The Friday Night Fright: Theatre of Death
More a whodunit than a horror film, this centres on The Theater du Mort of the title, a French playhouse specialising in the macabre, and on a series of vampire like murders taking place close to the theatre.
Christopher Lee chews the scenery menacingly as Philippe Darvas, the theatre’s writer/director and one of the chief suspects in the murders. Other possible candidates include Julian Glover as a surgeon whose hand was injured in a car accident leaving him unable to operate, and Lelia Goldoni, a recently recovered mental patient now appearing in the latest production.
The film keeps you guessing right up to the end, with a twist I didn’t see coming and a fitting fate for the revealed murderer. While the film is a UK production it dearly wants to be Italian, but it lacks the style of a giallo. Italian filmmakers like Mario Bava could get away with leaving plot threads untied by dazzling the audience visually; Theatre of Death’s director Samuel Gallu lacks the ability to blind the audience to the plots shortcomings and leaving the viewer a little unsatisfied.
The main appeal of the film is Lee, but it’s a very over the top performance, overly theatrical and not one of his best. Worth a look on TV but not a recommended purchase.
