Theatre of Blood (1973)

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

Director:

Douglas Hickox

Writers:

Anthony Greville-Bell (screenplay), Stanley Mann (idea)

Stars:

Vincent Price, Diana Rigg, Ian Hendry

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Vincent Price	...	Edward Kendal Sheridan 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 William 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 Psaltery

Storyline

Edward Lionheart (Vincent Price) stars as an actor overlooked for a critics' acting award, despite producing a season of Shakespeare plays. After confronting the Critics' Circle, an attempted suicidal dive into the Thames results in Lionheart being rescued by your typical paraffin/meths/turps swigging tramps. Lionheart then (presumed dead) exacts his grizzly, and quite amusing revenge on the critics who denied him his finest hour.

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Plot Keywords:

critic | actor | revenge | police | theater critic | 

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Taglines:

Vincent Price has reserved a seat for you in the "theatre of blood."

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Genres:

Comedy | Horror

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Certificate:

R

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 April 1973 (USA)

Also Known As:

Theater of Blood

Filming Locations:

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

Company Credits

Production Co:

Harbour Productions Limited, Cineman Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White (title sequence) Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The picture of the handsome Elizabethan young man in black cape and white tights shown during the opening credits, and later used as the model for the film's Critic's Circle Award is a painting entitled Young Man Among Roses by Nicholas Hilliard (1547-1619), and is in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.

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Goofs

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.

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Quotes

Solomon Psaltery: Die, you strumpet!

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Connections

Referenced in Gone Home (2013)

User Reviews

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!