Welcome to Den Of Geek’s newest regular feature. Leaving a monthly stain on the glowing veneer of the site’s hallowed digital halls, this blog’s humble goal is to explore cinema’s shady alleyways in search of the obscure, weird and not-so-wonderful, bad taste, or just plain bad. All clear? Then, let’s get wading.

Everyone knows that critics are a wretched, bitter cross-section of human sewage, right? In case you’d forgotten, the first few films we encounter provide evidence of these dregs of society finally getting their just desserts.

Vincent Price might be the perfect critic-slayer. Surely there can be no finer way to go than accompanied by a Shakespearian quote in the high-camp dulcet tones of a horror legend. Theatre Of Blood, Douglas Hickox’s 1973 film, lovingly restored and re-released in a neat steelbook set this month on DVD and Blu-ray, offers just that delicious prospect.

As hammy thespian Edward Lionheart, Price’s character bears a grudge against the theatre reviewers who refused him a Best Actor award, prompting his attempted suicide. Presumed dead but rescued by his daughter (Diana Rigg), Lionheart now lives in a derelict theatre with boozy vagrants to help exact his Bard-themed revenge. Handy.