Theatre of Blood
1973 Directed by Douglas Hickox
Synopsis
It's curtains for his critics!
A Shakespearean actor takes poetic revenge on the critics who denied him recognition.
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Death by Shakespeare.
This film has to be seen if only for Vincent Price's most ridiculously bizarre performance ever.
Delightfully weird early seventies Brit Horror. A must watch if that's your thing.
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Vincent Price has some fish to fry. His victims? A group of critics, Anton Ego’s if you will, who didn’t appreciate his Shakespearean performances enough to give him a major award. These folks aren’t the fleshy young things we’re used to seeing cut up. Theater of Blood is fun 70’s schlock, using the wide variety of grisly murders found in the Bard’s work and re-serving them on a delectably lowbrow, albeit one-note, platter. The film is boiled down to a series of stacked kill scenes, one after the other, each more different from the next in method, but with the same ingredients of madness; victim unawares, Price performing Shakespearean dialogue, reveal, victim’s face a-tremor and….well, you know the rest.
Vincent…
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You've gotta respect a critic who refuses to change his awards vote even when red-hot knives are being lowered toward his eyeballs.
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"A Shakespearian actor wreaks revenge in a very gruesome manner upon a group of critics he feels deprived him of an award he deserved. The film was lovely in a 1970s way and used Shakespeare's stories well."
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blood
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awww yeeee, dat campiness
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Vincent Price is at his finest in this theatrical, all-out campfest.
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Vincent Price has some fish to fry. His victims? A group of critics, Anton Ego’s if you will, who didn’t appreciate his Shakespearean performances enough to give him a major award. These folks aren’t the fleshy young things we’re used to seeing cut up. Theater of Blood is fun 70’s schlock, using the wide variety of grisly murders found in the Bard’s work and re-serving them on a delectably lowbrow, albeit one-note, platter. The film is boiled down to a series of stacked kill scenes, one after the other, each more different from the next in method, but with the same ingredients of madness; victim unawares, Price performing Shakespearean dialogue, reveal, victim’s face a-tremor and….well, you know the rest.
Vincent…
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Muy divertida, solo podía ser protagonizada por Vincent Price, el maestro de la venganza irónica y complicada.
BTW, Vincent Price da aquí una... No, no, no LA MEJOR actuación jamás capturada en film. Una verdadera inspiración para futuras generaciones y un faro que iluminará a la humanidad por toda la historia... Por favor no me mate Mr. Price D:
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Despite his long association with Roger Corman, Vincent Price always seemed to do his best work in the UK. This clever film is no exception. The inventive concept - a failed actor murdering critics who slated him, using methods taken from his beloved Shakespeare - is both inventive and strangely touching considering how Price was solidly typecast in horror roles at the time. There are some good nasty set-pieces and a fine cast (including Avengers' Diana Rigg, Dad's Army's Arthur Lowe, Bridge on the River Kwai's Jack Hawkins and alcohol's Ian Hendry) to round things out nicely.
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Death by Shakespeare.
This film has to be seen if only for Vincent Price's most ridiculously bizarre performance ever.
Delightfully weird early seventies Brit Horror. A must watch if that's your thing.
-
You've gotta respect a critic who refuses to change his awards vote even when red-hot knives are being lowered toward his eyeballs.
-
"A Shakespearian actor wreaks revenge in a very gruesome manner upon a group of critics he feels deprived him of an award he deserved. The film was lovely in a 1970s way and used Shakespeare's stories well."