The Theatre Bizarre

Plot

The film contain six stories, each inspired by Paris’ legendary Grand Guignol theatre.

The six stories are presented within a connecting framework, "Theatre Guignol": Enola Penny is intrigued by an abandoned theatre in her neighborhood. One night the theatre door mysteriously opens and she enters. A puppet host (or Guignol) introduces six short films. "Mother of Toads", "I Love You", "Wet Dreams", "The Accident", "Vision Stains" and "Sweets". As each is shown, the host becomes more human and Enola becomes more puppet-like.

"I Love You", "Wet Dreams" and "Sweets" match the Grand Guignol genre: physical or psychological conte cruel horror with natural explanations, cynical, amoral, ironic, sexy or gory in combinations.

"Mother of Toads" is loosely based on a supernatural horror story by Clark Ashton Smith. Set in France, the story concerns an American anthropologist and his girlfriend who fall victim to a witch known as The Mother of Toads after the witch sells them a pair of Elder Sign earrings and shows the anthropologist a copy of The Necronomicon.

"I Love You", set in Berlin, concerns a man who awakes on his bathroom floor with bloodstains around him and deep cuts in his right hand. He is an obsessive man who follows and calls his partner constantly. His partner, a French woman, announces she is leaving him and that she has been unfaithful to him on many occasions and even had an abortion without him knowing. The obsessive nature of the man's love leads to the doom of three people.

In "Vision Stains" a writer/serial killer injects fluid extracted from her victims' eyes into her own to experience their lives for her journals. Most reviews note "The Accident" seems out of place: a mother and daughter thoughtfully discuss the nature of death after witnessing an accident.

Cast

Production

The film is a co-production between United States based Severin Films and France based Metaluna Productions.

Each director was given the same budget, schedule and narrative directive. Other than that, they were given free rein to create their 10-20 minute segments.

Richard Stanley's segment is an adaptation of the short story "Mother of Toads" by Clark Ashton Smith.

Reception

The film has received mainly mixed reviews, it currently holds a score of 43% on Rotten Tomatoes. In an excerpt from the July 17, 2011 Fangoria review of the film, written by Michael Gingold, he says, "The many different flavors and tones in The Theatre Bizarre, courtesy of the many distinct talents who took part, means the movie ought to inspire lively debate among fans as to their favorites among the assorted stories. But regardless of your feelings about this or that individual episode, it’s guaranteed you’ll find enough to like to warrant enthusiastically recommending the movie overall."

When the film played at the Oldenburg International Film Festival in Germany, it was reported that five people passed out at the screenings.