I gave this movie a 10. I no there are plenty of flaws. But as far a entertainment value this movie worked on all cylinders for me. Lionheart (Price) was one of the best villains ever. Price was having fun with his character and you can feel it. To bad they do not make horror movies like this any more. Instead we get remakes like House On Haunted Hill and House Of Wax. Anyone agree or disagree?
Maybe my favorite "horror/comedy" movie of all time, and you're exactly right: it's because you can feel the entire cast having fun with their roles. If an original is well done, I tend to resent remakes...they're superfluous (see Psycho) I think this stands, although I like someone else's suggestion that Roger Ebert would make a good victim. But what remakes do we get? How about Amityville Horror: a bad flick made even worse.
"What we have here...is a failure to communicate."
I like this one because, as you've said, it's just plain fun. I think it was a great role for Vincent Price because he could ham it up and have fun with it. I like Price's two "Dr. Phibes" movies, and this is almost a "sister film" to those (a revenge-seeking killer uses a series of imaginative death traps, all with a common theme).
I like the whole angle about an actor using Shakespeare's plays to kill critics. And I love the part where they say that only Lionheart "would have the temerity to rewrite Shakespeare"! That is such a great line.
The film is great. Check out a retrospective on the making of it here:
http://cinefantastiqueonline.com/2007/09/11/theatre-of-blood-1973/
aye brilliant film watchin it now on tv...should be remade into a new film..but who else could play a ham shakespeare actor other than vincent price
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I think this movie is vastly underrated. Vincent Price gives an immaculate performance as the Shakespear obsessed actor. I hope they come out with a special edition soon(though highly improbable.) I think this is Vincent Prices best.
shareOnce again, why do people go on raving about how great a film is, only to end by suggesting that it be remade?
Those of you who think you know everything should politely defer to those of us who actually do!
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it is ashame that this is a dead breed of horror film.....infact horror has been dead since Scream...I agree,,,this was a great film dispite being way too similar to Dr. Phibes and I'd be more likely to give it a 4/5......if only Vincent Price was still alive
shareI honetsly think this was vincent prices finest film. Him reciting all those monologues, just the dialouge he says is increible. If i was older than 15, and couldve i wouldve traveled pretty far to see him read anything in concert. My mom rubs in my face how she saw him in college resite Edgar Allen Poe.
shareYour mum is so lucky! She heard him recite Edgar Allan Poe? I would faint by time he had finished. The way he articulates is fascinating.
"Him? Oh my good man think nothing of it. I'm just about through with that cheap ham anyway"
I agree the movie is Price at his very best right along with "The comedy of Terror" in which Mr. Price also starred.
shareI agree. This film was both savagely amusing and highly entertaining in equal measure. Price was splendid as Lionheart. The rest of the cast was also spot-on, with the lovely Diana Rigg a particular stand-out as Lionheart's devoted daughter Edwina.
"We're all part Shatner/And part James Dean/Part Warren Oates/And Steven McQueen"
I agree completely. I saw it for the first time earlier this year, and I absolutely loved it! It was so enjoyable and clever, and Vincent Price gives one of my favourite performances of his, he is so much fun in his role.
"Life after death is as improbable as sex after marriage"- Madeline Kahn(CLUE, 1985)