Theatre of Blood

Theatre of Blood (1973) is a British horror-comedy you can watch online on iFILM, directed by Douglas Hickox with Vincent Price and Diana Rigg at the top of their game. Edward Lionheart is a Shakespearean actor who flung himself into the Thames after London's critics denied him the recognition he spent a career pursuing. His body was never recovered.

Then the critics start dying — one by one, each death staged after a specific Shakespeare death scene. The sword work from Henry VI. The pillow from Othello. The stabbing from Julius Caesar. Milo O'Shea's Inspector Boot can see the pattern plainly; stopping it is another matter. Price plays Lionheart with absolute conviction and visible relish, which is the only way this kind of role works: camp and genuinely unsettling at the same time. Rigg, as Lionheart's devoted daughter Edwina, matches him scene for scene.

For a film built on gimmick, it holds up far better than it has any right to. Stream Theatre of Blood (1973) online on iFILM.