THEATRE OF BLOOD

THEATRE OF BLOOD

The onscreen title is THEATER OF BLOOD (note the American spelling in the first word).

Scathing arts critic Maxwell (Michael Hordern) is called away from his home to help evict squatters from a nearby block of flats which he acts as patron for. Alas, he winds up being cornered by the group of knife-wielding transients and carved to death in a scene that Dario Argento may have seen prior to staging similar culminations to murders in INFERNO and TENEBRAE.

The police, led by Inspector Boot (Milo O'Shea) are baffled as they break the news to arrogant Devlin (Ian Hendry), chairman of the critics' meeting that Maxwell ended up being absent from.

A short while afterwards, fellow critic Hector (Dennis Price) is lured by a moustachioed assistant to the Burbage theatre. Although the place suffered a huge fire, he's told it's now been restored and is being used as a haunt for former thespian Edward Lionheart (Vincent Price). Lionheart, it transpires, was thought to have committed suicide but is alive and well ... and wants Hector to publish the amazing story of his resurrection.

Or does he? It soon becomes apparent that the only thing on Lionheart's mind is getting revenge against the critics' circle that vilified his Shakespearean performances before his apparent demise. And so, Hector bites the bullet too.

We know that pretty much from the offset. But Boot takes a little more convincing, preferring to deny Devlin's suspicions that Lionheart evaded death and is now re-enacting scenes from plays such as "The Merchant of Venice" in a bid to avenge all those "bad notices" from the past. If anyone's targeting Devlin's band of cynical scribes, Boot reasons, it must be Lionheart's daughter Edwina (Diana Rigg) - who witnessed her father's humiliating suicide in front of the jeering columnists.

As the body-count swiftly mounts, can Devlin persuade the others that Lionheart is alive and responsible for the murders? If not, does he have a chance of stopping him by himself?

THEATRE OF BLOOD was released in 1973 and yet still feels amazingly fresh to this day, in 2014. It's blending of contemporary London settings and period drama (Price's stage-bound Shakespeare monologues, in full costume) lend the film equal degrees of grit and glamour, as well as introducing a nightmarish quality to proceedings that ably tempers the blackly comic screenplay. Price is by turns camp and sinister, relishing in the macabre excesses of the increasingly imaginative murder set-pieces (poodle pie; a novel twist on an afternoon at the hairdressers ...).

Alongside Price, the casting here is excellent: Hendry, Rigg, Hordern and the other Price are joined by the likes of Arthur Lowe, Madeline Smith, Diana Dors, Eric Sykes and Robert Morley - all of which serve up memorable characters that along with Douglas Hickox's taut direction help elevate the film into the realms of out-and-out classic.

Grisly but never sadistic, the film flies by without a single wasted frame. It's often beautiful to look at too, and is wonderfully scored, but you'd be forgiven for barely noticing either upon your first couple of viewings - you'll be too busy being entertained by the witty screenplay's machinations, elaborate killings and outrageously enjoyable performances.

THEATRE OF BLOOD comes to UK blu-ray uncut in its original 1.66:1 aspect ratio. The generously sized MPEG-AVC4 file is housed on a 50gb dual layer disc and presents the film in 1080p HD. The 35mm interpositive print used is an extremely clean one and helps this MGM-produced transfer to be, in a word, awesome. Honestly, THEATRE OF BLOOD is one of the best transfers I've seen in aeons. Considering how brilliant the film is, I'm delighted to report that offers a natural filmic look, with fantastic amounts of detail and beautiful colour schemes. Blacks are unwaveringly strong, depth is wide and controlled, noise is non-existent. This really is a class transfer all round - the odd speck of aging here are there can't dilute that irrefutable fact.

In the past, the film has been blighted on home video by crappy audio mixes. There are no such issues here. The LPCM English 2.0 track proffered is wonderfully clean, clear and consistent. Coupled with the exquisite picture quality, it really brings so much more to light than in previous screenings of the film.

Optional English subtitles for the Hard-of-Hearing are well-written and easy to read at all times.

The disc opens to an animated main menu page which immediately shows off the superlative audio and video quality of the film's presentation via a well-chosen montage of clips. From there, pop-up menus include a scene-selection menu which allows access to the main feature via 12 chapters.

Bonus features are, as you'd expect by now, plentiful. They commence with a most enjoyable audio commentary track from TV's "The League of Gentlemen". If you think this is simply going to be a series of non-beneficial jokes then think again: the team are led by aficionado Mark Gatiss through what is for each of them a firm favourite since their childhoods. There are spoilers from the start, so don't go into this until you've revisited the main feature first! But once you have, this is likely to have you sitting through the entire feature again - it's an easy-going, often amusing and surprisingly fact-filled proposition. Hendry's boozing, Rigg's dual role in the film, Price's opinion of the finished article, the locations, the music, the Jacobean nature of the killings, the comparisons to CARRY ON SCREAMING (!), and er, the team's thoughts on game show "3, 2, 1" ... all of these and much more are covered with genuine, infectious affection.

Price's daughter Victoria, who made such a sound impression at Abertoir Festival a couple of years ago, is on hand next to offer her views on the film in an engaging, well-edited 11-minute featurette. She admits to having watched the film more often than other movie in her "Anglophile" dad's canon, and shows no bitterness while recanting how she relocated with her mother to be close to the shoot with Price while - unbeknownst to them - he was having an affair with an actress not too far away. Victoria's own thoughts on why the film endures are sensible, while her whole demeanour throughout is thoroughly likeable.

"A Fearful Thespian" is a 10-minute chat with film historian David Del Valle, who discusses Price's role in THEATRE and how it fitted into the actor's career. Del Valle knew Price personally so this offers a good insight into the great man's mindset. From this, we gleam that this was Price's favourite film, the original title was to be MUCH ADO ABOUT MURDER until the actor objected to its irony, and the guilt he felt about his affair. Fascinating stuff.

Madeleine Smith offers some honest, well-remembered recollections about her small role in the film. She bagged her role as a secretary thanks to being seen in a "Two Ronnies" sketch! She does speak about how the film's subplots were compromised by budgetary cuts that meant the film needed to be made a lot quicker than originally intended - but thankfully a curt, humourless director took no shit.

Composer Michael J Lewis is also present for a nice little conversation about his sweeping, romantic score for the film. He wears a Stetson hat with a pink bow in it while sitting at his piano and sporadically showing us he hasn't lost his touch by playing snippets from his score, in-between discussing how he was called in to "fix" the film's original score. This is an interesting 17-minute addition to the disc.

What set of extras would be complete without the main feature's original theatrical trailer? It's here, pillar-boxed and in standard definition as if to emphasise the tremendous work achieved by the HD restoration. The trailer runs for 2 minutes.

Also included in this set is a wonderful 16-page colour booklet filled with nice photography as well as a great essay on the making of the film from Video Watchdog and Rue Morgue contributor Cleaver Patterson. He also makes mention (as does the commentary) of the ill-advised stage version which starred Jim Broadbent, and pulls useful archive quotes from Hendry etc to offer snapshots of the time in which the film was shot. We also get an attractive gallery of press book excerpts, and the usual notes on the film's new HD transfer.

Finally, it's worth noting that as per usual this release comes with double-sided reversible cover artwork.

THEATRE OF BLOOD matures with age like a fine wine. More intelligent and fun than a dozen latter-day horror films, it's earned its place as a true classic of the genre. Arrow's blu-ray does the film complete justice and then some.

Also available in Steelbook packaging.

Review by Stuart Willis


 
Released by Arrow Video
Region B
Rated 18
Extras :
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