My review of Theater of Blood (1973) (SPOILERS ALERT)
This movie was actually a really lively film. I cant understand how anyone could describe it as slow moving. It has a great ensemble cast, with many instantly recognizable stars from the 1960's-1970's.
The main character, Edward Lionheart, played by Vincent Price, is an aging silent movie actor who had made an attempt to revive his career as a theater actor. His piece de resistance is his 1970 season Shakespeare series. Lionheart pours his heart and soul into each performance in the series of Shakespeare plays and rightly believes that he deserves to win the Theater Critics' Guild's Best Actor Award. But the critics are bored by the classical Shakespeare series and give the award to a less talented upcoming actor because he starred in more modern productions. Immediately following the Awards show, Lionheart crashes the Critics' after party and confronts them. Embarrassed and crushed by the critics scorn, Lionheart leaps off the balcony into the Thames river committing suicide. Surprisingly, Lionheart survives and is revived by a group of alcoholic bums (Meths Drinkers).
Apparently driven insane by his near death experience, Lionheart and his group of drunk bums reenact his entire 1970 series of Shakespeare performances and kill the scornful critics in Shakespeare themed ways:
· a mob stabbing a critic to death on the Ides of March (Julius Caesar)
· a man stabbed with a spear, his body then tied to a horse and dragged along the road (Troilus & Cressida)
· a beheading (Cymbeline)
· a pound of flesh cut out of one unfortunate victim (The Merchant of Venice)
· a drowning (Richard III)
· a victim of a fencing match (Romeo & Juliet)
· a jealous man prodded into killing his wife (Othello)
· a man forced to eat his two precious poodles (Titus Andronicus)
*During the filming of this movie, Vincent Price, a married man, fell in love with Coral Browne, the actress who played the woman who was electrocuted at the hairdresser. Price divorced his wife of 23 years and married Coral Browne before the movie premiered. They were introduced to each other on the movie set by Diana Rigg
*While Lionheart may seem to be unrealistically agile and strong for an older man, I did not find this to be too unbelievable. As ridiculous as the fencing scene was, many old school silent movie actors were very athletic as they did their own stunts. See: Buster Keaton, Douglass Fairbanks Sr. and Harold Lloyd.
This movie was actually a really lively film. I cant understand how anyone could describe it as slow moving. It has a great ensemble cast, with many instantly recognizable stars from the 1960's-1970's.
The main character, Edward Lionheart, played by Vincent Price, is an aging silent movie actor who had made an attempt to revive his career as a theater actor. His piece de resistance is his 1970 season Shakespeare series. Lionheart pours his heart and soul into each performance in the series of Shakespeare plays and rightly believes that he deserves to win the Theater Critics' Guild's Best Actor Award. But the critics are bored by the classical Shakespeare series and give the award to a less talented upcoming actor because he starred in more modern productions. Immediately following the Awards show, Lionheart crashes the Critics' after party and confronts them. Embarrassed and crushed by the critics scorn, Lionheart leaps off the balcony into the Thames river committing suicide. Surprisingly, Lionheart survives and is revived by a group of alcoholic bums (Meths Drinkers).
Apparently driven insane by his near death experience, Lionheart and his group of drunk bums reenact his entire 1970 series of Shakespeare performances and kill the scornful critics in Shakespeare themed ways:
· a mob stabbing a critic to death on the Ides of March (Julius Caesar)
· a man stabbed with a spear, his body then tied to a horse and dragged along the road (Troilus & Cressida)
· a beheading (Cymbeline)
· a pound of flesh cut out of one unfortunate victim (The Merchant of Venice)
· a drowning (Richard III)
· a victim of a fencing match (Romeo & Juliet)
· a jealous man prodded into killing his wife (Othello)
· a man forced to eat his two precious poodles (Titus Andronicus)
*During the filming of this movie, Vincent Price, a married man, fell in love with Coral Browne, the actress who played the woman who was electrocuted at the hairdresser. Price divorced his wife of 23 years and married Coral Browne before the movie premiered. They were introduced to each other on the movie set by Diana Rigg
*While Lionheart may seem to be unrealistically agile and strong for an older man, I did not find this to be too unbelievable. As ridiculous as the fencing scene was, many old school silent movie actors were very athletic as they did their own stunts. See: Buster Keaton, Douglass Fairbanks Sr. and Harold Lloyd.