HALLOWEEN HORRORFEST 2019: Theater of Blood (1973)

Our Sponsor

Today’s sponsor is the latest of my Domicile of Dread Patreons, Sean Foster!  And Sean has chosen another film from the twilight of the Golden Age of British Horror featuring former members of The Avengers and the magnificence of Vincent Price, Theater of Blood!

I first saw this film on the big screen at the Film Forum here in New York City on a double bill with one of my favorite films of all time, The Abominable Dr. Phibes.  As such, I always associate those two films--to the point where I consider this the natural sequel to the Robert Fuest classic (apparently Fuest was originally offered the job of director for this one).  They share the same sensibility even if this one is skewed a little more towards humor.  They’re both very British, both feature a charismatic supervillain and a female assistant spending a long time (two years here, five years in Phibes) to exact their revenge for a slight. The cops are always one step behind, although I suspect they’re treated rougher in this film than in Phibes. They’re also pretty similarly structure narratively.  It’s not hard to squint slightly and consider this film’s Edward Lionheart as a descendant of Phibes carrying on the family tradition of bloody mayhem built around a theme.

In this film, the members of the Critic’s Circle are being rather elaborately murdered.  Peregrine Devlin (Ian Hendry, who played the first partner of John Steed in The Avengers) suspects that this is the handiwork of Edward Lionheart (Vincent Price) who supposedly committed suicide after being refused the Critic’s Circle Award for Best Actor.  As the circle of critics dwindle in number and the murders become more and more elaborate, Devlin find himself working not only with Inspector Boot (Milo O’Shea), but Edward Lionheart’s daughter (Diana Rigg)....who may be helping her father get his Shakespearean-themed revenge.

One of the great charms of this film--and the reason I believe it shouldn’t be remade with film critics standing in for the theater critics as I've heard many people opine--is the way writer Anthony Greville-Bell connects Shakespeare with the luridness of then-modern horror.  As much as some people revere Shakespeare, the author originally considered his work pop culture, and utilizing murders from the plays (consciously fudging a bit for comedic effect when it comes to A Merchant of Venice) as a motif for a macabre horror comedy is just a natural extension of the Bard of Avon’s brand.  The film gleefully leans into the pulp nature of the canon, and I can only imagine William himself approving of the script if he found himself in the early 70‘s.

The cast is made up of classic English character actors who know how to achieve the sort of heightened reality this film exists in.  The ones playing the critics (including future Mrs. Price Coral Browne) know they’re playing broad stereotypes and are more than game--to the point where Ian Hendry’s Devlin is actually the least engaging of the heroic characters.  But of course the film is owned by Price and Rigg, the later of whom plays a number of different ‘characters,’ including one that might not work as easily for more modern fans but is credibly pulled off by her.  Price knows when to make Lionheart broad and when to make him deadly serious, and gets a chance to portray a number of Shakespearean characters to remind us he was originally a serious actor capable of holding his own with the best of his peers.

Speaking of Price and Rigg, we kind of have to address the wildly afro’d gorilla in the room--there are a couple of moments, including an extended sequence leading to Coral Browne’s electrocution via hair dryer, which are...a little offensive in its portrayal of homosexuality.  The homosexual stereotypes that are played up to in those sequences aren’t as egregious as some of the portrayals in other films of the era (I’m looking at you, Blacula), but it’s hard to ignore their presence and use as a punchline.  I don’t think it ruins the palatability of this film for modern audiences, but those who are triggered by this sort of thing might come in with eyes open. 

The murders are increasingly elaborate and kinda graphic for The Golden Age of British Horror--I like a lot of the little touches in these set pieces, like how a recently excised heart is still steaming in Price’s hand.  There is one murder based on Othello that has never worked for me, but all the others grow more and more melodramatic until we’re watching Price and his army of meth drinkers (who have a weird, balletic nature to their movements that provide a surrealness to those scenes) forcefeeding Robert Morley his pet poodles through a brass funnel...and yet we accept it all.

Theater of Blood is almost an hour and three quarters in length, and yet it moves like a film much shorter than that.  The plot moves, and director Douglas Hickox (father of Anthony, who directed the Waxwork duology....and also some really bad sequels to other horror franchises) knows to how to keep us from getting bored--Hell, a major exposition dump is slid into the middle of a spectacular sword fight that runs the length of a gymnasium.  And the climactic sequence, involving a burning theater and Price roaming its parapets carrying the dead Rigg in his arms, is appropriately grand and operatic...leading to a final line that still makes me laugh even with Hendry kind of breaking character.

Like Phibes, Theater of Blood is a great film that can be seen as part of the bridge that connected Old School Gothic Horror to the more gruesome Modern Horror that the 70‘s had in store for us.  It’s well acted, fun and entertaining throughout.  I enthusiastically recommend it.

Tomorrow’s sponsor is one of the great horror podcasters working today (and fellow resident of Queens), Patrick K. Walsh of Scream Queenz.  Patrick is presently conducting the Countdown To Halloween Pod-a-thon for the benefit of New Alternatives, an organization that provides help for homeless LBGTQ teens.  For more info, and to donate, please visit the Countdown to Halloween Facebook Page. Patrick has chosen for me 2010‘s All About Evil, a film I know very little about...so we’ll discover it together!

If you’d like to join Sean and other Patreons, there’s three slots open for this year’s Halloween Horrorfest.  Anyone who joins the Patreon at the $3 or more slot not only gets bits of writing and exclusive podcasts (like the upcoming Pacific Rim Rialto and maybe a little surprise at the end of this month), but can sponsor one of those slots and choose the film I have to watch and report on!