Theatre of Death

Theatre of Death isn't a particularly bad film, but it's a disappointing one as it really could have been a lot better. The film plays out something like a British version of the popular Italian 'Giallo' subgenre, and features Christopher Lee as the head of a Parisian theatre. The film makes this theatre its central location, and it provides a good place for a macabre tale like this to take place. Two years earlier, Mario Bava showed how a colourful location could benefit a movie about various people being killed with Blood and Black Lace, and it would seem that director Samuel Gallu realised how this could be used as the theatre at the centre of the tale utilises a bright colour scheme, similar to the one in Blood and Black Lace. The theatre at the centre of the film specialises in horror productions, and this is taken to a new extreme when performers at the theatre begin turning up dead. We focus on a police inspector who is tied to the murders through his attraction to one of the performance artists, and he soon realises that there could be a link between the murders and the theatre.

For a plot like this to engage the audience, it needs both thrills and intrigue, and while this film has both; it doesn't utilise either to a satisfying degree, and this makes the resulting movie rather cold and difficult to engage with. The acting is above average for this sort of film, however, and lesser known members of the cast manage to stand out despite Christopher Lee's massive star profile. The film seems to have taken influence from the prolific Italians on the actress front, as Theatre of Death features some beautiful women, which bodes well with the grandiose central location. Christopher Lee doesn't deliver his best performance in this film, and really never breaks a sweat in the lead role, but it's always a pleasure to see him. The mystery is never too interesting, and the short running time never really does it justice. Full credit goes to the film for the ending, however, as the film comes good by the time of the climax, even though the mystery could have gone on a little longer, had it built up more tension. Overall, this is a decent enough movie; I wouldn't recommend going into it with high expectations, but Theatre of Death is worth seeing for fans of this sort of film.

Christopher Lee and Julian Glover head the cast in a story about a pushy and overbearing theatre director obsessed with the macabre. Mwahahaha, etc. The eye candy is provided by Jenny Till and Lelia Goldoni (who lately died, God rest her), but the sexiest moment is provided by whoever that dancing lady is pretending to be a tribal African about to sacrifice a victim. Not to worry, it's all part of the guignol, my dears. Lee is the sinister director, Glover is his antagonist of sorts, a surgeon with a damaged hand, looking out for the lady he is romantically pursuing (Goldoni). Our doc also has police connections, so he's able to follow the case of a serial, vampiric murderer at large in Paris. Could the murders and the theatre's productions be connected somehow?

Good performances all round, but it's never particularly scary and the fact that they're French characters (mostly) being played by Brits as if this version of Paris was somewhere in London, well, it doesn't lend itself to versimilitude. In all honesty the plot is pure tosh, though I'll admit I saw a plot synopsis before viewing that did rather give the game away. I won't spoil it for you.

Best line in the movie: "If you find the outside world too tough there's always the asylum, and if that doesn't work, the river." How's that for cold?

In Paris a series of grisly murders are taking place, in which the victims are stabbed with a knife that leaves a triangular wound and then are drained of their blood. Inspector Micheaud (IVOR DEAN) and pathologist Charles Marquis (JULIAN GLOVER) suspect that they are dealing with a killer with vampiristic tendencies. Marquis has a girlfriend called Dani Gireaux (LELIA GOLDONI) who is an actress at the "Theatre De Mort" - the "Theatre Of Death" where the principal themes of the plays are murder and mayhem. The company is run by the eccentric and obsessive Philippe Darvas (CHRISTOPHER LEE) who becomes the chief suspect because when Marquis gives him a lift home and tells him that a knife that resembles the murder weapon was found among his props, he seemed eager to get out of the car and continue on foot. Secondly, he seems to have hypnotic control over one of his fellow actresses, Nicole Chapelle (JENNY TILL). Things look worse for Darvas after he disappears late one night leaving his hat and blood soaked cloak in a park, but Nicole's trance doesn't appear to be letting up. Meanwhile, the death toll continues to rise and the police must either find Darvas' killer or the true culprit...

THEATRE OF DEATH begins slowly and tamely (in every murder sequence the camera moves in for a close up of the victim's terrified face then cuts away to the next scene). However, it cannot be denied that this is a unique film in its own right as it features one of Christopher Lee's best performances and it deals with an ingenious modern day vampire story, which is far more realistic than the mythical vampires that Hammer dealt with. The film pulls every hokey horror trick in the book such as eyes moving in portraits and the French characters speak with impeccable English accents very much as the Transylvanians did in the Hammer films. However, what makes the film unique is that it packs an ingenious twist at the climax and as a result the film has given us these hackneyed horror clichés before throwing them to the winds and when the identity of the killer is finally revealed it comes as quite a surprise as every one is expecting it to be Christopher Lee's character as this is a part that everyone associated with him at the time. Its not him but I won't spoil it any more for those who have not seen it! Add to that, all the performances are excellent and there is the stylish camera-work of Gilbert Taylor who would later go on to shoot the first STAR WARS (1977) for George Lucas.

In the dark streets of Paris, innocent victims mysteriously die, having had all their blood drained from their bodies by sharp punctures. A Theatre of Death, or Grand Guingol theatre, is nearby and a great success, thanks in large part to the efforts of its somewhat mysterious, demented, hypnotic director Phillipe Darvas. Christopher Lee plays the director in this above-average horror-mystery. A friend of the cast, Julian Glover, and a policeman, somehow find that the theater and the mysterious deaths are related. Lots of red herrings in this one and a neat, creative story tying up the loose ends. Not a lot of action but more mood and psychological horror. The setting is Paris but you only know that, because everyone has French names - otherwise it seems like London. Production values are pretty good, and the film boasts some fine scenes such as when two actresses rehearse a Salem witch-burning scene for the first time whilst one is hypnotized by Lee and the house of the director is a truly scary place with a very good painting of Lee that has eyes cut out and a back panel. Good old-fashioned horror here!

A super surprise! I think I have rather dismissed this in the past either confusing it with the Vincent Price classic, Theatre of Blood or taking average reviews at face value. This is great fun and really creepy. Borrowing a little from giallo, this relishes in setting scenes up and then confounding one's expectations by lurching off somewhere else. Quirky and exotic (loved the risqué voodoo dance towards the end- great bra!) this has a great atmosphere throughout and with super cinematography is always good to look at. Lee is fiendishly good and probably at his very best looking. Set in a Paris within a sensational theatre depicting ghoulish and bloodthirsty pieces we get Lee getting involved with hypnotism and the ladies to great effect. Very often such films, whilst pleasant enough, can slow a little but here we just keep going from one surprise to another. There is one particular scene where Lee wants a young women out of his house and he brings her to tears, rubs her mascara about her face and virtually throws her out leaving us reeling because we rather thought he might take her to one side, as it were! Must see.