Passionate Shakespeare actor Edward Lionheart is driven to suicide by critics panning his skills. But with the help of some local vagrants, he survives, and is back for some literally shakespearean revenge...
Yeah, this is gonna hurt. Very much like Dr.
Phibes did just two years earlier, Mr. Lionheart has prepared everything
for his sinister goals. Douglas Hickox' grotesque classic "Theatre of Blood" is Shakespeare all over the place, it's British to the utmost, it's got Vincent Price, and the murders are outrageous.
The story and style of the film are as satirical and sarcastic as they are tragic, dark, and bizarre. There is a seriously sinister undertone to it, very much unlike the colorful Hammer Studios productions, or Roger Corman's E. A. Poe adaptations (many of which feature Vincent Price in the lead role), of the 1960s. Set in the modern city of London, with concrete office buildings and dirty backstreets, the character of Edward Lionheart seems like a relic of a forgotten art. "Theatre of Blood" has an strong element of aging, of "zeitgeist" that has just moved on, creating a bleak, sobering underlying mood.
Vincent Price plays Lionheart with almost touching precision, Diana Riggs'
acting is spot on - the entire cast is made of British stage trained
actors. Director Douglas Hickox, at the time, had more than 20 years of experience in
the industry. "Theater of Blood" really has some substantial quality. But it's not a "big" production, there are no vibrant shots, there's very limited depiction of an outside world, etc. It's more like a supersized intimate play of a dark crime story, with some quite nasty, and quite amusingly bizarre scenes.
"Theatre of Blood" is a rare blend of British black humor,
in fact some of the blackest ever, serious B-horror-movie, raw stage performance, and social satire - and it's pretty
good at each of its ingredients. The somehow relatable, tragic struggle of Lionheart versus the establishment gives the movie a strong, meaningful backbone, on top of which the dark and grotesque events make sense, and make you choke.
"Not to be" has rarely
been that much stomach-turning fun.
Verdict: Very British, very black, very humor. 7.5/10
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070791/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theatre_of_Blood
Trailer video:
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