Theatre of Death

Pigalle slums, Paris , there takes place severals murders . As police are baffled by a series of mysterious killings . Meanwhile, new Theatre director Phillipe Darvas (the great Christopher Lee , still performing), son of the old director, vows to dedicate his life to the Theatre, as did his father. At the opening night cast party, patroness Mme Angelique (Evelyn Laye) requests that Darvas give a preview of coming attractions, so Darvas asks Dani Gireaux (Lelia Goldoni) and newcomer Nicole Chapelle (Jenny Till who receives an "introducing" credit) to play a scene from 'The Witches of Salem'. But Dani's sweetheart , Dr. Charles Marquis (Julian Glover), interrupts the scene . Once again occur murders , each bearing a trace of Vampirism , being main suspect Darvas . The picture is based on a real Theatre known as the Grand Guignol ,it was a Theatre in the Pigalle area of Paris . From its opening in 1897 until its closing in 1962, it specialized in naturalistic horror shows. Its name is often used as a general term for graphic, amoral horror entertainment . A genre popular whose founder was Oscar Méténier was the Grand Guignol's and original director. Under his direction, the theater produced plays about a class of people who were not considered appropriate subjects in other venues: prostitutes, criminals, street urchins, and others at the lower end of Paris's social echelon. At the Grand Guignol, patrons would see five or six plays, all in a style that attempted to be brutally true to the theatre's naturalistic ideals. The plays were in a variety of styles, but the most popular and best known were the horror plays, featuring a distinctly bleak worldview as well as notably gory special effects in their notoriously bloody climaxes . Some of the horror came from the nature of the crimes shown, which often had very little reason behind them and in which the evildoers were rarely punished or defeated. To heighten the effect, the horror plays were often alternated with comedies . Paula Maxa was one of the Grand Guignol's best-known performers. From 1917 to the 1930s, she performed most frequently as a victim and was known as "the most assassinated woman in the world". During her career at the Grand Guignol, Maxa's characters were murdered more than 10,000 times in at least 60 different ways and raped at least 3,000 times .

Terror , killing , suspense , well-planned intrigue and mayhem make up the principal ingredients of the Theatre De Morte . This exciting , bizarre film contains tension , thriller , drama , mystery , plot twists and shocks , including decent scares with tense terror sequences especially in its final part , in a creepy denouement . The movie is intriguing and some moment brilliant, and the players are quite reliable . Eerie movie builds taut by showing virtually well staged killings , adequate theatre settings , unsettling score and evocative cinematography . Although is sometimes slow moving , overlong and stagy , however is entertaining for continuous suspense . Sinister , mysterious atmosphere is nicely photographed by magnificent cameraman Gilbert Taylor , and standing out the scenarios with luxurious images . Suspenseful and frightening soundtrack heightens the suspense .

This flick displays genuine chills , thrilling events , mystery and dark atmosphere and a twisted finale , being skillfully proceeded by Samuel Gallu . Director Sam Gallu, who once sang tenor for Toscanini, and star Chris Lee hurled snatches of arias at each other between takes. Sam Gallu was a craftsman who founded his own production company, Gally Productions, in the 1950's , his Productions included "Border Patrol" and "The Blue Angel¨ . He wrote , produced and directed a few movies such as ¨Arthur , Arthur¡¨ , ¨The limbo lime¨ , ¨The man outside¨ and this , ¨Theatre of death¨ that resulted to be his best movie . Rating : 6.5/10 . The movie will appeal to Christopher Lee fans .

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.

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!

Not to be confused with the 1973 Vincent Price/Diana Rigg movie "Theatre of Blood," "Theatre of Death" (1966) gives us the story of a serial killer in modern-day Paris, who stabs victims and drains their blood (kind of like a 20th century Jacques the Ripper). The director of the local Theatre of Death, a Grand Guignol-type of entertainment, falls under suspicion, and, as played by that former neck nosher himself, "Mr. Tall, Dark and Gruesome," Christopher Lee, is is easy to see why. This sneaky, tyrannical, egomaniacal, Svengali-like, mesmerizing petty dictator is one intimidating personage indeed, and a likely suspect, to say the least. Anyway, I must admit that this little film has been stylishly shot and directed, handsomely produced, and well acted by one and all. However, it is also somewhat static, never especially scary or suspenseful, and certainly suffers when Lee's character mysteriously disappears halfway through. Still, it does somehow manage to hold the viewer's attention, although I'm still a trifle puzzled as to WHY the killer decided to go on a sudden homicidal spree, as well as a few other loose ends. To the film's credit, though, that killer's identity DOES come as something of a surprise (well, it did for me, anyway, but I've always been lousy at guessing this kind of thing). Yes, despite that gruesome title, and Mr. Lee's presence, this film IS more of a mystery thriller than a horror picture. Oh, and one other thing: An 11-minute interview with Mr. Lee makes for just one of the many fine extras on the crisp-looking DVD that I just watched.

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.