THEATER OF BLOOD (1973)
Starring Vincent Price and Diana Rigg
Kick-ass 1970s horror film with Price as a frustrated Shakespearean actor who kills the critics who pan his plays. Rigg is his fiercely loyal and equally homicidal daughter. Price's character -- a ham actor who attempts suicide before being dragged from the Thames River by a group of schizophrenic homeless people, who become his followers -- obviously inspired the Penguin character in "Batman Returns." As we all know, Tim Burton is a big Price fan.
After faking his death, Price begins murdering London's theater critics using plot points from the Bard's own plays. Good for him! The best scene has Price posing as a hair stylist with an afro, before disposing of his client, one of the uppity critics who had blasted his work a year earlier.
Despite its now-old age, the film is so good that even modern, bone-headed mainstream viewers should love it. Price starred in a lot of great horror films, but this was easily the funniest and most polished. It borrows the style and tone of another Price vehicle, "The Abominable Doctor Phibes," but its killings are more gruesome. Rigg, original star of "The Avengers" TV series, is also marvelous.
Director Hickox went on to direct some excellent, non-splatter films, including the marvelous "Zulu Dawn," which, despite its respectability, had its own gore effects. "Theater of Blood" is an absolute must see, particularly for fans of 1970s schlock. One of the best British fear films of the '70s and apparently Price's all-time favorite too.