Review of The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) by Sleez B — 15 Nov 2011

9 murdered you, 9 shall die, 9 eternities in doom.

-Dr. Phibes.

That is the mission statement from an angry and vengeful Vincent Price in the film The Abominable Dr. Phibes. Dr. Phibes is about one vengeful man targeting and killing a number of doctors as an act of vengeance using curses the Pharaohs were brought on by the Old Testament.

The Abominable Dr. Phibes.

Okay, when I first heard the title of the flick, I was at the border of it because I never heard such a title in my life. However, that all changed when I heard Vincent Price was in it. I was fond of him and recognized him as I was once a young kid and saw someone do a tribute impression of him in The Simpsons. Anyways, I never had the chance to rent the movie or anything until one glorious sun setting day* when my brother and I ran into a Hollywood Video closing and sale. We went inside and found this flick for a dollar and bought it. When watching it for the first time, I instantly loved it, but had to view for a couple of more times before the review and now, I bring to you.

The first half is definitely suspenseful as one vengeful Vincent Price fore tells the prophecy of 9 deaths to 9 people that he defines as guilty for the murders of his wife. He is believe to be dead from a car accident, but survived and planned a number of years for revenge. When the film opens, we see him in all black playing an organ that has somber and gothic sound to it. We soon see him dance with Vulvania that remains speechless through the movie. I wanted to get to know her a little bit, but she says and does nothing other than assist Dr. Phibes. Anyways, as the organ plays, we are introduce to the cast and credits of the film which was started setting up a mood, and then once the credits are over, we enter a room where Dr. Dunwoody is sleeping. As he starts to sleep, he is attack by a horde of ravenous fruit bats. Fruit bats, yes, for some odd reason, vampire bats were used. Never mind, anyways, Dr. Dunwoody is viciously mauled by the vegetarian bats and we move back Phibes's lair. He burns a wax replica of his victim and lets the wax drip on one of the emblems that contains Hebrew. Anyways, this scene has some sort of meaning of doom. After that, we follow him at a costume party where he gives Dr. Hargreaves a frog head mask. With a move here and twitch there, the mask turns out to be a mechanical death trap and slowly clamps in the Hargreaves's head. Although not graphic, the suspense can be felt as the victim expresses his content and excitement until it turns to panic and horror and finally ending with death.

The next day, we are with Scotland Yard detectives investigating the scene of the crime. Upon opening the door to one of the victims, a string stuffed fruit bat fly to make one deputy, Inspector Trout, takes notice of the bizarre murder and linked them to the other two (one is not shown). Anyways, Inspector Trout receives a lot of crap from his superior Sgt. Schenley (Norman Jones) due to the fact that the Schenley fears the press will catch up on the murders and create some kind of media firestorm. It is there that I like the interaction between those two as humor hits dialogue. I like how Jones's character chews his subordinate out and is incompetent at the same time. He was the comic relief throughout the movie. Anyways soon, the Trout begins to connect the dots and figures the plot and motivation for the bizarre murder and law enforcement take notice, but one thing is missing. They need a name because they have no clue that is behind the murders and the location and soon, it becomes race against time as one clue is unraveled and one victim falls to the prophecy. The prophecy goes 9 killed her, 9 shall die, and 9 eternities in doom.

I don't think I am spoiling anything for you because I am writing only to give a taste on what you are in for if you decide to see this movie. I found Dr. Phibes outstanding as a gothic hammer horror film with an excellent over the top performance from Vince Price. I found him and presences in the film creepy and eerie as he displays emotion that can be felt. He displays anger, pain, sadness, and hate as he repeats his mission statement over and over. One might be annoyed by this repetition, but I thought it worked really well because you sympathize with, but at the same time be horrified (if not humored) and dismayed by his actions. Throughout the movie, I was fascinated by the sheer madness and obsession Dr. Phibes had and found the scenes tingling and chilling. As for the other cast, I love Dr. Phibes's sexy assistant Vulvania (Virginia North) as she stays quiet, but displays an interesting personality that is never revealed. I also love the Inspector Trout (Peter Jeffrey) as we see him trying to unravel one clue after another while having the comic-relief leader breathing down his neck. We see a couple of doctors that come to have certain personalities as we see their interest and passion before their horrific death.

All in all, this leads to an interesting story line that features one madman and his vision for revenge as he identifies the guilty party and murders them one by one in creative and biblical ways. Also, I found it interesting as we see law enforcement confused and astonished by the crimes and their investigation that helps build suspense. All in all, we are led to the climax and conclusion that ends in an iconic and chilling way.

Although Dr. Phibes seems to be lacking special effect especially the cool and odd bat scene, the special effects doesn't damage the film other than unintentional laughs, for we are clearly paying attention Dr. Phibes and his sexy assistant. There is an average amount of action that goes alright at time and there is a lot of suspense to the film. We get an eerie gothic organ background and funny moments buried in the dialogue and characters. Anyways, The Abominable Dr. Phibes is a silly, creepy, and over the top gothic/biblical revenge story that is campy, fun, and chilling and has an Edgar Allan Poe vibe. I was so glad to see this film. Also, love does mean never having to say you're ugly.

*When my brother and I bought this, the street we were traveling was empty and windy as sun was sinking. No, people of Bakersfield weren't wiped out, but the street was being used for a bicycle tour de California (something like that). In the race, Lance Armstrong was a favorite, but he go into an accident that send him straight to the hospital. Heck, there was a more bizarre incident where I was watching the flick one night and car crash happened close to my home. Tragically, one person died. Creepy indeed.