Theater of horror

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Movie
German title Theater of horror
Original title Theater of Blood
Country of production Great Britain
original language English
Publishing year 1973
length 104 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Douglas Hickox
script Anthony Greville-Bell
Stanley husband
John Kohn
production Gustave M. Berne
Stanley husband
John Kohn
Sam Jaffe
music Michael J. Lewis
camera Wolfgang Suschitzky
cut Malcolm Cooke
occupation

Theater des Grauens (Original title: Theater of Blood ) is a British horror film - satire by United Artists Pictures from 1973. The main role was played by Vincent Price , directed by Douglas Hickox .

action

A brutal murder calls the London police on the scene: George Maxwell, a prominent theater critic, was found downright dismembered in an abandoned warehouse. The only clue is a poster for a Shakespearean drama hanging on a site fence near the body. Shortly afterwards, during Maxwell's funeral, the next dead man appears. Hector Snipe, also a critic and member of the renowned Critic's Circle , was impaled with a lance and then dragged to death by a horse.

Scotland Yard's Inspector Boot is now working with Peregrine Devlin, chairman of the Critic's Circle , to find out who could have such a limitless hatred of the critics' association. The only eligible person is Shakespeare actor Edward Lionheart. The Critics' Association once withheld the coveted award for best actor, and so he allegedly committed suicide in front of them all by throwing himself into the Thames from a high balcony in Devlin's apartment .

It turns out, however, that Lionheart is by no means dead, but rather is taking cruel revenge with a meticulously worked out plan and, together with his daughter Edwina, brutally murdered the critics who misunderstood his art after William Shakespeare's dramas . Maxwell was stabbed like the title character in Julius Caesar , and Snipe died as did Hector in Troilus and Cressida . Lionheart is always one step ahead of the police, and one critic after another falls victim to it.

Horace Sprout is beheaded by him, as described in Cymbeline , the female hero Trevor Dickman cuts Lionheart's heart out of the body, as Shylock intended with Antonio in The Merchant of Venice . The good-drinking Oliver Larding is lured into a wine cellar under the pretext of a wine tasting and there like the Duke of Clarence in Richard III. drowned in a huge wine barrel. Solomon Psaltery is provoked by a phone call from Edwina Lionheart, disguised as a hippie, to commit a jealous murder of his wife ( Othello ). Miss Chloe Moon is treated under a drying hood along the lines of the one in the first part of Henry VI. Johanna von Orléans burned to death, and Meredith Merridew suffocated on a pie in which his two beloved poodles were baked, following the example of the cruel Gothic queen Tamora in Titus Andronicus .

Devlin, however, is initially spared by Lionheart in a duel modeled on Romeo and Juliet , but is kidnapped after Merridew's death. Lionheart threatens to blind Devlin, as described in King Lear , if the latter does not officially present him with the Critic's Circle Award in a repeat of the award ceremony . When the police arrive, Lionheart sets fire to the old Burbage Theater, which previously served him as a hiding place. The gang of homeless people who have supported him so far panic and, as a result of an argument, his daughter Edwina is killed by one of the homeless people. Inspector Boot manages to free Devlin at the last second.

Edward Lionheart climbs up to the roof of the theater and, with his dead daughter in his arms, recites another text from Shakespeare. Finally the rotten roof collapses and Lionheart finds his end in the burning rubble.

Reviews

  • Lexicon of international film : “ An unrecognized Shakespeare mime takes revenge on his critics in a murderous way. Intelligently staged horror comedy; black humor and great acting performances make the amusing-macabre satire a gruesome pleasure for friends of the genre. "
  • Cinema : “ Douglas Hickox had an eerie, macabre fun with great actors (e.g. Robert Morley, Diana Dors) and good equipment. "
  • The film's large personal lexicon : “ Above all, his delicious horror parody“ Theater des Grauens ”about a Shakespeare interpreter (Vincent Price) who is extremely convinced of his ability and who bestially murders his critics one after the other in Shakespeare's manner, proved his worth sure hand for exquisite entertainment. "

DVD release

  • Theater des Horens / January 7, 2004 / MGM Home Entertainment

Stage adaptation

The British group Improbable Theater processed the material after the DVD release into a play with Jim Broadbent in the role of Edward Lionheart. The daughter of the cast Diana Rigg , Rachael Stirling , was seen as his daughter .

The stage adaptation differs in several ways from the film template. For example, the critics here represent the major British newspapers such as The Guardian or The Times . The number of murders was also reduced and the police officers were more or less completely removed from the scene. The name of Lionheart's daughter was also changed from "Edwina" to "Miranda" in order to expand Shakespeare's influence.

The play ran from May to September 2005 at London's Royal National Theater .

Others

  • Vincent Price called Theater of Horror his personal favorite of all the films he had appeared in.
  • While filming, Price fell in love with fellow actor Coral Browne . The two married during production.
  • Diana Rigg called Theater of Horror as her best film.
  • The entire film was shot in locations in and around London. Not a single scene was filmed in a studio.
  • The derelict theater that Lionheart used as a hideout is actually the Putney Hippodrome , built in 1906 . When it was selected as a location for the film, it had been closed for fourteen years. In 1975 it was finally demolished.
  • More than 22.7 liters of film blood (“6 gallons”) were used to portray the eight gruesome murders.
  • Edward Lionheart's memorial is actually the tomb of the English sculptor Robert William Sievier . The sculpture shows the artist seated, his right hand on the head of a young woman kneeling in front of him and an open Bible in his left hand. For the filming, plaster masks with the features of Vincent Price and Diana Rigg were draped over the faces of the artist and the woman, and the Bible was transformed into a Shakespeare book.
  • The portrait of the Elizabethan young man with a black coat and white stockings, which was used for the opening sequence of the film and after which the Critics' Award used in the film was modeled, is the painting Young Man Among Roses by Nicholas Hilliard (1547-1619) and is Part of the collection at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

Honors

Golden Scroll 1975
  • nominated:
    • Best horror film

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Theater of horror. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed April 29, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  2. ↑ Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 4: H - L. Botho Höfer - Richard Lester. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , (entry Douglas Hickox).
  3. ↑ Information on a theater website
  4. ↑ Coral Browne: This Effing Lady by Rose Collins, in The Independent, October 28, 2007
  5. ↑ a b Putney Hippodrome Theater on Cinema Treasures (English cinema portal)
  6. ^ Theaters in Putney, London on an English website for theater history
  7. ↑ Making of documentation on the Blu-Ray edition for the film