in the manner of deaths performed in Shakespeare's plays. To this end, he is assisted by a group of drunks, billed as the Meth Drinkers, who obey their master and relish the killings as much as he. Vincent Price excels himself in the role of Lionheart and for this, he deserves a positive award of some kind.

Ian Hendry plays the harried head of the Critics Circle, Peregrine Devlin, Diana Rigg plays Lionheart's daughter Edwina, and Milo O'Shea (Duran Duran in Barbarella), plays Inspector Boot. Other familiar British faces include veteran actor Michael Hordern, Arthur Lowe (No Sex Please We're British, Dad's Army, Bless Me, Father) and Dennis Price (The Lavender Hill Mob, The Magic Christian) in one of his last films--he died the same year as the movie's release. John Morley, another veteran, plays a critic who is more than a bit camp, never without two poodles in his arms. Joan Hickson, who plays the wife of one of the critics, is seen here not only thinner but with red hair. A sharp contrast to her best known role as Miss Marple. British sexpot Diana Dors makes an appearance, still sensuous. And Coral Browne, who plays the critic Miss Moon, became Vincent Price's third and last wife, remaining with him until her death in 1991.

Contrary to Maltin's review, the gory killing do not adversely affect the movie in any way. Okay, the movie is macabre, but there are moments of humor in at least two of the killings. The first is my favorite scene, involving the decapitation of Mr. Sprout (Arthur Lowe) a la Cymbelline. He is executed with Lionheart and his assistant playing surgeons. The rubber sheet placed around When Lionheart repeats his command, to which the assistant finally hands him the basin. I expected the theme from Dr. Kildare to be played, but even better, some easy listening one expects in a love scene. Lionheart rolls his eyes and shakes his head. The head rolls off, causing his wife to scream. The maid recovers, only to see the head staring at her, eliciting another hysterical scream. Mr. Sprout's head goes through one final destination, and that I won't give away to the viewer.

The second involves the aftermath of a killing done a la Othello. Lionheart, affecting a thick accent, tells the constable, "Officer, if I am not mistaken, Mr. Saltery is murderin' his wife." To which the constable casually thanks Lionheart, who leaves, accompanied by a score of corny shopping mall muzak. Precious!

The recurring theme by Michael J. Lewis, played adds to the movie's ambience,

One tiny error is the shot of Lionheart carrying Edwina on top of the theater roof in the film's last moments. There is an close aerial view of the dark-haired scalp of Vincent Price's stuntman.

I reacted to Devlin's last words in the movie in the same way the inspector looked at him. After all that, hasn't he learned the words Lionheart spat at him during their fencing duel?

"How many actors have you destroyed? You destroyed me! How many talented lives have you cut down with your glib words? What do you know of the blood, sweat, and toil of a theatrical production? Of the dedication of the men and women in the noblest profession of all? How could you know, you talentless fools? You spew vitriol on the creative efforts of others because you lack the ability to create yourselves?"

The above does give credence to the well known statement that critics are failed writers or performers. Look what Joseph Goebbels ended up as.

In the flashback scene, it is revealed that Lionheart claimed the prize despite not getting it and had crashed the post-awards party at Devlin's house to get the statuette. Edwina also arrives and brings her father to his senses, ("You're only helping them to hurt you more.") and as he recites "To be or not to be..." on the balcony of, the critics mocked him. The cold-hearted bastards needed killing, all right. Small wonder Lionheart chose Hamlet as a pre-suicidal soliloquy before jumping. Lionheart, you've told it like it is!

An over-the-top opinion? To most, probably, but I have never been in any doubt. Vincent Price, my favourite actor since I saw "Fall Of The House Of Usher" in 1975, has never really been taken seriously, because he so often played tongue-in-cheek, yet surely an actor should be judged by the degree of enjoyment they give you. Certainly his range was greater than most give him credit for, and he could play it straight, as in "Laura", "Witchfinder General" and "The Whales Of August" for example. "Theatre Of Blood" gave Price the chance to turn his "hammy" type performance into an art form. This is EXCELLENT acting by someone clearly in peak form and relishing every moment and opportunity, and there are plenty to be had. Surrounding Mr. P. were an assortment of top British character actors. Its well documented that they were all reluctant to appear and only agreed aslong as each of the others did, but clearly they too got fully into the morbid yet hilarious spirit of the proceedings. Vincent Price plays a disillusioned actor, content to restrict himself to Shakespearian roles but panned by the critics as a result. When they, not surprisingly, overlook him for an award, he decides enough is enough, and after a failed suicide bid, goes totally loopy and commences dispatching these tormentors of his soul at a rate of knots. The original aspect here is that he kills them in a method extracted directly from Shakespeare (unless it doesnt quite fit his plans in which case he merely re-writes the scene!). The opportunity given to Price to recite passages from these plays is what gives this film its edge, he does it in such an overboard yet brilliant and memorable fashion that you WANT him to succeed. Where real-life critics have their only problem, is that the death scenes are graphically depicted with a surplus of blood-letting in four of them. Yet it is only the first which is truly shocking (as Michael Hordern is stabbed to death in the style of Julius Caesar by a large group of "squatters") because as soon as Price leans over the dying man and utters "I am well, it is you who are dead!" you realise this film is not to be taken TOO seriously and rapidly get into the gleefully gruesome spirit of the thing. That he will not get away with it is not a totally forgone conclusion, (I mean hed escaped justice the year before in "Dr. Phibes"), but his demise in a flame-engulfed theatre is definately the ONLY diappointment in the entire movie (with such originality throughout, fancy killing him by the same method as in virtually all his Corman-Poe productions!). Nevertheless this is top-flight entertainment, and to me an unrivalled classic. Pity theres not a six-star rating!