Movie Reviews for The Abominable Dr. Phibes

The Abominable Dr. Phibes

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Movie Reviews of The Abominable Dr. Phibes

Movie Review: Vincent Price has a field day!
Summary: 4 Stars

How can one describe this movie? It's something between a strange mixture of a Hammer film and Stanley Kubrick, unashamedly low-budget yet imaginative and memorable. Who is Anton Phibes? Another strange mix...perhaps a cross between the Phantom of the Opera and Hannibal Lecter.

World reknowned organist Anton Phibes loses his beautiful young wife Victoria in an accident, and she dies on the operating table. Himself "horribly" disfigured in a fiery car crash, comes back from the dead to kill off the medical team with the 10 plagues of ancient Egypt. The effects are cheesy, the make-up terrible, but what a good time we have wondering how the unflappable Dr. Phibes will take out his next victim!

The script is quite well written with tongue firmly in cheek, the humor subtle and "taste"-ful.

Vincent Price is PRICELESS as Phibes. Being increasingly disgusted with the excessive gore and violence which were overtaking the horror genre, Price gives an almost tour-de-force performance as the demented organist incapable of vocal inflection or facial expression. He is obviously having the time of his life, bringing so much of his own life onto the screen only through his eyes and body language. We see Price the art connosieur, the gourmet cook, the lover of fine wines humor and music all at once. Just watch him as he depreciates Terry-Thomas' taste in art or alcohol...it's a gem!

The supporting cast is terrific, including Joseph Cotten and the great Hugh Griffith. Peter Jeffrey is great as Inspector Trout. Among the victims, Terry Thomas is the best as the poor lusty doctor having his pornography interrupted by a nosy house-keeper and a bit of ensanguination.

Movie Review: The Abominable Dr. Phibes
Summary: 4 Stars

Long thought dead, the victim of a horrible accident, Dr. Anton Phibes (Price) still lives, surrounded by art-deco bric-a-brac, and attended by mute beauty Vulnavia (Virginia North). Outwardly normal in appearance, Phibes actually wears a rubber mask, covering his hideously deformed face. Able to speak only when plugging a special machine into his damaged vocal chords, Phibes engineers gruesome recreations of the biblical seven deadly plagues to kill the doctors he blames for his wife's death. Bees, bats, locusts, frogs, etc. are utilized in imaginative ways. Phibes saves his worst for last: trapping chief surgeon Dr. Vesalius in his lair, Phibes forces the hapless doctor into a race against time to save the life of his own son.

This flick is well paced with a nice mix of laughs and diabolical murders. And Price should get a special award for giving a great performance in spite of being unable to use his best acting tools; his face is either made up to resemble a stiff wax mask or is missing entirely, and his voice is pumped through a tinny gramophone.

Be sure to catch the sequel Dr. Phibes Rises Again.

Movie Review: Under-rated classic from Vincent Price
Summary: 4 Stars

The late actor Vincent Price was clearly an un-apreciated treasure who always served up a great performance whether he was in a Hammer Films horror mash-up or a bit part in a high-dollar Hollywood Extravaganza like "The Ten Commandments". The Abominable Dr. Phibes and the sequel Dr. Phibes Rises Again! is one of those gems that you should take the time to find and enjoy. The production values is somewhat stylized and the supporting actors are also turning in good performances. The script is just a little hokey, but then again, how else can you make a horror film unless the characters won't continually place themselves in a situation that the anti-hero such as Dr. Phibes can take advantage of them? The gore factor is mild by modern standards, but I remember it being quite a few years after I saw the movie as a pre-teen before I could submit to a blood test after watching Dr. Phibes extract his revenge on Terry Thomas. Rule of thumb - if you could get a film of Vincent Price reading the phone book, it would be worth checking out.

Movie Review: "Dr. Phibes" is great campy fun
Summary: 4 Stars

Vincent Price is Dr. Anton Phibes, who was disfigured in a car accident that claimed the life of his wife. She died on the operating table, and Phibes holds the nine surgeons attending her responsible. Soon each one meets a horrible death by one of the ten curses of the Old Testament. So we have bees, bats, frogs, rats, locusts, hail and beasts - and for the final curse, he kidnaps the son of the chief surgeon (Joseph Cotten) which leads to the exciting conclusion. Alternately humorous and horrific, and Price is excellent.