Theatre Of Blood (DVD)

Description: Genre: Horror / Theatrical Release: 1973 / Director: Douglas Hickox / Actors: Vincent Price, Diana Rigg ... / DVD ... more

Theatre Of Blood (DVD) ... released 21 October, 2002 at MGM Entertainment / Features of the DVD: PAL / A brilliant, bizarre 1973 comedy-horror, Theatre of Blood pitches somewhere between a Hammer horror and the Ealing comedy Kind Hearts and Coronets. Vincent Price stars as the hammy, self-important and thoroughly psychotic Edward Lionheart, a veteran thespian who refuses to play anything other than Shakespeare. Piqued by a circle of critics, whom he feels were disrespectful in their notices and denied him his rightful Best Actor of the Year Award, he decides to murder them one by one in parodies of some of Shakespeare's grislier scenes. He's aided by his daughter Edwina (played by Diana Rigg, often in fake moustache and male drag) and a ghoulish company of dosshouse zombies. Some of the murders are quite extraordinarily gruesome, despite their camp, comedic overtones. Arthur Lowe's henpecked critic has his head sawn off while asleep (in a parody of Cymbeline) and Robert Morley's plumply effete dandy is force-fed a pie made from his beloved poodles, choking him to death (cf Titus Andronicus). Jack Hawkins and Michael Horden also meet unpleasant ends. Theatre of Blood is a genuine and underrated oddity in the annals of British cinema and especially uncomfortable for those who happen to be in the reviewing trade. On the DVD: Theatre of Blood on disc is not a triumph of digital enhancement, with sound blemishes unamended and hazy, faded visuals in places. The only extra is the original trailer. --David Stubbs

Newest Review: ... People like Arthur Lowe, Harry Andrews and Jack Hawkins didn’t turn up in horror films very often. (The exceptions to that ... more

... are Dennis Price and Diana Dors, who by this point in their careers would have rolled around naked in a bathtub full of live scorpions if there was a quick bundle of tenners in it). They’re effectively cameos, as most of them just come on, mutter about how bad Lionheart’s acting was, and then get killed in an appropriately Bardic way. They’re all one-note characters, and we’re obviously not meant to take any of them seriously (they have comedy names like Moon, Snipe and Sprout, who sound like they should be rude mec...more

Price Comparison for Theatre Of Blood (DVD)

	Theatre Of Blood [DVD] [1973] A brilliant, bizarre 1973 comedy - horror, Theatre of Blood pitch ... Last Update 19.12.2009 05:49	£ 4.98	Free! within 24 hours

Theatre Of Blood [DVD] [1973]
A brilliant, bizarre 1973 comedy - horror, Theatre of Blood pitch ...

Last Update 19.12.2009 05:49

£ 4.98

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within 24 hours

Read Reviews for Theatre Of Blood (DVD)

Theatre Of Blood (DVD): I can smile, and murder while I smile (1161 words)
by - written on 22/08/06 (Very useful, 438 readings)
Rating:

This is a just-the-film review. Theatre of Blood, a British horror film from 1973, was the last great Vincent Price vehicle. Price had spent most of the 50s and 60s appearing in (often terrible) horror films, and was generally regarded as loveable rather than scary. His extremely mannered, rather camp performances tended to suggest that he was cynically amused by the kinds of films he was making, and by the early 70s he was mainly doing comedy horror. The film’s plot is ridiculous. Edward Lionheart, a Shakespearean actor believed dead, returns to take his revenge on the critics who repeatedly gave him poor reviews. He sets out to murder them one by ... Read the complete review

Is this a lager I see before me? (540 words)
by - written on 05/05/01 (Very useful, 36 readings)
Rating:

There is surely nothing more satisfying than coming home after a few lads with the beers, sorry, a few beers with the lads, settling down with a plateful of greasy chips from the local emporium of deep-fried sliced potato, and watching a cheesy horror film on late-night telly. Now I don't mean one of the new type of horror films that leave nothing to the imagination and which seem to have the sole intention of relieving your digestive system of its evening's consumption as readily as possible (that could, however be the copious quantities of milk of amnesia drunk that night), but rather the 1970's 'Hammeresque' horror film - you know, the ones that ... Read the complete review

Theatre Of Blood (DVD): Vincent Price vs The Critics (796 words)
by - written on 03/05/01 (Very useful, 94 readings)
Rating:

Theatre of Blood is blessed by an irresistible premise that I’m sure will be secretly related to by any actor who’s received a bad review. Vincent Price plays Edward Lionheart a hammy, Shakespearean actor who after one insult too many enacts a bloody revenge on the critics who've slated him. He fakes his suicide but returns to murder them in methods derived from Shakespeare plays. One is knifed like Julius Caesar, one fried like Joan of Arc in Henry IV, and most memorably, another is fed poisonous (dog) pie like Titus Andronicus etc. on a delirious theatrical killing spree better summed up by the alternative title Much Ado about Murder. With ... Read the complete review

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