Theatre of Blood
1973 film by Douglas Hickox
Theatre of Blood (released as Theater of Blood in the United States) is a 1973 British horror comedy film directed by Douglas Hickox. It stars Vincent Price as a deranged Shakespearean actor who takes revenge on his critics, using methods inspired by death scenes from the Bard's plays. Diana Rigg co-stars as his daughter and confidant. The ensemble supporting cast features Ian Hendry, Harry Andrews, Coral Browne, Jack Hawkins, Michael Hordern, Arthur Lowe, Robert Morley, Milo O'Shea, Diana Dors, Dennis Price, and Robert Coote in one of his final roles.
The film was released by United Artists on March 16, 1973, receiving both critical and commercial success. Considered a cult film, Theatre of Blood is well-regarded by fans of Vincent Price, and was considered by both Price and Diana Rigg as one of their favourite of their own films. A stage adaptation was produced at the Royal National Theatre in 2005.
Plot
After being humiliated by members of the London Theatre Critics Guild at an awards ceremony, Shakespearean actor Edward Kendal Sheridan Lionheart is seen apparently committing suicide by diving into the Thames from a great height. He actually survives, however, and is rescued by a group of vagrants.
Two years later, beginning on the Ides of March, Lionheart sets out to exact vengeance against the critics who failed to acclaim his genius, killing them one by one in ways very similar to murder scenes in the season of William Shakespeare's plays that he last performed.
The public source identifies “Theatre of Blood” as 1973 film by Douglas Hickox. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Theatre, Blood and film.
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This entry incorporates text from “Theatre of Blood” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.