User reviews

I agree that Mary Woronov (Murdoch's secretary) is one of the only good things about this film. She is my favorite actress ever, every role she plays is always done so well. Her character is sly, sarcastic, clever, light hearted, funny and cunning. She really pulls this role off well and you get a good feel for what her character is all about.

The rest of the movie is pretty bad. The music is the most entertaining thing left. One of the characters has this really strange circular radio that she brings with her while she wears her tight zebra striped tank top.

One thing that was a little intriguing about the story was the idea that someone hires these three college-aged kids to spruce up an old abandoned theater. He gives them the keys and says - go at it. That would be really fun and I wish someone would give me that chance! Imagine going into an old abandoned theater with two other people and you get to decide how to decorate it, and fix it up. You have total control over the whole building. That would be so fun! Unfortunately, the characters do not think of this as an exciting adventure, they think of it as a big chore. They walk around with long faces and fight with each other the whole time. It's kind of a bummer. But it's fun to think about the possibilities that these people aren't even excited about.

The movie does a pretty good job at making you feel helpless or a little spooked out by the theater itself. However, the acting (besides Woronov.. and possibly Murdoch, the boss - just because makes a really good money hungry fake smiley business man who never has any luck) is really horrible and you just end up feeling unsatisfied. Plus, the random slapstick is a little tacky and kind of ruins the reality that the film tries to create.

Watch this if you dig Mary Woronov, funky 80's Casio keyboard style electronic beats and if you think having a giant spooky abandoned theater to yourself is at all intriguing.

This movie was so dumb and slow was it ever slow. The only good part of the film was the girl in the tight shinny gold pants. There was no gore whatsover and what is a 80's horror movie without a little gore. Plus the killer wasn't at all scary nor were the murders. But if you like to watch the world's worst horror movie then this is for you. Don't waste your time like I did watching this.

To truly appreciate this film you had to be there (acting?) or have been a crew member.

Yes, I am "Selena", and at the ripe old age of 42, have serious doubts about what we were doing/did.

It all started out to be like a "John Waters" type thing, friends acting badly in bad films. Somewhere along the line,the fun discontinued, people who were supposed to be friends didn't speak anymore, and BAD became worse.

I regret the bad image I might have projected.(Try to fit in size one gold spandex pants,)

Other than that, the film SUCKS so badly, I would not even make my mama watch it.

To my director, cast and crew I say,

"Why can't we just all get along??

It's been OVER TWENTY YEARS, PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The most hardcore bad film buff will be surprised by the overall ineptness of this grade-z "film". Mary Woronov, a clever actress best known for her roles as Mary Bland in Eating Raoul and Miss Togar in Rock 'N' Roll High School, is by far the best thing about this tripe. This film is almost too bad even for MST3K - honestly!

Going into Blood Theatre, I was aware of all the negativity surrounding it. Many people have called it one of the worst slasher movies ever made, but I've gotten through some pretty rough stuff and figured I'd give this one a chance and., having just gotten through it, I must wonder what all the fuss was about.

Sure, Blood Theatre isn't high art and it's not a very good example of a slasher movie, but it still kept me entertained. I'd even be hard pressed to classify this as a slasher film even if it follows a similar structure as many others.

You see, a theatre chain has bought a dilapidated one screen movie house where a string of murders have taken place and they've decided to turn it into one of their own. They gather a group of young folks to help bring it back to life and they die one by one. Is it a mad slasher or some supernatural force? Blood Theatre never says and leaves us on one of the most anti-climactic notes in film history. The film literally freeze frames on one of the single most insignificant shots and just calls it a day. One wonders if they just ran out of money and couldn't afford to shoot a legitimate conclusion.

At least Blood Theatre can say it boasts b-movie legend Mary Woronov. At first, it seemed like she might just have a blink and you'll miss her cameo, but I was surprised to see that she was featured pretty heavily in the film all the way up until the end. She at least brings some fun, zany energy to everything.

Looking back, it might be good that I went into Blood Theatre with the lowest of expectations, because I got to watch as each one was exceeded one after the other.

Movie House Massacre (1984)

* (out of 4)

Three college students are asked to clean up an old movie theatre so that it can open back up. It doesn't take long for the three to regret taking the job.

This forgotten film is out there under a couple different titles including the catchy MOVIE HOUSE MASSACRE as well as the better known BLOOD THEATRE. No matter what you call it, it's doubtful that you're going to be overly entertained by this thing, which tries to put the slasher genre inside an old theatre. Obviously one will think of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA but sadly there's just not too much going on here.

The biggest problem is that there are some really bad performances, not enough violence and what violence there is all happens off screen. For a horror movie, even by 1984 standards, this here is rather lame as it just doesn't feature enough to keep the viewer entertained. There are a couple quick shots of nudity but that's about it. The story has a few interesting ideas and a better screenplay would have helped but sadly there's just not enough going on here to make it worth watching.

I stumbled upon the 1984 horror movie "Blood Theatre" by random luck here in 2024. And of course I opted to sit down and watch it, since it was a horror movie that I hadn't already seen before, nor actually heard about. And the fact that Mary Woronov was on the cast list, definitely was a plus.

Writer and director Rick Sloane delivered a very stale script for the movie. It felt like a farce at times, because it was so cliché and generic. In fact, it felt like something that was either taken out of the 1970s and dressed up in a 1984 outfit or something that was an homage to the old Lucio Fulco movies, given the way it looked and sounded.

Regardless of what "Blood Theatre" was supposed to be, then it wasn't a movie that particularly entertained me much. It was somewhat of a struggle to sit through.

Of the entire cast ensemble in the movie, then I was only familiar with Mary Woronov. The acting performances in "Blood Theatre" was nothing to write home about.

If you enjoy horror movies, then this movie is hardly something you should rush out and get to watch. And it definitely isn't a movie that will grace my screen a second time.

My rating of "Blood Theatre", from writer and director Rick Sloane, lands on a three out of ten stars.

I used to have this movie on the original VHS and I used to watch it all of the time, and I always found it to be fun.

The story goes as such: a really, really sleazy theatre chain operator, he bootlegs copies of the movies that he shows, and who shows movies like "Amputee Prostitutes", has come up with a brilliant new idea. Open up a long abandoned theatre as a singleplex, and steal from that one too. The trouble is that the theatre has a shady past, people died there, although we never learn the particulars.

So he sends his three most capable employees, which ain't saying much, over to his new property to clean it up and to get it ready for its grand opening. This movie then splits into two as the movie details the plot (?) from two important viewpoints; the home office and the new property. And then both murders and supernatural events happen.

The movie proceeds down its road of predictability, as it is populated with a cast of characters that are all scheming and who are dumber than dirt. Maybe I was just in a forgiving mood, or maybe I got its tongue-in-cheek snarkiness as the whole movie came across as a Saturday Night Live, or National Lampoon parody of a horror slasher.

This is a movie chock filled with murder, bad music, bad acting, bad special effects, bad dubbing, a cheesy soundtrack, college girls in cheerleader outfits, a homicidal ghost, slapstick, a cast whose careers were ended by this movie, a decent body count, a mugging, a dead rat, an out-of-control fog machine, Jamie Foxx in too tight golden spandex pants, a topless Jamie Foxx in a catfight, a death by popcorn machine, a plot that makes absolutely no damn sense, and Mary Woranov who looks like she's having a blast stealing every single scene she's in. And don't miss how she quits her jog. Go Mary!!!

I mean, what's not to like here? I found myself laughing continuously, in a movie richly deserving of cult status. Why hasn't this movie been released on Blue Ray already? Bad movie mavens everywhere should see this movie if they can.

A movie house was closed down after tragic fire and mass murder.Manager of Spot light Cinema Murdoch chooses three of his best employees to get the old place ready for opening night.The killings begin...Suspenseless and horribly clichéd slasher spoof with eleven goreless killings and lame slapstick scenes.People wander into the cinema and are stabbed to death by the old manager.There is truly badly done decapitation scene plus a little bit of sleazy nudity provided by the chick in gold satin hot pants.The score is horrible and the sound effects are even worse.The ending doesn't make any sense,but it's always nice to see lovable Mary Woronov and her gorgeous legs.6 out of 10.

After hearing about how terrible Blood Theatre was from just about anyone who'd ever seen it, I decided to give it a go and found myself not hating it anywhere near as much as I thought I would. Don't get me wrong here. This movie doesn't make any sense at all and it's not shot or performed with anything resembling flair. At best, most shots or performances are merely competent, but I did make it through until the end, so I'll give it that much.

If you're looking for a traditional slasher movie with tons of blood and guts and whodunit mystery element, you should sit this one out, because I get the feeling these are the kinds of people who aren't able to appreciate this movie. Blood Theatre doesn't really fall under any major classification, so it's probably best to clear your mind altogether to shake away any preconceived notions.

My review was written in January 1986 after watching the movie on Active video cassette.

"Movie House Massacre", made in 1984, is an unimpressive spoof of horror films which went directly to the home video market, bypassing theatrical release. Despite the presence of accomplished actress Mary Woronov, it plays like amateur night at the bijou.

Gimmick is a presumably haunted movie theater (originally a legit theater house), where many years ago the manager went nuts, started a fire (creating a panic) and stabbed the ticket booth girl to death. Now the owner of the 11-screen Spotlite Theaters chain attempts to reopen the accursed place, sending three hapless employees to clean up the site for the big opening night. Supposedly he will get a $25,000 reward from parties unknown for daring to reopen the joint.

Hokey subplot has one of the employees being a school cheerleader, so her fellow cheerleaders can visit her at the theater and become standard victims of the ghostly killer. Body count mounts until a botched nonending.

Filmmaker Alice Raley demonstrates an ignorance of rudimentary technique, with poorly matched shots, minimal sound mix and incompetent editing. Woronov keeps busy with irrelevant bits of business as tghe theater owner's assistant, but the rest of the cast is blah. Location filming at the Beverly Theater in Beverly Hills and Fairfax Theater in Los Angeles delivers some atmosphere.

If "Massacre" had been released theatrically, exhibitors would not have been pleased by its silly in-jokes, emphasizing a corrupt theater owner who is more interested in videotaping bootleg versions of films off his screen than in satisfying his (less lucrative) filmgoing clientele.

One of the worst ever horror movie from the 80s which i saw. Mind me if u don't want to waste u r precious 1 hr 15 mins. Please do not watch this movie. Only starting scene was bit good. Rest all the movie is a trash. Waste of time. What was happening in the entire movie i never understood. A old man roaming around the cinema hall with a knife & stabbing people without any reason. Didn't got the movie at all. A perfect B grade movie with a worst cast. There are much more & good options to watch if u want to watch 80s horror movies.

Rick Sloan gets a bad rap.

As a debut feature, this film is more fun that it is scary, and I'd wager that this was the director's intent. The film has the same unique weirdness as Sloane's other films; albeit with more shots fixated on Mary Woronov's legs than parking scenes, but it's 100% Mr Sloane. If you go into this looking for amusement instead of horror, you won't leave disappointed.

This movie basically followed a similar flow as a couple of other horror films I have seen and when I saw Rick Sloan's name, I figured it was going to be super bad. He made the infamous Hobgoblins; however, while not good he also made this film which was more enjoyable to watch. If he had did a bit more with the soundtrack, shown some more nudity and spiced up a couple of the kills I could see this being almost good. He certainly had way more attractive girls in this one and I think I also know that Rick Sloan has a colorful tights fetish as two of the girls in this film were wearing them as was the one girl in Hobgoblins.

The story has a theater reopening yet again, despite the fact that apparently every time it opens someone dies. Well, the flashback pretty much showed a lot of people dying. Well, we flash ahead to a different theater that has two super cute, but horrible employees and three that I guess are okay as the theater manager tasks them with reopening the theater where people die every time it opens. Is the place haunted, cursed or is it just really unlucky?

The actors and actresses are about what you would expect from a film like this. The lead girl is alright, but the two naughty girls are hot. The film has quite a few people to kill, but a problem with the film is that Sloan never ramps up the tension, as the kills are quick and done with, while he will focus on the actors simply sitting on a couch for an extended duration. Rick Sloan just does not seem to get it, but he did pick a good place to kill; however, the theater has been a much better setting in other films. He just did not have enough to really get this one into good territory.

So, while I was expecting this to be super horrible it was not. The best thing I can say about this film is that it held my attention and did not bore me so there is that. I have seen far worse things out there that not only were bad, but bored me to tears so this film with its randomness at least entertains in a way. Basically, a film so bad, but in a way that makes it enjoyable. So in that regard bravo Rick Sloan, as this was certainly better than your Gremlins rip off Hobgoblins.

Greetings And Salutations, and welcome to my review of Blood Theatre; here's the breakdown of my ratings:

Story: 0.25 Direction: 0.50 Pace: 0.00 Acting: 0.50 Enjoyment: 0.50

TOTAL: 1.75 out of 10.00

The only thing that drew me to this title was the synopsis. It offered such possibilities, of which none emerged.

And the blame lays at the feet of one man - Rick Sloane. Being a one-man band, both writer and director, you have no one else to blame for the movie's outcome. The synopsis basically places a slasher in an abandoned theatre. After a cinema multiplex chain buys the building and refurbishes the property, the slasher picks up where they left off. Blood Theatre should have been a literal Bloody Theatre. However, there's very little blood flowing. And there's even less story disclosed, either. Most blank space is left blank: People wander about aimlessly and say nothing in particular. And that leads to some of the worst and most mindless dialogue in a script. It's horrendous. Sloane should've hired the proverbial typing monkeys. At least then, the story might've possessed an ounce of interest for the audience. But it does have some lure; the opening sequence leading up to the theatre's closure isn't too terrible. Even the characters are more believable and credible than the ones who follow. The guys and galls in the opening section are nearly two-dimensional. And forget about the comedy element. Sloane can't write a semi-decent character or situation: so how's he to fare with humour? Crassly, immaturely, and unfunnily, that's how.

Sloane then gets worse behind the camera. And like the story, the opening sequence is his best efforts on display. But it all drops off a cliff into a neverending hole after that. The camerawork goes to simple point and shoot, and they shoot everything. The movie could have done with some serious editing work to remove all the dead air and superfluous moments - of which there are way too many. These overly long segments make the picture's tempo too languid and help the audience hit their boredom wall quickly. And since his timing is way out for the entirety of the non-funny scenes, how could he hope to add his humourous ones successfully? Simply: He couldn't.

At least there was a glimmer of light in the cast, for it contained Mary Woronov and David Millbern. These two performers add a smidgen of immersion for the viewers. Sadly, they are not on the screen too long, and the poor sods have to cope with the dire script and discourse. There's a pleasant performance from the actress in the theatre booth at the movie's beginning - and it's a shame she didn't get a part in the main body of the film, as I'm sure she could have breathed life into one of the walking dead principal actresses roles.

Blood Theatre is a picture you never need to see because no good will come from it. I watched this movie, so you don't have to - please don't let my torment be in vain.

Now you have your ticket for the main show, please take your seat and peruse my IMDb list - Killer Thriller Chillers to see where I ranked Blood Theatre. Better yet, you can find something much more entertaining to tickle your enjoyment senses.

Take Care & Stay Well.

The best of the worst. This movie is so bad it's good. Not scary, kind of funny, lots of great screaming, person killed in a popcorn machine, clown whores of Hollywood inexplicably exposing their breasts - what's not to love. "Where blood isn't the only thing dripping on the popcorn." "The next time you scream in a movie theater, it may be for your life." Now, the movie is part of something called Blood-o-Rama. It also was once called "Movie House Massacre." Interestingly, the DVD cover says that the movie is "Unrated/Color/Naked Girls & Bloodshed." Star Mary Waronov told co-star, Jenny Cunningham, that Director Rick Sloane's mother made her costumes.

Mary Woronov and the chick that plays Selina (the bitch of the group) were the saving graces of this movie. There is barely any blood, the acting is bad, the killings are off screen, but on the other hand it has a couple of funny moments, topless nudity, it has a high body count and a lot of good one-liners. See it, you'll laugh a lot.