Theater of Blood (1973)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Douglas Hickox

Writers:

Anthony Greville-Bell (screenplay) and
Stanley Mann (idea) ...

Release Date:

5 April 1973 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Mystery | Horror

Tagline:

At your own risk

Plot:

A Shakespearean actor takes poetic revenge on the critics who denied him recognition.

Plot Keywords:

Critic | Actor | Revenge | Police | Theater

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Vincent Price	...	Edward Lionheart
Diana Rigg	...	Edwina Lionheart
Ian Hendry	...	Peregrine Devlin
Harry Andrews	...	Trevor Dickman
Coral Browne	...	Miss Chloe Moon
Robert Coote	...	Oliver Larding
Jack Hawkins	...	Solomon Psaltery
Michael Hordern	...	George Maxwell
Arthur Lowe	...	Horace Sprout
Robert Morley	...	Meredith Merridew
Dennis Price	...	Hector Snipe
Milo O'Shea	...	Inspector Boot
Eric Sykes	...	Sergeant Dogge
Madeline Smith	...	Rosemary
Diana Dors	...	Maisie Psaltry

Also Known As:

Much Ado About Murder
Theatre of Blood (UK) (alternative spelling)

Runtime:

104 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | USA:R (certificate #23502) | Ireland:18 | Australia:M (DVD rating) | Australia:PG (original rating) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 (video re-rating) (2002) | UK:18 (video rating) (1987) | UK:X (original rating) (cut) | West Germany:16 | Norway:(Banned) (1973-2003) (cinema release)

Filming Locations:

Kensal Green Cemetery, Harrow Road, Kensal Green, London, England, UK

Company:

Cineman Productions

Trivia:

Robert Fuest was asked to direct.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Peregrine Devlin arrives at the fencing school you see him attach a cable to the back of his fencing kit (which would signal a hit with a buzzer), yet when the other fencer reveals himself to be Edward Lionheart and they start fencing the cable is no longer attached to Devlin's back.

Quotes:

Peregrine Devlin: Hello, Edwina. I thought it was you.
Edwina Lionheart: Well, the brilliant Peregrine Devlin. Wielder of the brutal aphorism, master of the killing phrase, my father's murderer.
Peregrine Devlin: That's a bit melodramatic, isn't it?
Edwina Lionheart: Oh forgive me, I forgot. It was your reverence and admiration that drove him to take his own life.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in My Bloody Valentine (1981)

The film which sends poodles into a total funk!

"Reasonbran 234" (Nov 6 2001) takes out the award here for the most literate, apt and concise review of Theater of Blood. This WAS Vincent Price's finest screen moment and I recall clearly at the time, one particular UK critic who suggested "This brilliant film will probably require a generation before it can ever be held in the esteem to which it is entitled!"

Way too literate for mainstream horror fans' taste - it was so much more. Few had the theatrical flourish of Vincent Price and he was just so perfectly cast as the acting-legend-in-his-own-mind disfavored by a cross section of critics that may otherwise have steered his career on to the rocks. Taking "tragedy" to a new level, he REALLY silencies his critics once and for all, taking them out one by one in escalatingly appropriate Shakespearean circumstances.

Black black dialog with the Bard's turn of a phrase pervades the entire film. Yeah its gory - so's Macbeth! It is also one of the greatest horror comedies ever devised, with A-List acting credits.

Quite simply, NOT to be missed!