oOoBarracuda My love affair with Vincent Price continues. I have been recommended Theatre of Blood from several sources that I trust and couldn't wait to sink my teeth into it. The 1973 film directed by Douglas Hickox stars Price as an embattled actor seeking revenge on the critics that have panned him his entire career. Often noted as one of Price's best horror roles, he proves the notion that no one can play Vincent Price as well as Vincent Price could.No one takes their acting as seriously as Edward Lionheart (Vincent Price). Completely engrossed in his life's work Lionheart was completely broken when he lost the critic's acting award after a season's worth of Shakespeare performances. Lionheart took his acting too seriously anyway, so being enveloped by the Bard's work did little to calm Lionheart's fire. He didn't think there was any way he could miss out on his "due" reward after giving such masterful Shakespearian performances. No one was more surprised than Lionheart when he lost the award prompting him to confront those critics that voted against him. Each of the critics makes a joke out of his appearance inciting Lionheart to jump from the room to his presumed death. When the critics that voted against Lionheart begin to turn up dead, many believe Lionheart, or perhaps his spirit is responsible for the murders. Can the puzzle be solved and the culprit be captured before each of the critics is murdered?Each of the killings somehow corresponding to the role Price's Lionheart played that the soon-to-be-murdered critic reviewed was cinematic genius to watch unfold. The camera angles in this film were more than I ever expected from a horror film. It's worth mentioning that horror films weren't always pure slashers as they predominately are now. Horror films used to be quite masterful and this film is a good reminder of that mastery. I've only seen a few Vincent Price films but I am thoroughly convinced that no one could have played Lionheart like Vincent Price. It requires the ham and willingness to overplay oneself that Vincent Price was known for and even acknowledged himself. Plus, any film that shows you Vincent Price in an afro is one that should be seen, even for that reason alone. Maybe it's just the fact that I'm still not "over" my discovery of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, but I noticed several similarities between the two. For instance, in Rocky Horror, Tim Curry plays a lead who is extremely disillusioned in his own powers and ability. Likewise, in Theatre of Blood, Lionheart is not nearly as gifted of an actor as he believes he is. Lionheart also has an assistant that that is very much like Riff Raff in Rocky Horror. Even the ending scene of the murderer ascending the wall saving the only person that's ever mattered to them is reminiscent of the ending of Rocky Horror. It is well documented that Rocky Horror pays homage to B-horror pictures of Universal, but with Theatre of Blood premiering just two years before Rocky Horror, it may have acted as an influence, as well. Theatre of Blood is a great watch, making me scared to fulfill my dream of being a movie critic which means that it perfectly succeeded as a film.

Richard Dominguez OK I Have To Honest Here, If You Want An Impartial Opinion I Can't Give It To You ... Personally I Think Vincent Price Was The Greatest Tragic Actor Of All Time ... No Matter How Villainous, Evil, Insane Or Victimized A Part He Played He Always Seemed To Bring A Sense Of Tragedy To The Role, A Sense That The Perpetrator Was Not Those Things But Used Those Things To Right Some Wrong ... In This Movie We See Price In Very Much A Similar Role As He Had In "The Abominable Dr. Phibes" And The Sequel "Dr.Phibes Rises Again ... His Daughter In The Movie Played By Diana Rigg (My First Childhood Crush When She Was Ms Peale On The TV Series The Avengers) Was Marvelous ... One Of The Subcategories Of The Movie Is Comedy, Although I Found That There Were A Few Moments Of Dark Comedy I Don't Know That I Would Place It As Comedic In Any Way ... As Always A Sense Of Will He Get Away With It Accompanies This Or Any Price Movie ... Also As A Great Lover Of All The Works Of The "Immortal Bard" (William Shakespeare, For Those Who Don't Know Who The Bard Is) I Loved The Quoting Throughout The Movie Of Some Of The Greatest Of The Bard's Words From Some Of His Greatest Works ... Well Shot, Acted And Written This Is One For The Collection ...

Johan Louwet Yes this movie has some similarities with The Abominable Dr. Phibes in the sense of Vincent Price playing a killer. Instead of using plagues to kill of his opponents this time he is using the killings in the plays from Shakespeare into practice or of there aren't any deaths he alters it so the person ends up dead. Here Price is a drama stage actor wanting revenge on all his critics who not only gave him bad reviews but also gave the award he thought was his to another younger actor. Even though I pretty much knew there was nothing going to stop him it was still interesting to see how he would do the killings and be able to mislead both the victims and the police. Filled with dark humour before he does his evil deeds in word and/or disguise this surely is an enjoyable piece of cinema. However to label this as comedy before horror is quite a stretch.

mark.waltz When an actor takes themselves as seriously as Vincent Price's Edward Kendal Sheridan Lionheart, the worst thing a critic can do is pan their performances or refer to him as the biggest ham since Porky Pig. In the case of "worst thing", that goes for the critics, not for Price, because after years of being rejected for London's top theater honors, he plots out a grand exit that would make Hamlet, King Lear, MacBeth and Othello applaud. You see, Edward Kendal Sheridan Lionheart does nothing but Shakespeare, and he overdoes it so much in the eyes of the critics, they have no choice but to condemn him. Confronting them at their annual committee meeting, Price curses them all out then makes his exit, through their skyscraper window to his supposed death.As time passes, several critics begin to meet their doom from extremely bizarre methods. The remaining begin to think there is some plot against them, and of course, they are right. If only they knew the truth, which is too funny in a macabre manner in which to describe here. This is a dark and funny grand guignol where the American born Price (still seeming very British, which I'm sure many of his fans thought he was anyway...) takes similar trails as he did in "Dr. Philbes", going from the medical profession into the theatrical. Decapitation, electrocution, suffocation and other brutal slayings, all done through Shakespeare's best plays, some grotesque, others hysterically funny, are presented in full bloody detail here, and are played with some of Britain's greatest character performers, including real-life future wife Coral Browne who really gives a hair raising performance here. Robert Morley gets a bit stuffed here too, and others such as Jack Hawkins and Michael Hordern have memorable demises as well. Milo O'Shea is properly confused as the detective, and Diana Rigg goes from lovely to looney as Price's grieving daughter. Think of this as "Sweeney Todd" on acid.