Note: Looks like because of the phorum moving to the new server my post about the movie was lost, so I'm reposting it.
Plot: The annual reunion of London film critics is cancelled upon hearing the news of one of its members' ghastly murder. As more deaths ocurr, it becomes obvious that the critcs are being slain by Edawrd Lionheart (Vincent Price), a failed thespian who sets up the murders to match murder scenes from Shakespeare's best known works.
Saw this one some years ago on TV and was quite pleased. I tracked down another TV screening last night and I'm surprised to see that the film did not loss an inch of its appeal. If you've seen it or have read the plot outline, you sure will have noticed the similarities with the Dr. Phibes films, which Price made only a couple of years before this one.
This one, however, is very superior. Not only it has Price doing Shakespeare, which is already worth the cost of admission, but also director Douglas Hickox does his best to take the film in other directions rather than a rehash of the Dr. Phibes character. He only succeeeds partially, because the script, after all, is very formulaic, and many scenes are just padding or expository. Hickox, nevertheless, triumphs in some isolated scenes, which he stages with masterful hand. Take for instance the first killing, which finishes with the victim lying stabbed in the floor, the floor being composed of empty spaces, where he see first the victim's face as he winces in pain, then Price's face as he berates his victim, and finally the blood coming from the corpse.
Or the wonderful scene where Price confronts the critics, and they mock him while he delivers less and less convincing arguments, a moment staged trough a series of windows, the last one with curtains that open like a theatre curtain. Unluckily, his filmmaking is not always that inspired, and many moments seem rushed or even filmed with little care, but we can say he succeeds in general terms, since the movie, rather than a mere Dr. Phibes rehash, has a far more tragic edge and even works as an unconfessed tribute to Vincent Price's often misunderstood thespian abilities. Significantly, this one was one of Price's last starring roles.
I own it --
I love it --
I watch it --
If you love the taste of flayed Ham, there's somehow nothing quite like Vincent Price overdoing Shakespeare to get you going --
Plus Diana Rigg -- the schoolboy crush of even those schoolboys who still "hated" girls . . .
This is a kick-ass film. Scores points all over the board for style and substance --
peter johnson/denny crane
Actually I like THEATER OF BLOOD better than the DR. PHIBES films. Not sure why, but thought it was better. The critics deaths happen on stage during the play and the whole Shakespeare thing. Good film.
(http://www.oldies.com/images/boxart/small/3/089218332004.jpg)
Nearly every actor's and/or director's favorite film. The thought of doing in the critics, even vicariously, is too much for them to resist.
Even if the actors playing the critics, read like a Who's Who of British Character Actors: Ian Hendry, Harry Andrews, Coral Browne [who would become Mrs. Price #3], Robert Coote, Jack Hawkins, Michael Hordern, Arthur Lowe, Robert Morley, and Dennis Price.
Also with Milo O'Shea, Eric Sykes, Diana Dors, and Joan Hickson.
This was one of the first Price films I bought. I like it quite a bit; the murders are inventive and playful, and, as peter johnson says, Diana Rigg is quite easy on the eyes. This film makes much better sense than the Phibes films; they're fun, but trying to actually make them make any sense will hurt your brains so much that even zombies won't want you.