THEATRE
OF BLOOD (1973)/MADHOUSE (1974)Directors: Douglas Hickox, Jim Clark
MGM
THEATRE
OF BLOOD (1973)/MADHOUSE (1974)By
1973, the traditional British horror industry withered down to make way for ax-wielding
sickos, possessed children, and the other urban terrors that would reign supreme
in Hollywood. Bridging the gap between tradition and splatter, the most popular
horror star of the 60s and early 70s--Vincent Price-- triumphed in one of his
last great genre appearances. Over 60 at the time, Price gives a career-worthy,
Tour de Force performance with the blood flowing as free as can be in a film that's
pure black comedy: THEATRE OF BLOOD. Originally released by MGM on DVD in 2001,
the same transfer has now been re-issued and wisely double featured with MADHOUSE,
Price's final bow for AIP. 
Hot off the heels of the "Dr. Phibes" pictures, THEATRE OF BLOOD explores the same motif of a killer terminating a group of people with a common unjust towards him. In this case, it's a circle of stuffy theater critics who refuse hammy Shakespearean actor Edward Lionheart (Price) the coveted Critics' Circle award. This drives Lionheart to suicide, but two years later, each of the critics are dying in the most bizarre ways possible. The police (Milo O'Shea, Eric Sykes) are baffled, but the central (and junior) critic of the lot, Devlin (Ian Hendry) establishes a connection between the murders and events in various Shakespeare plays. Devlin also believes that Lionheart is still alive and responsible, and ultimately, the wrathful thesp plans to save the worst (and final) fate for him. In a flashback, we discover that Lionheart was rescued by a troop of drunken tramps (performed with disturbing elegance by professional ballet dancers) and they revere him to the point of orchestrating some of the well-planned murders.
Produced
in England and released by United Artists, THEATRE OF BLOOD allows Price to chew
the scenery like he's biting into a thick juicy steak, and he's absolutely marvelous.
Price's character is completely mad, and solely driven by his passion for Shakespeare
and acting, and he transmits this on the screen to the max. Price not only gets
to indulge in dressing up as and recreating characters from the playwright's works,
but he also dons the guise of a London policeman, a gay hairdresser, a fencing
instructor, a French chef and a surgeon. This is all done for the sake of Grand
Guignol-style slaughter, as Lionheart melodramatically "punishes" the
critics one by one.
Having
secured one of the finest casts for a horror film, the rest of the critics are
played by Harry 
Andrews,
Coral Browne, Robert Coote, Jack Hawkins, Michael Hordern, Arthur Lowe, Robert
Morley and Dennis Price. All are obviously having a lot fun despite their gruesome
demises (Hordern is slashed, Price is speared and dragged by a horse, Lowe is
decapitated in bed, Morley is fed his own Poodles, etc.). Price wound up marrying
Coral Browne (who reportedly didn't want to be in a Vincent Price horror film),
his third and final wife. This is probably one of the reasons why he used to go
on talk shows saying how it was his favorite film that he acted in. Former "The
Avengers" star Diana Rigg is excellent as Lionheart's faithful daughter Edwina.
She also appears to be mad--an accomplice to her father in every way possible
(even parading as a hairy modish male) while acting innocent in front of the police.
The
DVD of THEATRE OF BLOOD is properly letterboxed at 1.66:1, but it's not anamorphic.
The transfer seems to be the same used for Image's second laserdisc version, released
some years ago. That laserdisc, unlike the DVD, had an isolated music and effects
score (fortunately, Michael J. Lewis' engaging score has been released on CD,
but it retailed for twice as much as the DVD if you can even locate it!). Colors
look acceptable, although there are minor blemishes (mostly at the start of the
film) on the source material that are more visible on DVD then they were on laser.
The transfer is satisfying overall. The Dolby Digital mono sound is rendered fine.
Also included is the wild theatrical trailer, which is badly cropped from what
seems to be a hard-matted film, indicating how good the framing on the feature
really is.
On the flip side of the disc is MADHOUSE, released in 1974 as the last film Price made for AIP, and it was co-produced by Amicus and shot in England. A fitting end to his tenure for the company that single-handedly created the drive-in movie, Price stars as horror actor Paul Toombes, known to his fans for playing "Dr. Death" in a series of films. During a Hollywood party on New Year's Eve, Toombes discovers his bride-to-be decapitated in her dressing room. After the traumatic experience, Toombes suffers a nervous breakdown and turns his back on show business. Twelve years later, he is persuaded to sail to England to reprise his famous role of Dr. Death in a new TV series.
When
Toombes arrives, he is greeted by a friendly PR girl (Natasha Pyne), meets his
arrogant producer Oliver Quayle (Robert Quarry) who insists that Dr. Death take
on a female assistant who is actually his bimbo girlfriend, and he reminisces
with old pal Herbert Flay (Peter Cushing) who gave up a career in acting to write
the Dr. Death scripts. But as soon as shooting on the series begins, someone dressed
as Dr. Death starts killing off the cast, the crew and other interested parties,
reenacting the various murders from Toombes' films and causing the veteran actor
to question his own sanity and whether or not he is capable of such slaughter.
Based
on the novel Devilday by Angus Hall, MADHOUSE uses the same formula from
Price's last couple of films, but strays from the tongue-in-cheek angle with mixed
results. Much of the story is 
routine
and predictable, and using footage from most of Price's Poe films becomes excessive
to the point of monotony. But the film does present some nice twists towards the
end, and seeing Price, Cushing and Quarry (who even gets to dress up as Count
Yorga at a fancy dress party) is a real treat. Price and Cushing especially have
their best screen time together here, and the film also benefits from Adrienne
Corri (VAMPIRE CIRCUS) as a former Toombes co-star, now insane and deformed, creeping
around in a mansion basement full of spiders. British horror cult actress Linda
Hayden also makes an appearance as a groupie out to scandalize Toombs. This is
not only Price's last AIP film, but also his last significant starring role in
the genre, and he looks absolutely menacing while garbed in the skeletal Dr. Death
make-up.
MADHOUSE
is presented in a widescreen transfer in its original 1.85:1 ratio, but as with
THEATRE OF BLOOD, it's not enhanced for widescreen televisions. This is a decent
looking treatment of the Eastmancolor film, but at times the image lacks the sharpness
and fleshtones tend to look dull or faded. Grain and picture softness is apparent
from time to time, but most of the show has strong colors, good contrast, and
solid black levels. This release uses a Dolby Digital mono track, which provides
an adequate audio experience. Also included are English, Spanish and French subtitles.
Fans will also be happy to know that MGM has restored Price's melodic rendition
of "When Day is Done." Heard over the closing credits, the song was
edited out of the previous Orion Home Video VHS edition, but has now been thankfully
reinstated for this DVD. The "Fun Facts" on the back of the box erroneously
state that scenes from SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN can be seen in the film, and the
main menu's artwork embodies unusual publicity photos that depict nude female
models covered with large spiders! Also included is the well-worn trailer which
makes no mention of Cushing or Quarry, but certainly gives Price the hype that
he deserved.
NOTE: MGM's August 24 Midnite Movies are in-store exclusives to Best Buy, but they can also be found online at CD Universe, as well as Canadian retailer DVD Soon. (George R. Reis)