Theatre of Blood

Vincent Price is delightfully camp and over-the-top in this compendium of tales of revenge. He plays a Shakespearean actor slighted by the critics and denied his due plaudits; so he sets out - with the help of mistress of disguise (?!) Diana Rigg (his daughter) to avenge himself by disposing of each of his antagonists in a fashion prescribed by the bard himself. Robert Morley is great as the poodle-loving ham, and we have some fun appearances from Jack Hawkins, Ian Hendry, Arthur Lowe as the wonderfully named "Horace Sprout" married to Joan Hickson and a cast of the great and the good of late 1960s British comedy cinema. The very nature of the storylines can make the individual vignettes a bit convoluted, and the incompetence of the police stretches the already quite thin plot a little too much, but as an ensemble piece of comedy horror - and although it really isn't at all scary any more, it is still well worth catching up with.

**_Shakespeare-quoting Price hams it up in this horror/thriller black comedy_** Vincent Price stars as a bitter Shakespearean actor in modern London who is thought to be dead due to suicide. Actually, he's alive-and-not-well and goes after his unrelenting highbrow critics. Diana Rigg plays his understanding daughter while Milo O'Shea is on hand as the inspector. The score is excellent, even moving, and the first act is quite serious. But then Price's hammy approach and the increasingly unbelievable murder scenarios thrust the movie into black comedy territory. Still, it's just serious enough to (sort of) suspend disbelief and enjoy the ride. It's another take on the basic plot of "The Abominable Dr. Phibes" (1971) and its sequel (1972). It's also reminiscent of "House of Wax" (1953), although I give that one the edge. The jaw-dropping Madeline Smith is on hand on the female front, but she's unfortunately underused as a decidedly peripheral character. There's Rigg, of course, if you find her attractive. I don't, but she's likable enough. The movie's colorful like Hammer flicks, albeit with a slightly bigger budget and the corresponding location shooting. Fans of Vincent Price horror and, especially, the three movies noted above should eat this up while others might find it too talky, one-dimensional and overlong. The movie runs 104 minutes and was shot in London, Brentford & Windsor, England. GRADE: B-