Garv’s Pick of the Week: Theater of Blood (Kino Lorber)
For the release week of September 7th:
Garv’s Pick of the Week: Theater of Blood [Blu-ray / Kino Lorber]: It’s another Vincent Price week, with two re-releases of the actor’s films on Blu-ray. Theater of Blood (known as Theatre of Blood in England) was Price’s personal favorite of his films. It is a theme murder revenge film, much in the mode of the Phibes philms that preceded it, but both the dark humor and the gore are increased. Price plays Edward Lionheart, a Shakespearean actor who takes revenge on his theater critics using famous murder scenes from Shakespeare’s plays. The film gives him ample opportunity to both display his true acting chops and to ham it up in the best fashion. Diana Rigg is Lionheart’s daughter, and she shares in the fun. This title was previously offered on Blu-ray from Twilight Time, but that disc is long out-of-print. You can find my full review of the previous release HERE.
Additional Titles of Interest —
The Tomb of Ligeia [Blu-ray / Kino Lorber]: The last of the Roger Corman-directed Edgar Allan Poe films is one of the best of the series. This is the one where Price wears the cool sunglasses.
The Woody Woodpecker Screwball Collection [Blu-ray / Universal]: Animation pioneer Walter Lantz is nearly forgotten today, so it is nice to see 25 of his classic cartoons get a Blu-ray release in this “best of” set.
Rear Window [4K UHD/ Universal]: The ultimate voyeurism film from the “master of suspense” gets a standalone 4K UHD release.
Vertigo [4K UHD/ Universal]: The #1 film on Sight & Sound magazine’s “100 Greatest Films of All Time” list gets a standalone 4K UHD release. Personally, I believe Citizen Kane still deserves the top spot.
The Thing [4K UHD/ Universal]: This John Carpenter film bombed at the box office, but it is arguably his best. Now, you can see all of the gory practical effects in 4K UHD.
Star Trek: The Original 4-Movie Collection [4K UHD/ Paramount]: For some reason, Paramount is releasing a 4K UHD box set of the first four Star Trek theatrical films, even though there were six theatrical films featuring the original cast. Weird.
A Life At Stake [Blu-ray/ Film Detective]: Angela Lansbury plays femme fatale in this 1955 thriller.
Dangerous Assignment: The Complete Series [DVD/ MPI]: I don’t know much about this 1950s TV series, but I like Brian Donlevy.
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