‘Who will survive opening night?’
Blood Theatre is a 1984 American comedy horror film about an old movie house plagued with a history of unexplained tragedies. When it is reopened bloody history repeats itself. Also released as Blood Theater and Movie House Massacre
Written and directed by Rick Sloane (Hobgoblins and Hobgoblins 2).
The movie stars Mary Woronov (Chopping Mall; TerrorVision; Death Race 2000; Silent Night, Bloody Night), Jenny Cunningham, Jonathan Blakely, Andrew Cofrin and Joanna Foxx.
The film includes many bizarre movie house-related deaths, such as being fried inside a popcorn machine, stabbed in the ticket booth, electrocuted by a film projector, decapitated by a projection booth partition, stabbed while a movie is playing on screen, smoke inhalation from burning film and a telephone receiver which breaks apart while a dying girl screams hysterically into it.
Reviews:
“Visually this film far exceeds expectations and the murder set pieces are well executed. Without a doubt, when it comes to Z Garde cinema performances are the area where these films suffer the most. Fortunately, when it comes to performances, all is not lost for this film. With its greatest asset being Mary Woronov (Sugar Cookies, Eating Raoul)…” 10K Bullets
“Inexperience powers most of the picture, which offers pronounced parody and criticism of the burgeoning multiplex environment of theatrical exhibition, but fails mightily whenever Sloane gets around to arranging murder set pieces. Blood Theater has a lot of issues, a lack of coherency being a major problem…” Blu-ray.com
“Blood Theatre clocks in at a scant 75 minutes, but it feels like much longer. It could benefit from cutting about 30 minutes of filler to make a decent slasher short, but the picture would still be painfully slow even if the pacing weren’t hampered by irrelevant subplots.” Broke Horror Fan
” …it’s painfully bad, with some of the most uninspired killings you’ll ever witness in a slasher film. The pacing, dialogue and acting (not one likable character in the whole show) are also horrid and not even cult icon Mary Woronov (as a very stuck-up secretary) or lame attempts at film-within-a-film humor (Clown Whores of Hollywood, yikes!) can save this turkey.” DVD Drive-In
” …one schizophrenic little cheapie. Rare is the film that fails so resoundingly in two separate genres at the exact same time.” e-FilmCritic.com
“People wander into the cinema and get killed – that’s about the size of it. This geriatric in a tuxedo waddles up to them and stabs them bloodlessly when they aren’t looking- rarely does it get anymore adventurous than that. Yep, the film has no special fx -apart from perhaps the worst decapitation ever committed to celluloid; and maybe half a bottle of ketchup.” Hysteria Lives!
“A truly baffling experience, Blood Theatre is completely ineffective as a horror film (even the gore disappears almost entirely after the opener) […] The exact nature of the threat is fuzzy to say the least, but there’s a lot of amusement to be had in both the tacky nature of the, ahem, “production design” and the silly performances…” Mondo Digital
“This bonafide bore is 100% incompetent and yields no surprises; one by one the cast deliver a lifeless performance (especially lead dud Darcy as Tonya Harding lookalike Jennifer). There’s some truly enthusiastic overacting by the bitchy Selena, which manages a titter here and there. But otherwise all but the most adventurous should probably avoid this flaccid (and basically bloodless) drivel.” The Terror Trap
” …Movie House Massacre is incredibly inept. Only the presence of veteran low-budget star Mary Woronov, as the manager’s assistant, makes this film even remotely tolerable.” TV Guide
” …this is an almost stunningly dreadful film with awful acting, set pieces, no apparent story and a horrible plinky-plonky score.” Vegan Voorhees
Trailer:
Cast and characters:
Mary Woronov … Miss Blackwell; Jenny Cunningham … Jennifer/Ellen; Jonathan Blakely … Original Owner; Andrew Cofrin … Adrian; Joanna Foxx … Selena; Stephanie Dillard … Darcy; Rob-Roy Fletcher … Dean Murdock; Daniel Schafer … Malcolm; Cynthia Hartline … Jamie Hart; Lisa Lindsley … Lisa; Joni Barnes … Dee-Dee; Carl Bressler … Pimp; Troy Martin … Pie Victim; Tony Goldman … Police Officer; Paul Schubin … Police Officer; Bruce Nangle … Ellen’s Lover; Barrie Metz … Multiplex Employee; David Millbern … Original Owner (Younger)
Filming locations:
The majority of the movie was shot at the historic Beverly Warner Theater in Beverly Hills. Sadly, it was later demolished and the site became another boring bank building.
Technical specs:
1 hour 15 minutes
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