Theater of Blood is set in an early 70's London where famed theater critic George Maxwell (Michael Hordern) is asked to move on some homeless people squatting in a property he owns, however they turn on him & stab him to death. Several of George's peers & work colleagues are shocked to hear the news of his death & attend his funeral but are again shocked when a horse appears galloping along with another critic named Hector Snipe (Dennis Price) being dragged along behind it & throughly dead having also been murdered. The remaining critics are convinced that someone is out to get them, Inspector Boot (Milo O'Shea) is on the case but doesn't believe Peregrine Devlin's (Ian Hendry) theory that Shakespearean actor Edward Lionheart (Vincent Price) is responsible as he supposedly committed suicide even though his body was never found...
This British production was directed by Douglas Hickox & is a personal favourite of mine. The script by Anthony Greville-Bell has a deliciously dark comic premise of a disgruntled actor taking revenge on his critics in the style of Shakespeare, as a concept it works extremely well & is huge fun throughout. There's a surprising amount of gore & violence considering when this was made but it's more than welcome, the film moves along like a rocket & never bores although there's no mystery to what's happening & therefore it could be considered a little predictable. I love the little novelty death scenes which almost seem like little films in themselves at times, they're pretty imaginative & are good dark fun if you have a liking for the macabre. The character's are good as is the dialogue although the police come across as a bit stupid. There is one scene that I don't get though, it's when Horace has his head surgically cut off & the next morning the maid discovers him & his head falls on the floor but in the very next shot his head is impaled on the top of a milk bottle outside Devlin's apartment & I can't work out how got there.
Director Hickox does a good job & Theater of Blood was shot entirely on location in & around London which gives it a realistic look & feel. There's a nice darkly comic atmosphere to this throughout & Vincent Price is in his prime reciting Shakespeare badly & hamming it up as the villain, I mean he was born to play the part of Edward Lionheart & he apparently said this was his favourite film that he made & I can't really argue with him. There's a surprising amount of gore & exploitation here, there are impalement's, cut out hearts, stabbings, someone is forced to eat their own poodles, there are severed heads, a gory sword-fight, someone is electrocuted & a fair amount of blood.
Technically the film is fine with decent cinematography, impressive special effects & good locations. The theater used was the Putney Hippodrome in London which had been boarded up for years when used in this film, it makes for an imposing backdrop & you can see Price is in his element. The acting is pretty good from an impressive cast including Ian Hendry, Eric Sykes, Dennis Price, Arthur Lowe, Michael Hordern, Diana Dors & Diana Rigg who apparently also considers Theater of Blood as her best film. Vincent Price went on to marry Coral Browne who he met on this film, she's the critic who he electrocutes in the hair dressers!
Theater of Blood is a fantastic Anglo horror film that is a personal favourite of mine, it has a nice dark sense of humour & a fair amount of gore as well. I thought it was great it just worked, definitely worth a watch especially if your a horror or Vincent Price fan.
This British production was directed by Douglas Hickox & is a personal favourite of mine. The script by Anthony Greville-Bell has a deliciously dark comic premise of a disgruntled actor taking revenge on his critics in the style of Shakespeare, as a concept it works extremely well & is huge fun throughout. There's a surprising amount of gore & violence considering when this was made but it's more than welcome, the film moves along like a rocket & never bores although there's no mystery to what's happening & therefore it could be considered a little predictable. I love the little novelty death scenes which almost seem like little films in themselves at times, they're pretty imaginative & are good dark fun if you have a liking for the macabre. The character's are good as is the dialogue although the police come across as a bit stupid. There is one scene that I don't get though, it's when Horace has his head surgically cut off & the next morning the maid discovers him & his head falls on the floor but in the very next shot his head is impaled on the top of a milk bottle outside Devlin's apartment & I can't work out how got there.
Director Hickox does a good job & Theater of Blood was shot entirely on location in & around London which gives it a realistic look & feel. There's a nice darkly comic atmosphere to this throughout & Vincent Price is in his prime reciting Shakespeare badly & hamming it up as the villain, I mean he was born to play the part of Edward Lionheart & he apparently said this was his favourite film that he made & I can't really argue with him. There's a surprising amount of gore & exploitation here, there are impalement's, cut out hearts, stabbings, someone is forced to eat their own poodles, there are severed heads, a gory sword-fight, someone is electrocuted & a fair amount of blood.
Technically the film is fine with decent cinematography, impressive special effects & good locations. The theater used was the Putney Hippodrome in London which had been boarded up for years when used in this film, it makes for an imposing backdrop & you can see Price is in his element. The acting is pretty good from an impressive cast including Ian Hendry, Eric Sykes, Dennis Price, Arthur Lowe, Michael Hordern, Diana Dors & Diana Rigg who apparently also considers Theater of Blood as her best film. Vincent Price went on to marry Coral Browne who he met on this film, she's the critic who he electrocutes in the hair dressers!
Theater of Blood is a fantastic Anglo horror film that is a personal favourite of mine, it has a nice dark sense of humour & a fair amount of gore as well. I thought it was great it just worked, definitely worth a watch especially if your a horror or Vincent Price fan.