Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
4 1/2 stars for the dark humoured "Dr Phibes" movies, April 9, 2005
You can never keep a good villan down much less kill him. Dr Phibes has started taking revenge against an odd assortment of people. He plays his organ and has his "mechanical men" play an assortment of oldies before retiring for the evening and then coming out again to kill. It seems that he holds these men responsible for the death ofhis wife and when he does payback its in the key of murder.
The first film was a witty horror surprise with sharp direction by Robert Fuest ("The Avengers")and sharp acting. Peter Cushing was originally set to play in the film but withdrew when his wife passed away. Price gives a great performance that's perfect for the film.
The second film on the flipside of this dual sided disc is the sequel "Dr Phibes Rises Again". Fuest had a hand in the screenplay and it's just as much fun as the first film. Robert Quarry (who Price would come to resent when he found out that American Internation Pictures was planning to replace him with Quarry for many future releases). Sadly, there weren't any more films in the series but then again they went out on a high note.
Picture quality is worth screaming about and the DVDs look very good. We only get the original theatrical trailers as extras which is too bad as director Fuest is still (at this moment) around and could given a couple of insightful commentary tracks. Because these were released by AIP people tend to look down on them but their stellar films made with wit, charm and intelligence. They're also ghoulish fun.
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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Double Your Pleasure With Dr. Phibes!, March 28, 2005
Now, the fine folks at MGM have packaged the two greatest films to star the late, great Vincent Price together on a 2-sided disc: THE ABOMIMABLE DR. PHIBES and DR. PHIBES RISES AGAIN! These two movies were the high point of Price's illustrious career in horror movies. As the scarred doctor out to exact revenge on the surgical team he believes is responsible for his wife's death (ABOMINABLE) and goes to Egypt to seek out the River of Life to resurrect his wife (RISES), Price revels in the pure evil and dementia of this character. And there's his lovely assistant Vulnavia, played by Virginia North (ABOMINABLE) and Valli Kemp (RISES), who provides music for each murder among other things. And you can't forget those bumbling Scotland Yard Inspectors Trout (not Pike) and Waverly bumbling and bantering their way through the mayhem. And the witty dialogue is also what makes the DR. PHIBES movies fun, black comedy done right.
There's much to love about each movie, as each one has its own virtues and memorable moments. My favorite part in ABOMINABLE was when the surgeon winds up impaled by a brass unicorn catapulted across the street and the inspectors (I kid you not) must unscrew him from the wall! And in RISES, the one where Biederbeck's friend winds up in a giant gin bottle! And another thing, both DR. PHIBES films have a gambit for each nemesis of Phibes: the head surgeon must surgically remove a key from his son's heart to unlock the chains six minutes before acid pours on his face from above, while Biederbeck (Count Yorga himself) must free his fiancee from chicken wire three minutes before a ceiling with snake daggers descends. I think the makers of SAW were huge fans of these movies, because I immediately thought of this movie while wathing these suspenseful moments.
I can't stress it enough, you need this DVD. It's affordable and will provide constant hours of fun and scares!
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Nobody seeks revenge like the Abominable Dr. Phibes!, April 16, 2005
Once again the mails have betrayed your faithful reviewer, which means that tonight's double-feature of "Screaming Skull" and "The Werewolf vs. Vampire Woman" has been postponed. So tonight we substitute a pair of classic over-the-top revenge movies starring Vincent Price as Dr. Anton Phibes (short "e" not long "e" on the last name). Not since Dante came up with appropriate eternal punishments for those sent to the Inferno has there been such a macabre genius for taking vengeance as Dr. Phibes. There are some imitators. After making the sequel here Price himself did "Theatre of Blood" and there is also "Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?" But both of those are closer to the buffet approach to splatter flicks more in the mode of the "Friday the 13th" movies than the diabolical Dr. Phibes.
In "The Abominable Dr. Phibes" the title character, played to the hilt and beyond by Price, seeks revenge upon the nine doctors he feels are responsible for the death of his beloved wife, Victoria. As a source of inspiration, Phibes uses the Plagues of Egypt, knocking off victims (including Terry-Thomas) with frogs, locusts and the like with the help of his silent and voluptuous assistant Vulnavia (Virginia North), while trotting off to have fun playing his grand pipe organ. Poor Inspector Trout (Peter Jeffrey) tries to get one step ahead of the Good Doctor, but he cannot even keep up as the murders progress. Phibes saves the best for last and Dr. Vesalius (Joseph Cotten), the man who botched the operation, at least in Phibes twisted view. By this point Phibes is up to the Death of the First Born and Dr. Vesalius has to operate on his son to keep the boy from suffering the same fate as Phibes (shudder).
"The Abominable Dr. Phibes" is like "Richard III" and "Silence of the Lambs" in that you find yourself rooting for the villain. This might be camp but it is done with such style and flair, not to mention a macabre (if not sick) humor. I love the fact that Vincent Price does all of his lines as a sort of disembodied voice. His lips never move, a result of having his character's mouth currently being in the side of his neck (what did you expect in a film that is so tongue in cheek?). This 1971 film, directed by Robert Fuest, was scripted by James Whiton and William Goldstein, a pair of decidedly sick human beings.
The film was enough of a hit that the next year we were treated to "Dr. Phibes Rises Again," directed again by Fuest who co-wrote the script along with Robert Blees (who co-wrote "The Cage" pilot with Gene Rodennberry for the original "Star Trek"). This rushed sequel is not as good as the original mainly because it was a rushed sequel. Gary Owens from "Laugh-In" actually provides a voice-over narration to recaps the first film in case we forgot something important. It turns out Dr. Phibes wakes up after three years in what is now considered suspended animation to find his mansion has been demolished (must have forgotten to pay taxes). Missing is an ancient Egyptian papyrus which the doctor can use to resurrect his beloved Victoria (Caroline Munro) and which is now in the hands of Darius Beiderbeck (Robert Quarry), a famous scholar putting together an expedition to a remote mountain in Egypt. There he hopes to find inside the mountain a tributary of the River of Life, which bestows immortality. Beiderbeck is several centuries road and is running out of his personal stock of elixir and needs a new source.
Along for the ride are Beiderbeck's fiancée Diane (Fiona Lewis) and Professor Ambrose (Hugh Griffith), who are joined by Phibes, a new Vulnavia (Valli Kemp), Victoria's body, and the doctor's collection of clockwork musicians. Phibes starts killing people, but his methods start off being more outrageous than clever. Having created an opponent who might actually stand a chance against Vibes, this movie brings back Inspector Trout to be just as ineffectual as he was the first time around. If the first movie had engaged in this much schlock there would not have been a sequel. When they do the "I don't think--I know" gag you are about ready to because the first movie was so much fun and this one is trying so hard but substituting enthusiasm for wit.
That is until the final scene. You see, "The Abominable Dr. Phibes" is rated five stars and "Dr. Phibes Rises Again" was coming in at three-and-a-half until we get to the song for the grand finale. That makes us round the movie up to four, which has the disc averaging four-and-a-half stars. But "The Abominable Dr. Phibes" is essentially horror comedy viewing so again, we round up, even though the presence of only the original trailers as DVD extras is an insult. It will be interesting to see how Dr. Phibes deals with those that dare insult him in this manner.
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