Theatre Macabre Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.0

Theatre Macabre Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 25, 2021

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of The Eurocrypt of Christopher Lee Collection.

According to the typically semi-reliable IMDb, Christopher Lee amassed an almost astounding 282 acting credits over the course of his long and venerable career. If many younger viewers tend to understandably associate him with films like The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy and/or Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, and if somewhat more seasoned audience members may link him to his long run of so-called "Hammer Horror" outings which account for over twenty of those acting credits and include films like The Curse of Frankenstein, there is obviously by dint of the sheer number included on the IMDb's list a veritable glut of roles with which even diehard Lee fans may not be all that familiar. Severin Films has come to the rescue of Lee fans on the hunt for some rarer titles featuring the actor, amassing five feature films and all the surviving episodes of Lee's anthology series Theatre Macabre, along with a treasure trove of supplementary material.

If the original version of The Twilight Zone remains the gold standard of supernaturally suffused anthology series, it certainly hasn't been the only one. Even before The Twilight Zone premiered in the fall of 1959, ABC had started to ford the waters of the "unexplained", albeit within the guise of stories that were ostensibly based in fact, in its own anthology series, One Step Beyond . After The Twilight Zone became something of a sensation, several other series followed, with the Boris Karloff hosted Thriller probably the closest analog to Theatre Macabre, even if this Polish produced series was broadcast in an era more associated with another anthology series from Rod Serling, Night Gallery.

The fact that Theatre Macabre has a horror star as host may link this series to Thriller, but in terms of Lee's whimsical introductions and often brief closing vignettes (typically just a sentence or two), this outing may actually recall another well remembered anthology series, namely Alfred Hitchcock Presents, which featured its iconic host offering comments that were often on the humorous side. Lee often appears with props and the like, further establishing a connection with the Hitchcock show.

In terms of the stories themselves, it's a mixed lot, and one I'm not sure will always appeal to audiences looking for a typical "twist" a la Serling. While there are American authors like Mark Twain and Edgar Allen Poe whose writing provides at least the ostensible spark for certain episodes, many of the outings are culled from eastern European or Russian authors, and they have a certain dourness that tends to emphasize quirks of personality rather than any overarchingly convoluted story elements. There is also definitely a feeling of padding at play in several episodes, perhaps understandable given the fact that at times at least the source material is short stories. The fact that this was a co-production of Polish television means the cast is almost all uniformly Polish or at least European, with few if any names that will be recognizable to most American audiences.

Theatre Macabre Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Theatre Macabre is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.33:1. The back cover of this two disc set's keepcase states these episodes have been "scanned in 2K from the original negatives". While there's nothing hugely problematic here, when stacked up against some of the glistening new transfers that are available otherwise in this set, Theatre Macabre can't help but suffer by comparison. The episodes are almost uniformly littered with pretty nonstop damage, typically in the form of lots of white speckling, but other issues like scratches and even what looks like an occasional reel change marker intrude. Colors often seem faded, so that flesh tones skew toward brown and reds in particular can look on the orange side of things. At least in brighter lighting conditions, especially outdoor moments, the palette pops quite nicely and detail levels are generally very good to excellent. While 26 episodes were evidently originally produced, for some reason two have gone missing, and so this collection aggregates the surviving 24 episodes.

Theatre Macabre Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Theatre Macabre features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono track in English, though it is patently obvious that the episodes themselves have been dubbed. Audio quality frankly varies from episode to episode, and sometimes within any given episode. At times Lee's introductions can sound slightly muffled, or even have a low frequency hum, and individual episodes can suffer from amplitude variances and an overall boxy sound. All of this said, there are no really huge problems to report, other than the disconnect between lip movements and the sounds emanating from them. Optional English subtitles are available.

Theatre Macabre Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Promo with Christopher Lee (HD; 1:49) is what I'm assuming is listed as an "Intro" under the Episodes submenu on the first disc of this two disc set. I'm assuming the series may have been syndicated internationally, and this seems geared toward prospective affiliates purchasing it, with Lee touting some of the "names" associated with the project, like scenarist Jesse Lasky Jr. and theme composer Ron Goodwin. This is in pretty shoddy looking condition (see screenshot 19).

Theatre Macabre Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Theatre Macabre is an interesting collection of stories that aren't always exactly "horror" or even "supernatural", but which have certain elements that verge on folklore or legend, at least in style if not always in content. Lee's opening and closing sometime attempt to give overarching commentary, but many, maybe even most, of these episodes are really too generic to offer the kind of sting that often accompanied Serling's best material. That said, this may well remind some folks of Night Gallery more than The Twilight Zone, not simply because it's in color, but because it sometimes can feel things never quite get above B or B+ level. This set of the 24 surviving episodes of the series features video quality that suffers from pretty noticeable age related wear and tear, and audio, while serviceable, also has intermittent issues, for those who are considering a purchase.