Theatre of Blood
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Theatre of Blood is a 1973 horror film starring Vincent Price as vengeful actor Edward Lionheart and Diana Rigg as his daughter Edwina Lionheart. It was directed by Douglas Hickox.
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[edit] Plot
Edward Lionheart (Vincent Price), who sees himself as a great Shakespearean actor, is in fact an extremely hammy and over-the-top actor. With the aid of his daughter Edwina (Diana Rigg), Lionheart sets out to murder, one by one, a group of critics who had individually ridiculed his acting throughout his career, and ultimately declined to present him with the "Critic's Circle Award" for his acting in a season he believed to be his best, which had driven him to attempt suicide. The critics are played by a distinguished cast of British actors, including Harry Andrews, Coral Browne, Robert Coote, Jack Hawkins, Michael Hordern, Arthur Lowe, Robert Morley and Dennis Price.
The manner of Lionheart's revenge on each critic is inspired by deaths of characters in the plays of Lionheart's last season of Shakespeare. In most cases the critic is first duped by Lionheart's acting initially to "play the part" before Lionheart's murderous intentions are revealed, followed by an ironic, humilating and grotesque dispatch of the critic. The first victim is butchered by a group of tramps on the Ides of March, in a reenactment of the death of Julius Caesar. The next is speared and then dragged behind a horse, Hector's fate at the hands of Achilles in the Trojan war play, Troilus and Cressida. The Merchant of Venice is reworked so that Shylock gets his pound of flesh as the critic's steaming heart. Other murders include: a drowning in a butt of wine, based on the murder of the Duke of Clarence in Richard III; the wife of one critic awakens to find her husband decapitated, as Imogen awoke to find the headless body of Cloten in Cymbeline; quasi-cannibalism--the effeminate Meredith Merridew is tricked into eating his "babies" (his dogs) just as Queen Tamora was fed the flesh of her two sons, baked in a pie, in the climax of Titus Andronicus; one critic is tricked into believing his wife has been unfaithful, driving him to smother her in a jealous rage (like Othello); a female critic (played by Coral Browne, Price's real-life wife) is electrocuted by hair curlers as Lionheart recites a passage in which Joan of Arc is burnt at the stake, "Spare for no fagots [bundles of sticks], let there be enough..." (from Henry VI, part 1). Many of the deaths are patterned to the weaknesses of the critics (e.g. the one drowned in wine is an alcoholic).
Somewhere in the middle of all this is an amusing "duel" scene, which features Lionheart and the chief critic Devlin bouncing around on trampolines while slashing at one another with rapiers, after the swordfight between Tybalt and Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet. Lionheart uses this appearance to establish that he did indeed survive his suicide attempt (and thereby get his daughter released from police custody). Lionheart spares Devlin, who has recognized him, and who as head of the Critic's Circle, he intends to save for last anyway.
The audience and sometime-participants in the mayhem are methylated spirit (violet-colored wood alcohol) drinking tramps, who have saved Lionheart from drowning after his attempt at suicide by leaping into the river. As the cheap but toxic methylated spirits have damaged their senses, Lionheart finds them easy to manipulate to help him murder the critics. After the principal series of killings, one of these meths-drinkers is disguised as Lionheart as a diversion to lure the police away while the remaining critic Devlin is kidnapped. Police capture the drunk and using the lure of hard alcohol, get him to divulge the whereabouts of Lionheart.
The film ends following Lionheart's attempt to force the remaining critic, Peregrine Devlin, to present him with the "coveted" Critic's Circle Award for Best Actor. Taking the blinding of the Duke of Gloucester in King Lear as inspiration, Lionheart has arranged a Heath Robinson/Rube Goldberg contraption containing two red-hot daggers, which are poised to blind the critic should he fail to see things Lionheart's way. Unlike all of the other critics, however, Devlin stands his ground despite the menace and refuses to change his original choice for the award. The slow-moving contraption is released; however, police sirens are heard outside and the device becomes stuck temporarily. Lionheart sets fire to the theater to thwart the police, who save Devlin just in the nick of time. The group of tramps who helped Lionheart turn on him and one kills Edwina, hitting her over the head with the award. Lionheart retreats, carrying Edwina's body to the roof and delivering Lear's final monologue just before the roof caves in and he dies. To this, Devlin commented "Overacting to the end."
[edit] Deaths
- George Maxwell: stabbed, slashed to ribbons and hacked to death by an army of homeless people. (Modeled after Julius Caesar)
- Hector Snipe: impaled in the chest with a spear by Lionheart after hearing the words and then dragged (Hector in Troilus and Cressida)
- Horace Sprout: head sawn off while in bed by Lionheart. (Cloten in Cymbeline)
- Trevor Dickman: heart cut out whilst still alive. (the death Antonio in The Merchant of Venice is saved from)
- Oliver Larding: drowned in a barrel of red wine. (Clarence in Richard III)
- Maisie Psaltery: smothered with a pillow by her own husband. (Desdemona in Othello)
- Ms. Chloe Moon: electrocuted with hair curlers (The burning of Joan of Arc in Henry VI, Part One.
- Meredith Meredew: choked to death on a pie made from his dogs (Tamora in Titus Andronicus)
- Sgt. Dogge: run over by a train while he is radioing Insp. Boot for help.
- Edwina Lionheart: skull cracked by an award trophy.
- Edward Lionheart: burnt and then fell off the roof of the theatre taking his dead daughter with him. (King Lear).
[edit] Critical reception
This film is considered by some to be among Price's greatest work, and it was a personal favorite of his, as he always wanted the chance to act in Shakespeare, but found himself being typecast due to his work in horror films. Before or after each death in the film, Lionheart recites passages of Shakespeare, giving Price a chance to show his acting ability. It must have been satisfying to be able to deliver choice bits, including: Hamlet's famous fifth soliloquy ("To be, or not to be, that is the question..."); Marc Antony's self-serving eulogy for Caesar from Julius Caesar ("Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears..."); "Now is the winter of our discontent..." from the beginning of Richard III; and finally, raving as the mad King Lear at the loss of his faithful daughter.
Some of these sequences take place in an abandoned theatre that Lionheart has used as his hideout, which is where the title of the film originates (it was originally to be called Much ado about murder). Some disliked the ending though, as Price made Lionheart such a sympathetic character, especially compared to the critics.
[edit] Cast and roles include
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Harry Andrews | Trevor Dickman |
| Renée Asherson | Mrs. Maxwell |
| Brigid Erin Bates | Agnes |
| Stanley Bates | Meths Drinker |
| Coral Browne | Chloe Moon |
| Tony Calvin | Police Photographer |
| Robert Coote | Oliver Larding |
| Diana Dors | Maisie Psaltery |
| Eric Francis | Meths Drinker |
| Sally Gilmore | Meths Drinker |
| John Gilpin | Meths Drinker |
| Joyce Graeme | Meths Drinker |
| Charles Gray | Voice of Solomon Psaltery |
| Jack Hawkins | Solomon Psaltery |
| Ian Hendry | Peregrin Devlin |
| Joan Hickson | Mrs. Sprout |
| Michael Hordern | George Maxwell |
| Tutte Lemkow | Meths Drinker |
| Arthur Lowe | Horace Sprout |
| Jack Maguire | Meths Drinker |
| Robert Morley | Meredith Meredew |
| Declan Mulholland | Meths Drinker |
| Milo O'Shea | Insp. Boot |
| Dennis Price | Hector Snipe |
| Vincent Price | Edward Lionheart |
| Bunny Reed | Policeman |
| Diana Rigg | Edwina Lionheart |
| Charles Sinnickson | Vicar |
| Madeline Smith | Rosemary |
| Eric Sykes | Sgt. Dogge |
| Peter Thornton | Policeman |
[edit] New adaptation
The film has been recently adapted for the stage, with Jim Broadbent playing Edward Lionheart and Rachael Stirling, Diana Rigg's daughter, playing her mother's role of Edwina. The play differs from the film as the critics are from the major British newspapers (examples including The Guardian and The Times), and it is all set within an abandoned theatre. The play is also set in the seventies rather than contemporary times, and makes fun of the politics of theatre at that time. Another change is the reduction in the number of deaths. The killings based on Othello and Cymbeline have been omitted, presumably because they would have to take place outside the theatre due to their impact on secondary characters. Also, the name of Lionheart's daughter is changed from 'Edwina' to 'Miranda' to enhance the Shakespearean influence.
