Vincent Price stars as Anton Phibes, a deranged doctor – not a medical doctor, mind you, but a mad organist with a Ph.D. in music – who uses nine Biblical plagues as a template for his revenge on the physicians and nurses he blames for letting his wife die on the operating table. Cheesier than a Philly Steak Sandwich (you can actually see the strings holding up the bat as it swoops out of the room in the opening scene) it’s filled with that bad-movie charm I love to unwind to. Price is entertaining to watch, no small achievement considering his character can only speak through an old-fashion megaphone he plugs into his neck, and there are some classically bad supporting roles from the likes of Joseph Cotton and Terry Thomas.The killings themselves are more fun than fierce. The rats in one scene look more like they’re cuddling with their victim than killing him, despite the extreme close-up of one of them gnawing on something nasty, and the plague of frogs murder is too 70s trippy to be anything but silly. But the plague of locust is suitably creepy and the plague of the first born is a diabolical mix of tension and terror.
Someday, Hollywood will do a remake of The Abominable Dr. Phibes that will be twice as gory and not half as enjoyable. Until then, enjoy the original but skip the sequel, Dr. Phibes Rises Again. It’s awful.
Starring Vincent Price, Joseph Cotton, Terry Thomas.
IMDB Site
1 comment:
As I am often intrigued by cheese and sillyness -- count me IN, Dr. Phibes. John, do you have a copy? HAAAA!!!!
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