Theatre of Blood

Vincent Price - Edward Lionheart
Diana Rigg - Edwina Lionheart
Ian Hendry - Peregrine Devlin
Harry Andrews - Trevor Dickman
Coral Browne - Miss Chloe Moon
Robert Coote - Oliver Larding
Jack Hawkins - Solomon Psaltery
Michael Hordern - George Maxwell
Arthur Lowe - Horace Sprout
Robert Morley - Meredith Merridew
Dennis Price - Hector Snipe
Milo O'Shea - Inspector Boot
Eric Sykes - Sergeant Dogge
Madeline Smith - Rosemary
Diana Dors - Maisie Psaltry
Joan Hickson - Mrs. Sprout

Douglas Hickox directed Theatre of Blood, a first-rate production that scriptwriter Anthony Greville-Bell crams full of Shakespearean evocation. Featuring a fabulous soundtrack and inspired ensemble cast, Vincent Price produces a tour de force in this stylishly dark, comedy horror, boasting the appealing premise of an indignant actor seeking revenge on his detractors.

Edward Lionheart (Vincent Price), a classically trained Shakespearean ham actor, is denied a prestigious annual acting award by the London Theatre Critic's Circle. Intruding on their meeting, he steals the award, throws himself into the River Thames and is presumed drowned. A short while after, critics start dying in the manner of famous death scenes from Shakespeare's plays. George Maxwell (Michael Hordern) is first; a death of a thousand cuts in a deserted warehouse being his fate (Julius Caesar). The effeminate Meredith Merridew (Robert Morley) is forced to eat his two beloved poodles in a baked pie, and is force-fed to death (Titus Andronicus). Chloe Moon (Coral Browne) is fried under a hair-dryer in a beauty salon (Henry VI). Horace Sprout (Arthur Lowe), is decapitated in his bed, his head is then replaced on his body so that his wife will knock it off in the morning (Cymbeline). Trevor Dickman (Harry Andrews) is lured away by a sexy young actress and ends up having his heart cut out (The Merchant of Venice). Drinker, Oliver Larding (Robert Coote), is drowned in a vat of wine and dragged through the cemetery by wild horses (Richard III). Solomon Psaltery (Jack Hawkins) strangles his wife Maisie (Diana Dors), who he suspects of infidelity after a Lionheart ruse, thus condemning himself to prison (Othello).

The only critic to survive is Peregrine Devlin (Ian Hendry), who suspects Lionheart is committing the murders. Wounded in a trampoline-fencing duel with Lionheart when replicating a scene from Romeo and Juliet, he is warned that he will be last. With Inspector Boot (Milo O'Shea) and Sergeant Dogge (Eric Sykes) as his only defence, Devlin tries to find out where Lionheart is, starting with his faithful daughter, Edwina (Diana Rigg), a make-up artist. She is little help, not surprising as she is in league with her father, who was saved by a group of tramps with whom he has set up his theatre of death. It is here that Edwina brings Devlin, cheating death thanks to a defective prop intended to put out his eyes, the tramps set fire to the theatre, and he escapes while Edwina and her father perform their last Shakespearean scene on the roof before being consumed by flames.

Really little more than a pretext for a series of horrific deaths, Price is at his hammiest best, and Rigg is a superb foil. Hendry is fine as the chief protagonist, and the comic relief from the police is assured. Douglas Hickox keeps the film moving briskly and directs with more gothic panache than the average horror film.