A Filmmaker's Review: "Theatre of Blood" (1973)

This movie is a cross between a dark comedy, horror and more of a suspense thriller. Whatever the genre really is, doesn't really matter all too much because we already know what to expect when the film stars the likes of Vincent Price. In this film he portrays an actor who has been turned down by an elite society of critics so many times that he commits suicide. In his last act of revenge he 'comes back from the dead' to kill all of the critics who did him wrong. He uses the last Shakespeare plays he acted in to achieve this as he kills them all in these various ways.

It is a brilliant film in which we have this almost supernatural force of a man who has supposedly come back from the dead mixed with his want for revenge, appearing almost ghost-like to the critics he is going to kill. This is, in itself, very Shakespearean. When it comes to the actual murders, they are made to look almost theatrical in style. For example: there is one where they re-enact "Titus Andronicus" and the death in that is where they bake the children of the woman into a pie and feed it to her. In the film, a man is obsessed with his two poodles and therefore, they are baked into a pie and force fed to him until he dies of basically choking to death on his own dogs. It is presented almost comically to us but you cannot help but feel a little sickened by the whole thing.

I thought that the woman who played Vincent Price's daughter did fantastic in her role because she was on the police's side since they apologised to her. It was the critics though who made a fool out of her father and humiliated him on purpose. When it comes to finding her father's body though, she never did and neither did anyone else. When it comes to it, she has really conned everyone and you will totally never see it coming. She too works on filmmaking sets and in theatres.

I think my favourite part has to be the "Merchant of Venice" one since there is no actual death in the "Merchant of Venice". Be that as it may, he kidnaps the critic in order to re-enact the entire play, especially the scene with the trial of Antonio before the disguised Portia against Shylock. The theatre club states they have made a few changes to the script, including but not mentioning that Antonio will give the pound of flesh near the heart to Shylock. So when they get to it, they do actually cut out the flesh from the critic for real and weigh it on a scale, tossing away anything that is above the one pound of flesh. Yes, it is gruesome and kind of disgusting, yet it is sort of comical and almost theatrical at the same time. It is dark and yet, it seems almost like a circus.

In conclusion, I think that this film makes for a great viewing experience with Vincent Price practically doing what Vincent Price does best which is both enthralling and completely terrifying the audience with his Shakespearean performances which all involve brutal slayings and acts of pure revenge. When it comes to the storyline itself, the way the real blends with the supernatural - or what is perceived to be the supernatural - is brilliant and makes for a great mystery all the way through the film. Nothing seems matter of fact and everything pieces together very well, I think that the script is supposed to present these critics as a bit more dense than the actor himself and yet, there is a nature of togetherness in them in which they think that they are not all going to be killed. As they are taken down one, by one, this togetherness starts to disappear and when it comes down to it - these people all only had one thing in common - they were scared of their own fates and basically leaning on others. Apart from that, I think that the woman who played Vincent Price’s daughter was fantastic - her performance giving a connection between theatre and reality.