The defence The Arthouse Gremlin
“Its refusal to behave is the point.”
The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.
Back to trending 
Theatre of Blood
Comedy · Horror · 1973
A Shakespearean actor takes poetic revenge on the critics who denied him recognition.
Movie details
Theatre of Blood
“It's curtains for his critics!”
1973 Comedy · Horror 1h 44m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
6.7 / 10
Community rating
A Shakespearean actor takes poetic revenge on the critics who denied him recognition.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Theatre of Blood?
For the defence
The Arthouse Gremlin
“The stranger, the better.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Prestige Tourist
“You like your greatness pre-approved.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
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Night of the Demons
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When partygoers at a deserted funeral home decide to have a séance on Halloween night, they awaken something evil with a thirst for blood.
Stitches
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The clumsy and unfunny clown Richard "Stitches" Grindle entertains at the 10th birthday party of little Tom, but the boy and his friends play a prank with Stitches, tying his shoelaces. Stitches slips, falls and dies. Six years later, Tom gives a birthday party for his friends at home, but Stitches revives to haunt the teenagers and revenge his death.
Day of the Woman
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A young, beautiful career woman rents a backwoods cabin to write her first novel. Attacked by a group of local lowlifes and left for dead, she devises a horrific plan to inflict revenge.
Terror Firmer
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A low-budget film crew working in New York City find themselves being preyed upon by a sexually conflicted serial killer.
Burke & Hare
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Two 19th-century opportunists become serial killers so that they can maintain their profitable business supplying cadavers to an anatomist.
The Blackening
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Seven black friends go away for the weekend, only to find themselves trapped in a cabin with a killer who has a vendetta. They must pit their street smarts and knowledge of horror movies against the murderer to stay alive.
Dangerous Game: The Legacy Murders
Thriller · 2022
A family reunion at a remote mansion takes a lethal turn when they are trapped inside and forced to play a deadly survival game where only one will make it out alive.
The Final
Thriller · 2010
A group of high school outcasts get revenge on the students that torment them.
Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Douglas Hickox
Written by
Anthony Greville-Bell
Vincent Price
Edward Lionheart
Diana Rigg
Edwina Lionheart
Ian Hendry
Peregrine Devlin
Harry Andrews
Trevor Dickman
Coral Browne
Chloe Moon
Robert Coote
Oliver Larding
Jack Hawkins
Solomon Psaltery
Court is in session
Put Theatre of Blood on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Prestige Tourist
“Oddness is not depth.”
A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.