Theatre of Blood - Review

Theatre of Blood (1973)

Brilliant filmmaking and an engrossing lead performance by Vincent Price carry this messy script to the cusp of being something truly great. Price, who plays a disgraced actor seeking revenge on those critics who rebuked him, is magnificent here.

Price is given the opportunity to wear many different masks both figuratively and literally and he does them all brilliantly. As his character dons all these wigs while enacting revenge the movie gets side tracked by a boring and inconsequential investigation into Price’s crimes. The juggling of these two plots, one where we see Price hamming it up, and the other where bland characters debate who could be coming after them, resulted in the movie oscillating between being entertaining and cumbersome.

Price’s scenes are so great though that most is forgiven. Beyond Price the rest of the cast is mostly forgettable, which is a shame because it meant that Price was mostly alone in his scenes in that no one in the film matches his intensity or charisma.

Ian Hendry, who plays one of Price's critics, comes the closest to being a character the audience is invested in. He and price share an amazing moment in the movie where they battle with ferocious intensity fencing each other while inside a gymnasium.

What struck me most when watching this film was the amazing cinematography and practical effects which included burning a theatre toward the film’s end. The stunt work is also top notch from climbing buildings to hilarious but action pact fencing sequences.

While the movie does slow down when Price is not on screen the amazing direction, cinematography, and all around great filmmaking along with Price’s captivating performance make this one worth watching even if just for those elements.

Here is the trailer for Theatre of Blood: