Theatre of Fear aka The Midnight Horror Show is a 2014 British horror film written, produced and directed by Andrew Jones. The North Bank Entertainment production stars Jared Morgan, Lee Bane and Nathan Head.
The Moreau family travel around the UK putting on an underground variety show for an adult audience. But behind the curtain there is something more sinister going on than simple entertainment…
Reviews:
“…everything in Theatre of Fear is eyebrow-raisingly bold and character orientated. It’s this element that pulls you in as a genre feature of late has been the anodyne nature of the characters involved, but with Jones’ piece here it’s the total opposite. They’re all genuinely fascinating albeit grimly immoral people who engage you and keep you hooked with their litany of foibles.” UK Horror Scene
“The film’s plot is thin and spread out across events in short, somewhat unnoticeable bursts and the characters themselves have stock horror-film-slasher personalities as far as their personal problems are concerned yet what shines through in the end is how the family relates to one another and how despite the horrible things they do and the choices they make somehow they still seem like relatable and understandable characters.” HNN
“On the acting side, I enjoyed Lee Bane as Janus and the strangely adorable Trinculo, though I felt the rest of the cast and story itself, fell flat. I found myself just wanting to see more of the two brothers characters. Once Duke comes in, it’s over as things were just picking up. If deranged families are your thing, you might enjoy the Theatre of Fear […] this one is probably just left for a boring, rainy day.” Wicked Horror
” …if you want to bypass dialogue, slow spots, and very little violence, you’ll be watching a 25-minute movie. I’ll give points for atmosphere and a spattering of blood from time to time, but this “midnight horror” that is spoken of better feels like something you’d catch during the afternoon hours – save yourself and grab a 75-minute nap instead.” Dread Central
“A ventriloquist puppet is a decent idea for a possible creepy villain in a horror or a sidekick to a villain but in Theatre of Fear it just doesn’t work […] As the film continues it’s clear the script and dialogue is poor. A few good death scenes might liven up this type of film but there’s no highlight death scenes here at all.” Alain Elliot, Wight Blood
“Really just a poor man’s The Devil’s Rejects as the plot mimics aforementioned film,deranged murderous family are tracked down by deranged murderous avenger. This is a competent film that is let down by it’s low budget origins. And as with every horror film made nowadays, everything is in place for a hoped for sequel.” Zeppo 2, IMDb
Main cast and characters:
Jared Morgan … Doctor Deimos Moreau
Lee Bane … Janus Moreau
Nathan Head … Trinculo Moreau
Sam Harding … Apollo Moreau
Shireen Ashton … Venus Moreau
Kevin Horsham … Duke Enright
Sarah Louise Madison … Angela
Tiffany Ceri … Jenny Calderwood
Scott Suter … Kevin
Kris Fisher … Vincent (as Kristen Richards)
Nigel Streeter … Paul Goldberg
Victor Ptak … Milton Katzenberg
Linda Bailey … Mrs. Katzenberg
Ritchie Bessant … Bateman
Kenton Hall … Gunner
Filming locations:
Dunvant and Crofty, Swansea, Wales
The Miners Theatre in Ammanford, Wales
Technical details:
90 minutes
Stereo (RCA Sound Recording)
Aspect ratio: 1.85: 1
