Welcome to this very special Halloween Countdown Saturday night double feature comprised of two of the master of horror Vincent Price's 1970's films,
"Madhouse" and "Theatre Of Blood!" There was a time when double features were as common as salt and pepper, but movies were a lot shorter back in those days! The music in "Madhouse" was written by Douglas (The Horror Of It All) Gamely, and the music in "Theatre Of Blood" was written by Michael J.(The Man Who Haunted Himself) Lewis! The voice you'll hear singing is none other than Vincent Price himself!!
Although Vincent Price is a true hero around here, and even though he does a great job in both these films, I have to say with all honesty, I didn't really have much appreciation for either of these movies, and all kidding aside, within 24 hours of watching these two movies, I ended up in the emergency room!
"Madhouse" was made in 1974, and "Theatre Of Blood" in 1973, and they have a lot of elements in common, and one of them is filler! "Madhouse" uses footage from old Vinnie movies like this shot of Basil Rathbone, and about 15% of "Theatre Of Blood" has Vincent Prices's character reciting passages from Shakespere! Sure, it's part of the plot, but it's still filler!
Both movies have an abundance of talent oozing out of them, like Peter Cushing in "Madhouse" and the fabulous Diana "The Avengers" Rigg in "Theatre OF Blood," and there's a lot of tongue in cheekiness like Peter Cushing at a costume party as Dracula, a role he was always the opposite of!
There's also more gobs of talent like Robert "Deathmaster, Count Yorga" Quarry and Diana "The English Marilyn Monroe, The Siren of Swindon, The Hurricane in Mink" Dors, but somehow, it's just not enough!!
In both movies somebody gets beheaded!
Vincent Price plays so many different characters, I'd have to take off my shoes to count them all!
Both films feature wildly insane and colourful characters!!
If these films weren't so full of gross and gory scenes, you would think they were written as comedies! It's really difficult to figure out where they're coming from! Like for instance, in "Madhouse," this woman is viciously hanged, but her reflection is continually in a funhouse mirror, and is "Theatre Of Blood" the only movie ever made that has a scene that includes fencing on trampolines? How insane can you get?
Just in case you don't know it already, Vincent Price loved to cook, wrote cookbooks, and was an avid art collector! The Vincent Price Art Museum is on the campus of the East Los Angeles College, one of the few community colleges in America with a permanent collection of fine art!! Vincent Price also shares a birthdate of May 27th with another one of the best horror actors of all time, Christopher Lee! Amazingly enough, Peter Cushing's birthday is the day before, on May 26th!
In the end, both films go up in flames! "Madhouse" and "Theatre Of Blood" are truly a double feature and are both available on one disc, and even though I didn't like them all that well, I still recommend them just because Vincent Price is always good and fun to watch, no matter how bad the movie is!
