This little thriller plays more like an Italian giallo than your typical British horror film along the lines of Hammer, Amicus and the rest. Gone are the atmospheric locations and supernatural overtones; instead, we have a black-gloved killer murdering girls with a spring-loaded knife and a dedicated police surgeon hunting him down. Much of the film takes place in the theatre of the title, which, as Michele Soavi found twenty years later in his STAGE FRIGHT, makes for an unsettling, atmospheric location.
The film benefits from some excellent sets, the design is really artistic. There is also some great camera-work and the colours flow off the screen. The film is thus very arty and nice to look at, and the murder-mystery type plot keeps you guessing until the very end. There are also some good set pieces, with the witch burning being the most arresting, while at the end a half-naked woman indulges in some voodoo dancing.
The acting is uniformly good, with Julian Glover a strong, if not likable, hero type, and with extra attention being paid to the female characters in the film, which is unusual and pleasingly different (frankly I'm fed up of the girls being just the victims or the romantic interests). However, as you might have guessed, it's Christopher Lee who deserves the acting honours here, although he only appears in roughly half of the film before disappearing. His arrogant, patronising, self-obsessed director is typical of the actor's roles and one of the best that he's played. If not likable, he is totally believable and invokes a sense of awe when he appears on screen. The film is not particularly gory, with a few splashes of blood here and there to liven things up, but then again it doesn't need to be. It's a pleasing, intelligent horror thriller which retains the interest throughout. There are better films and there are worse, but this is at least nicely crafted.
The film benefits from some excellent sets, the design is really artistic. There is also some great camera-work and the colours flow off the screen. The film is thus very arty and nice to look at, and the murder-mystery type plot keeps you guessing until the very end. There are also some good set pieces, with the witch burning being the most arresting, while at the end a half-naked woman indulges in some voodoo dancing.
The acting is uniformly good, with Julian Glover a strong, if not likable, hero type, and with extra attention being paid to the female characters in the film, which is unusual and pleasingly different (frankly I'm fed up of the girls being just the victims or the romantic interests). However, as you might have guessed, it's Christopher Lee who deserves the acting honours here, although he only appears in roughly half of the film before disappearing. His arrogant, patronising, self-obsessed director is typical of the actor's roles and one of the best that he's played. If not likable, he is totally believable and invokes a sense of awe when he appears on screen. The film is not particularly gory, with a few splashes of blood here and there to liven things up, but then again it doesn't need to be. It's a pleasing, intelligent horror thriller which retains the interest throughout. There are better films and there are worse, but this is at least nicely crafted.