THEATRE
OF BLOOD (1973)Director: Douglas Hickox
MGM
THEATRE
OF BLOOD (1973)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 this, one of his last significant genre appearances. Over 60 and at the end of his contract over at AIP, 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.
Hot off the heels of the "Dr. Phibes" pictures, THEATER 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 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 a 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 modish male) while acting innocent in front of the police.
The DVD of THEATRE OF BLOOD has a slight 1.66:1 letterboxing, 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 costs 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 mono sound is fine, but nothing to write home about. Also included is the wild, original theatrical trailer, which is badly cropped, indicating how good the framing on the feature really is. (George R. Reis)