Theatre Of Blood: The Stage Is Set . . . For Murder!

By Aila Slisco

There is a space between comedy and horror which some people call black humor. If a movie can inhabit that space, it will likely be a favorite of mine. While this has certainly been used in movies up to the present day, the golden age of this kind of horror comedy film arguably happened in the UK several decades ago. Theatre of Blood is not only a great example of the horror comedy, but my favorite film of the subgenre.

The first word many think of when it comes to classic British horror films is “Hammer,” and although Theatre of Blood wasn’t the product of that well-known studio, it does feel similar to some of their films, particularly in the camp elements of humor laced throughout. Around the same time as the heyday of Hammer Studios, there was a thriving industry of somewhat similar horror films on the other side of the Atlantic. It seems fitting that Vincent Price, one of the biggest names in American horror films, took on the lead role in the British production Theatre of Blood.

The plot of the film is brilliantly absurd: Price’s character is Edward Lionheart, a disgraced Shakespearean actor who, furious at being overlooked for an award, teams up with a gang of drunken vagrants to murder his critics during reenactments of scenes from Shakespeare. Each murder seems to be increasingly absurd in its staging; lines of dialogue from the plays are laced with verbal rebukes of past negative reviews Lionheart received from the critic playing victim.

The first murder is genuinely unsettling, but by the time we reach the modified reenactment of the cannibalism from Titus Andronicus—a scene involving a rotund critic and a couple of pet poodles—it’s pretty much silly season. (I mean that in the best possible way, since “silly season” is probably my favorite season.) The details of the plot aren’t always completely coherent, and I had a few problems with the bit based on Othello, but nothing really detracts from Theatre of Blood’s overall spectacle. And although there is certainly a fair amount of gore in the film, and a creepy vibe throughout, this isn’t exactly a “scary” film which can only be enjoyed by hardcore horror fans.

Vincent Price was expertly cast as the absurdly pompous Lionheart, and it’s not difficult to understand why this was one his favorite roles. Price, of course, already had an impressive portfolio of horror roles behind him by the time this film was made in 1973, but there’s nothing routine about this film or his performance. Co-starring as Lionheart’s daughter Edwina is Diana Rigg (The Avengers), who inexplicably spends about half the film disguised as a moustachioed man. This may have been intended as the setup for a surprise, but it’s patently obvious from the beginning. Of course, if anything, this only adds another layer of enjoyable strangeness to the film. In an interesting casting choice, Ian Hendry—who plays Peregrin Devlin—was actually the original star of The Avengers before Rigg appeared on the show.

The rest of the cast is made up of a fairly impressive roster of British character actors, but they all kind of fade into the background on the strength of Vincent Price’s pitch-perfect performance. He’s alternately creepy and hilarious in this, a great actor playing the role of a consistently pompous and incompetent actor. I can’t claim to have seen every piece of acting that Price did, but I can’t imagine any were as much of a joy to watch as this one.

The tone of Theatre of Blood is one of the things I love most about it. While it can be silly in the extreme, it’s mostly played straight; you never really get the feeling the actors might have been about to start laughing while reading their lines, something which has easily muddied the waters of camp humor before. It works on many different levels: as a horror film, as showcase for Vincent Price, and as a satire about criticism, the concept of revenge, and the world of the theater.

Theatre of Blood is one of the most purely enjoyable horror films ever made in my opinion, and I feel it’s one that’s been unjustly overlooked for the most part. Anyone who enjoys the work of Vincent Price, mid-Twentieth century horror, Shakespeare, or even a bit of satirical black humor is bound to love this movie.

And if you don’t love it, keep your opinions to yourself. You never know, the ghost of Vincent Price might just show up to stab, drown, poison, or otherwise dispatch you from the land of the living. Preceded, of course, by a few lines of Shakespeare.