Theater of Blood Rating: Release Date: 27 November, 2001 Retail Price: $6.98 Sorry, this product is not currently available. Cast: Vincent Price Diana Rigg Jack Hawkins Michael Douglas Complete Cast (11 total)

Theater of Blood Reviews

A puckish exercise in style over substance, some of the best British character actors of the early seventies attack their roles with alacrity! ("Ham" served as dessert?)

Vincent Price is in top form as the villainous Edwin Lionhart, Shakespearean thespian wrongly presumed deceased. Former "Avenger" Diana Rigg decks out in a number of amusing disguises as Lionhart's daughter Edwina, ranging from male drag to blonde ingenue. An original "Avenger" (way back in the beginning of the series, when Patrick MacNee was his sidekick), Ian Hendry (as head of The Critics' Circle) keeps things emotionally well grounded. The remaining cast are suitably quirky self-absorbed cardboard characters, ripe for bumping off with temerity in manners inspired by scenes from The Bard himself!

All the players here dig in with relish, as one might expect from anyone who ever received hash notices in theatrical reviews. All the guilty parties concerned appear to have had a fun time while making this bit of camp horror fluff. The story is remarkably similar "The Abominable Dr Phibes".

After this movie, Diana Rigg compiled a book of nasty theatrical criticism entitled "No Turn Unstoned." Vincent Price and Coral Brown met during the making of this film, and afterwards they wed.

What Hammer wishes they could have produced...
Vincent Price gets to truly shine in an over the top performance as a demented actor who turns to revenge against a snobbish group of London theater critics. There is a grisly murder in the opening minutes of the movie and they don't stop until the end of the film. Each murder is staged from the pages of Shakespeare plays. Diana Rigg (of The Avengers fame) gives a great performance as the daughter of Edward Lionheart (Price) and she seems to truly enjoy this role, as does the entire cast. Tightly crafted and fast paced, this is a movie that Hammer Studios could have stayed in business with, if only they had been able to make the transition from Gothic Horror to the modern era.

More Customer Reviews (12 total)