Theatre of Blood

Starring:Vincent Price, Diana Rigg, Ian Hendry, Harry Andrews, Coral Browne, Robert Coote, Jack Hawkins, Michael Hordern, Arthur Lowe, Robert Morley, Dennis Price, Milo O'Shea, Eric Sykes, Madeline Smith, Diana Dors, Joan Hickson, RenÃ©e Asherson, Bunny Reed, Peter Thornton, Charles Sinnickson
Director: Douglas Hickox
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

If your sense of humor is even moderately twisted, you'll savor this tasty course of well-cooked ham. Directed with delectable British wit by Douglas Hickox, the comedy is decidedly dark when Vincent Price--as effete has-been thespian Richard Lionheart--wreaks poetic justice upon the snobby critics who panned his performances and drove him to a failed attempt at suicide. Reciting his poor reviews and staging murders inspired by Shakespearean tragedies, the actor and his Dickensian coterie of accomplices (including Diane Rigg, sexy as ever) dispatch their victims with shocking ingenuity, and by the time Lionheart reenacts Titus Andronicus by gorging one dog-loving critic (the hilariously poofy Robert Morley) on toy-poodle stew, Theatre of Blood reaches giddy heights of outrageous vengeance. It's all in good fun, of course, and the film's esteemed British cast plays it to the hilt, none better than Price in one of his most entertaining roles. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

Answering the critics . . ........2007-02-20

Theater of Blood is an over the top romp that just can't be taken seriously. Horror maestro Vincent Price is Edward Lionheart, a Shakespearean actor who takes his revenge on group of critics that failed to acknowledge his talent, driving him to attempt suicide. Aided by his daughter Edwina (Diana Rigg), and an odd collection of homeless people, Lionheart administers a gruesome version of justice with a profoundly Shakespearean bent. The offending critics are dispatched in a series of creatively wacky and dramatic executions.

The tone is pretentious, and the humor very dark. Price seems to delight in this role. Robert Morely's performance as a poodle aficionado is just precious. Price's duel with Ian Hendry is another highlight. Avoid the release by Alpha Video, as the image quality is extremely poor.

wonderfully wicked-fun black comedy.......2006-06-04

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.

Heart of a Lion.......2006-01-08

A truly delightful film about austere thespian Richard Lionheart, who was under-appreciated by his so-called 'peers'. is unjustly robbed of his rightful award, and thus nobly seeks to correct the wrong done to him by unperceptive ingrates.

Thus, he admonishes the talentless worm-like critics, and in a fit of depression, hurls himself from a balcony to the horror of his impressively devoted daughter, where he finds surprisingly unexpected company with derelicts, who sought to rob him until they realize the seemingly lifeless body has resurrected. They become his minions in a darkened theatre where he relives and performs his timeless plays with traditional flare, ingeniously planning his revenge all the while.

And thus, true to his romantic nature, subsequently administers well-deserved and amusingly devilicious punishments upon his rotten detractors. Supremely poetic, one by one they are lured into Shakespearian tragedies which were on the itinerary the night of the misplaced recognition, with minor modifications due to environment and practicality:

Julius Caesar: Critic stabbed to death on the Ides of March by Lionheart's killer hippies.

Troilus and Cressida: Critic dragged to death by a horse in front of a funeral being held for the previous victim.

Cymbeline: Critic electrocted.

The Merchant of Venice: Critic impaled, heart removed, weighed to be a perfect pound, and mailed to The Police in an ornate box.

Richard the Third: Critic suffocates own wife in a mad fit of jealousy, whose lover was actually Lionheart in disguise. He will of course perish in prison, and is thusly 'destroyed'.

Romeo and Juliet: Focusing on another scene within the play entirely, an alcoholic critic is drowned in a vat of wine.

Henry the Sixth, part 1: .Critic is surgically beheaded in own bed next to wife amidst the pleasant strains of Beethoven.

Titus Andronicus: Corpulent critic suffocated by mass amounts of the flesh of his own odious poodles, while their little heads repose upon a platter as if witnessing his demise.

King Lear / Othello: Epic fencing wherein Lionheart displays remarkable feats of acrobatics and skill, followed by the defeated 'ringleader' of the critics being restrained within a contraption, and subjected to two perfectly positioned red-hot glowing daggers aimed for his eyes.

After experiencing the fulfillment of the sweet satisfactions of his vengeance, Lionheart unfortunately himself becomes a character in his own tragedy, plunging once more unto terra firma in one last blaze of glory, whose infamy remains immortal.

Another element this film establishes, is the more contemporary introduction of these classic plays to the uninformed. For upon witnessing this presentation, the viewer will at least become somewhat more familiar with the dramatic outline of their plots.

Irresistably camp horror.......2005-06-06

The role of incorrigible ham Edward Lionheart fits Price like a glove. In the same ironic and grotesque spirit as The Abominable Dr Phibes (1971), the central character is a pitiable and tragic antihero bent on revenge. A cast of British stalwarts including Diana Rigg, Eric Sykes, Arthur Lowe and Robert Morley camp it up splendidly in this gruesome farce.

scary and fun, but what else do you expect from ol' price.......2005-04-06

This movie is really fun to watch. A creative storyline, great acting, and superb direction make this the perfect "midnite movie." If you enjoyed some of Vincent Price's other films, such as Last Man on Earth(one of the absolute scariest), House on Haunted Hill, Cry of the Banshee, Tower of London, and others, you will love this. With dark, witty humour and some truly horrific scenes, this movie is well worth your money and time. The synopsis is as follows: an underappreciated stage actor by the name of Richard Lionheart attemps suicide after being denied the "best actors award." However, his suicide fails, and he is discovered by a group of bums who help him and eventually assist him in his dirty deeds, along with his vengeful daughter, Edwina. He begins killing the critics who panned his performances, usually luring them to his secret playhouse using his daughter (who is disguised in various ways). He kills all but one critic, and the end I will leave for you to find out. This is a scary and humourous film that will make you cower in fear and laugh delightfully. Then again, if Vincent Price is in it, how could you expect any less? I reccommend buying this movie on the double feature disc along with "Madhouse," another horror film with Price and Peter Cushing that I have unfortunately not seen yet. I will, though, when I buy this wonderful movie on the double disc.
Also reccommended: Texas Chain Saw Massacre, The Haunting, Halloween, Friday 13th, The Burning, He Knows You're Alone, Curtains, The Changeling, The Shining, The Omen, Night of the Living Dead, Creepshow, etc. There are many more, just look around on amazon.com. Have a ripping good time being scared.

Average customer rating:

Answering the critics . . .
wonderfully wicked-fun black comedy
Heart of a Lion
Irresistably camp horror
scary and fun, but what else do you expect from ol' price

Theatre of Blood
Starring: Vincent Price , Diana Rigg , Ian Hendry , Harry Andrews , and Coral Browne
Director: Douglas Hickox
Manufacturer: Alpha Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00005R87M
Release Date: 2002-01-15

Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

Answering the critics . . ........2007-02-20

wonderfully wicked-fun black comedy.......2006-06-04

Heart of a Lion.......2006-01-08

Irresistably camp horror.......2005-06-06

scary and fun, but what else do you expect from ol' price.......2005-04-06

Charlie Rose with Andrew Hannah; Ron Rosenbaum; Erica Jong; Carole King (July 22, 1994)

Average customer rating:

Charlie Rose with Andrew Hannah; Ron Rosenbaum; Erica Jong; Carole King (July 22, 1994)

Manufacturer: Charlie Rose
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Description

First, Andrew Hannah talks about Rwanda. Then, New York Times Magazine reporter Ron Rosenbaum talks about the enigma of double agent Kim Philby. Finally, author Erica Jong discusses her fear of age 50 in her new memoir, Fear of Flying. Finally, singer-songwriter Carole King talks about her starring role in Blood Brothers on Broadway.

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