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.

1966's "Theatre of Death" was a one shot feature from Pennea Productions, issued by London Independent Producers in the UK, while Hemisphere Pictures did the honors in the US under the more lurid title "Blood Fiend." It was also one of the better entries in Gold Key's Scream Theater television package (and its sole British entry), which admittedly isn't saying much considering the low quality of its 19 cofeatures ("The Creeping Terror" or "They Saved Hitler's Brain," for example). A series of murders erupt in Paris while the Theatre de Mort showcases another season under director Phillipe Darvas (Christopher Lee), a lifetime of devotion since inheriting it from his missing father, showcasing torture, murder, disembowelment, decapitation, and sundry other horrific details purely for audience amusement (the real life theatre finally closed for good in 1962). Two recent arrivals are Nicole Chapelle (Jenny Till) and Dani Gireaux (Lelia Goldoni), who are both good friends as well as roommates, encouraged to perform a reenactment of the Salem witch trials in a demonstration that grows too intense for Dani's boyfriend Charles Marquis (Julian Glover). Nicole proves most susceptible to hypnosis, and agrees to move in with Darvas, who has yet to complete the final act of his new program, maintaining a grip of terror over his troupe in any horrific manner he sees fit (poor Dani is encouraged to jump in the river). As a police pathologist, Charles learns that the knife wounds on each victim's throat were triangular, the corpses drained of blood as if a genuine vampire were responsible. Suspicion naturally falls upon the tyrannical Darvas, but once he mysteriously disappears like his father before him authorities remain in a quandary until a cafe owner relates a strange tale of survival in the Swiss Alps, and a mother who raised her child on human blood. Between the hand held camera angles chosen by director Samuel Gallu and the picturesque cinematography of Gilbert Taylor ("A Hard Day's Night," "Star Wars"), the picture manages to hold together in Lee's absence, but as a whodunit it's a total washout, scripted by Ellis Kadison and Roger Marshall, the latter a veteran of THE AVENGERS. From spying on his guests to browbeating those who fail to meet his exacting standards, this mesmeric role is very similar to Lee's previous film, Hammer's "Rasputin - The Mad Monk," only here his character vanishes after a confrontation with Charles about the unsolved vampire-like murders in their vicinity; as the obvious focus throughout the first half, the picture clearly suffers from that point on, and the drawn out climax doesn't quite fill the gap. Leading lady Lelia Goldoni had one Hammer credit on her resume (1964's "Hysteria"), Julian Glover only a year away from a major role in Hammer's third Quatermass entry, "Five Million Years to Earth," little known Dilys Watling (as hungry starlet Heidi) going on to a memorable appearance on THE BENNY HILL SHOW in the late 1970s.

The plot centers around the cast of a Grand Guginol theatre group.Guginol refers to bloody & horrific explotative plays.The troupe is lead by the cold & cruel Darvas.(Darvas is wonderfully played by Christopher Lee).Darvas thinks nothing of ridiculing & humiliating his cast to get exactly what he wants. Seemingly he has no soul and no regard for human emotions other than acting them out.

A series of vampiric murders is tied in with the theatre group.Is Darvas more than just a Svengali? Is he a vampire? Without giving too much away cannibalism is the driving force behind the murders.Who is the killer stalking the cast?

This clocks in at above average. There are plenty of red herrings but the cast plays it gamely.Everyone has secrets to hide,some more terrible than others. The ending is a bit of a twist.You could do worse than to watch this one.

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 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!