Theater of Blood Rating: Release Date: 28 August, 2001 Retail Price: $14.95 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.

The Merchant of Menace....
Theater of Blood ranks up there with the two Dr. Phibes movies as essential Vincent Price viewing.

Price is great as Edward Lionheart, a supposedly dead Shakespearian actor, seeking revenge on the eight critics who robbed him of the Critic's Circle Award. The murders revolve around the Shakespeare motif, and the "Pound of Flesh" murder is suspiciously used again in the movie "Seven", as is the "stuff the fat guy with food until he bursts" murder. (Think the writer of Seven saw Theater of Blood and the Dr. Phibes movies...?)

Diana Rigg is great as Price's daughter, and the spectacle of the Great Vincent Price as an effeminate hairdressr is worth the price of admission alone. Theater of Blood is a true classic. (Too bad the DVD doesn't have more extras- just a pan-and-scan trailer that looks LOUSY!!)

More Customer Reviews (12 total)