Session 6:

Theater of Blood (1973)

Theatre of Blood

Theatre of Blood (also known in the U.S. as Theater of Blood) is a 1973 British horror comedy film directed by Douglas Hickox and starring Vincent Price as vengeful actor Edward Lionheart and Diana Rigg as his daughter Edwina. The cast includes distinguished actors Harry Andrews, Coral Browne, Robert Coote, Jack Hawkins, Ian Hendry, Michael Hordern, Arthur Lowe, Joan Hickson, Robert Morley, Milo O'Shea, Diana Dors and Dennis Price.

Theater of Blood

SHOW OF HANDS: how many have never seen this film before?

• Director: Douglas Hickox

• Producer: Gustave Berne, Sam Jaffe, John Kohn, Stanley Mann

• Writer: Anthony Greville-Bell

• Starring Vincent Price, Diana Rigg, Ian Hendry

• Released April 5, 1973

• Budget ??; box office $1 million (US/Canada rentals)

Theater of Blood

Theater of Blood

• Theatre of Blood was filmed entirely on location. Lionheart's fictional hideout, the "Burbage Theatre", was actually the Putney Hippodrome in London, built in 1906, which had been vacant and dilapidated for over a decade before being used in the film. It was later demolished in 1975 to make way for housing units.

• Vincent Price was introduced to his future wife Coral Browne by Diana Rigg during the making of the film.

• Rotten Tomatoes score: Critics 93% ; Audience 81%

“Deliciously campy and wonderfully funny, Theater of Bloodfeatures Vincent Price at his melodramatic best.”

Theater of Blood

• 0 Award Wins and 2 Nominations:

• Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA 1975: Best Horror Film

• Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA 2008: Saturn Award for Best DVD Collection (MGM: Vincent Price Scream Legends Collection)

DirectorDouglas Hickox (1929 – 1988)

He started in the film industry at age 17, working at Pinewood Studios as "a thirty bob a week office boy".

Douglas Hickox resume

• Has 20 credits as a director.

– Some of those include:

• Brannigan (1975)

–John Wayne was Brannigan

• Zulu Dawn (1979)

–Nate Kohn one of two Zulu Dawn producers is UI graduate and has been EbertFest’s Festival Director since its inception.

Vincent Price (1911 – 1993)

1964

Vincent Price

• Has 206 credits as actor and 2 credits for writer

+ Brigham Young (1940) [role as Joseph Smith]

+ House of Wax (1953)

+ The Ten Commandments (1956)

+ Pit and the Pendulum (1961)

+ The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)

+ Michael Jackson: Thriller (1983) [narrator uncredited]

Vincent Price

Has 8 wins and 3 nominations

+ Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA, 1986 winner of Life Career Award

+ Bram Stoker Awards 1994 winner of Special Trustees Award

Diana Rigg (1938 – )

1969

Diana Rigg

• Has 67 credits as actor

+ The Avengers: tv series as Emma Peel (1965 - 1968)

+ Julius Caeser (1970)

+ Game of Thrones (2013 – 2017)

+ Victoria: tv series (2017)

Has 16 nominations and 13 wins

+ 1997 Primetime Emmy winner for Rebecca

+ 1990 BAFTA TV Award winner for Mother Love

Harry Anderson

Also performed in:

1978 The Big Sleep

1968 The Night They Raided Minsky’s

1965 The Hill

1956 Moby Dick

Robert Coote

Also performed in:

1947 The Ghost and Mrs. Muir

1948 The Three Musketeers

1956 Originated the Broadway role of Colonel Pickering in My Fair Lady

Jack Hawkins

Also performed in:

1959 Ben-Hur

1964 Zulu

1962 Lawrence of Arabia

1969 Oh, What a Lovely War

Robert Morely

Known for being an exceptionally witty talk-show guest

Let’s watch the movie.

George Maxwell (Michael Horndern)

Murdered by a mob of homeless people suggested by the murder of Caesar in "Julius Caesar"

1911 - 1995

Hector Snipe (Dennis Price)

Stabbed with a spear and his body dragged away, tied to a horse's tail replicating the murder of Hector from

"Troilus & Cressida"

1915 - 1973

Horace Sprout (Arthur Lowe)

Decapitated while sleeping as was Clotonin "Cymbeline"

1915 - 1982

Trevor Dickman (Harry Andrews)

Heart cut out by Shylock in "Merchant of Venice" rewriting so Antonio is forced to repay his debt with a pound of flesh

1911 - 1989

Oliver Larding (Robert Coote)

Drowned in a barrel of wine as is the Duke of Clarence in "Richard III"

1909 - 1982

Solomon Psaltery (Jack Hawkins)

An obsessively jealous man, murders his wife believing her to be unfaithful, as portrayed by "Othello"

1919 - 1973

Maisie Paltry (Diana Dors)

1939 - 1984

Chloe Moen (Coral Browne)

Electrocuted to replicate the burning of Joan of Arc in "Henry VI: Part One"

1913 - 1991

Meredith Merridow (Robert Morley)

Force fed pies made from the meat of his dogs (whom he regards as his 'babies') until he suffocates; replicating the death of Queen Tamara in "Titus Andronicus" who was fed her children in a pie

1908 - 1992

Peregrine Devlin (Ian Hendry)

Survived multiple lacerations during a fencing bout with Lionheart in the duel scene from "Romeo & Juliet", Peregrine Devlin, the final critic, survives again, when he is rescued just before being blinded with burning knives, as was Gloucester in "King Lear"

1931 - 1984

Edwina (Diana Rigg)

Died as a vagrant kills her with the award statuette unwittingly casting her in the role of Cordelia in King Lear who was carried out by Lear as Edwina was by her father

1938

Inspector Boot (Milo O'Shea)

1926 - 2013

Theater of Blood

Edward Lionheart:

Hark, villain! I shall grind your bones to dust and make two pasties from your shameful head...