Theatre of Blood

The first time I saw Theatre of Blood was on the late show, when I was a kid in the 1970s. I had never read any Shakespeare, but in a way this may have been the start of my fascination with the Bard of Avon, even though it came from a horror movie starring Vincent Price. Now that I've read all the plays, I still get a kick from this movie, which would be the perfect for a Shakespeare teacher to show on the last day of class.

Fans of Shakespeare and horror (I'm a fan of both, although I'm picky about the kind of horror films I like--you couldn't pay me enough to see a Saw film) have given Theatre of Blood a cult status since its release in 1973. It's something of a camp classic--at heart a black comedy, designed to give the musty students of Shakespeare a chance to giggle in recognition as each murder is committed.

The plot follows many of Price's films of that era. A man who is supposedly dead kills off his enemies, one by one, in a thematic manner. In this case, Price plays Edward Lionheart, a hammy Shakespearean actor, who is passed over by a critics group for their annual award. He seemingly commits suicide, but helped by his devoted daughter (Diana Rigg) and a group of homeless people, plots revenge on the critics. He murders them using techniques from each of the plays in his final season, ranging from assassination by knives (Julius Caesar), being dragged by a horse (Troilus and Cressida) to being drowned in a cask of wine (Richard III).

Some of the deaths are spectacularly creative. My favorite is when gourmand and dog lover Robert Morley is, as Queen Tamara was in Titus Andronicus, fed a pie in which here children were baked. Morley instead is force fed a pie filled with poodle meat. Recreating the burning of Joan of Arc at the stake in Henry VI, Part I, Price, fitted with a massive Afro and calling himself Butch, passes as an effeminate hairdresser and electrocutes Coral Browne (later Mrs. Price) with electrified hair-curlers. Price even rewrites Shakespeare, as when it comes time for The Merchant of Venice his Shylock is not denied his pound of flesh.

The cast is full of respected British actors, such as Michael Hordern, Harry Andrews, and Jack Hawkins. The mood is decidedly mordant, and there are a lot of macabre but funny moments. The critics come in for a bad time, as they're shown to be narcissistic and weak-willed (each critic is killed to match his or her particular weakness, much like the later film Seven), while the police, led by Milo O'Shea, is completely clueless.

The latest time I watched this was with a group of Shakespeare-loving friends, who had never seen the film. It's well made (the opening credits, accompanied by clips from silent film renditions of Shakespeare are quite evocative), but is not so good that wisecracks from the audience are not appreciated. A must for any fan of Shakespeare.