User Reviews

The fact that this movie exists gives me hope. There are moments when life gets me down, when I wonder about my place in this world and if humanity is essentially horrible. Then I remember that great films like this exist and it makes me feel a lot better. You should do the same thing if you're ever in an existential crisis.

Dr. Phibes is back, three years after he laid down in the darkness next to the corpse of his beloved wife. Now, however, he has learned that the secret of eternal life - held by a centuries-old man - are in Egypt. I don't care why he's back. I'd watch Dr. Phibes go grocery shopping!

Dr. Anton Phibes (Vincent Price) has in suspended animation in a sarcophagus alongside his wife Victoria Regina Phibes (Caroline Munro). When the moon aligns with the planets in a way not seen for two millennia, he returns, summoning the silent Vulnavia (thus confirming to me, at least, that she's really one of his robots as she died in the last film; furthermore, she's played by Valli Kemp, who took over for the pregnant Virginia North) to his side.

Phibes plans on taking his wife's body with him to Egypt, where the River of Life promises her resurrection. As he emerges from his tomb, his house has been demolished and the safe that contained the map to the river lies empty. That's because the map has been stolen by Darius Biederbeck, a man who is hundreds of years old thanks to a special elixir. He may also be every bit Phibes' equal.

Darius is played by Robert Quarry, who American International Pictures was grooming to be Price's replacement. There were tensions between the two on set, including a moment where Quarry was singing in his dressing room and challenged Price by saying, "You didn't know I could sing did you?" Ever the wit, Vincent Price replied, "Well, I knew you couldn't act." Quarry would had already played Count Yorga in two films for AIP and would go on to be in The Deathmaster, where he played hippie vampire Khorda, but the AIP style had already fallen out of style. He's also in tons of Fred Olen Ray films, like Evil Toons where he's the uncredited voice of the demon.

Biederbeck wants eternal life for himself and his lover Diana (Fiona Lewis, Tintorera...Tiger Shark). Phibes and Vulnavia are on his trail, immediately entering his home, murdering his butler and stealing back the map. Everyone connected with Biederbeck comes to an ill end - Phibes places one inside a giant bottle and throws him overboard. That murder brings Inspector Trout back on the case, as he instantly recognizes that only one man could do something like that.

The rest of the film's murders are based on Egyptian mythology versus Biblical plagues. Hawks and scorpions become his weapons, along with gusts of wind and bursts of sand. Phibes has also brought an army of clockwork men with him the desert to do his bidding.

Phibes finally exchanges Diana's life for the key to the River of Life. As he floats the coffin containing his wife down the water, he beckons Vulnavia to join them. As his lover tries to comfort him, Biederbeck begs Phibes to take him with them. He begins to rapidly age and dies as Phibes loudly sings "Over the Rainbow," which might be the best ending of any movie ever made.

There were plans for a whole bunch more of these films and the fact that they were never made saddens me to this day. I've heard that a third film would Phibes fighting Nazis. I've also heard that it'd be about the key to Olympus. Or Phibes going up against Dr. Vesalius' son. Or Victoria Phibes herself coming back, just as sinister as her husband. There have been titles thrown around like Phibes Resurrectus, The Seven Fates of Dr. Phibes and The Brides of Dr. Phibes. There was even thought of Count Yorga facing off with Dr. Phibes, a fact which delights me to no end.

Other ideas included Dr. Phibes in the Holy Land, The Son of Dr. Phibes (which would have pitted the doctor and his son against ecological terrorists), Phibes Resurrectus (which would have David Carradine as Phibes battling against Paul Williams, Orson Welles, Roddy McDowall, John Carradine and Donald Pleasence. The mind boggles at the thought, let me tell you!), a 1981 Dr. Phibes film where the WormwooInstitutete would have destroyed his wife's body and then their strange members, including transvestite twins obsessed with economics and nuclear weaponry, fail to match wits with Phibes) and finally, Phibes was almost a role for Peter Sellers in a Pink Panther film where hed also play Clouseau and Fu Manchu. You can learn more about these at the Vincent Price Exhibit site.

There was also a story in 2013 that Johnny Depp was going to star in a Tim Burton directed remake. That obviously didn't happen.

So much of this film fits into the same Satanic themes as the original. However, you can add in a few new wrinkles. One of the Eleven Satanic Rules of the Earth states "When walking in open territory, bother no one. If someone bothers you, ask him to stop. If he does not stop, destroy him." All Phibes wished to do was take his wife to Egypt and bring her back to life. Once Biederbeck stole from him, his fate was sealed.

Melt a package of Velveeta, add a can of jalapeno slices and you'll have a good dip for corn chips. The problem with this sequel to The Abominable Dr. Phibes is that this time Phibes ain't got no jalapenos. With Dr. Phibes Rises Again we have Phibes (Vincent Price) in Egypt, along with his preserved wife, Victoria, his silent assistant, the well-built Vulnavia, and his swinging automaton band. Can he find the headwaters of the River of Life, hidden under an ancient mountain within a lavish underground temple built by the now-vanished Egyptian pharaohs, before an obsessive and wealthy dilettante explorer, Darius Biederbeck (Robert Quarry), does? Will Dr. Phibes invent some intricate and painful deaths for those who get is his way...as in deaths by telephone receiver, giant gin bottle, claw, stinger, Henry James and sand particle (lots of them)? Will the bumbling police duo of Inspector Trout and Sir Wayne Waring show up to perform a vaudeville act of silly misunderstandings and pompous posturing? Will there be a number of good actors who seem to have wandered into the movie for a moment or two of cameo immortality, never to be seen again in the movie once they say their sentence or two, such as Peter Cushing, Beryl Reid, Hugh Griffin and Terry-Thomas? Even John Thaw shows up with curly brown hair 15 years before he became Inspector Morse. Is Dr. Phibes clunky and, for long stretches, simply dull? Yes to all the above.

The Abominable Dr. Phibes was a great cheese dip, and witty in its Bible-based, corpse- producing methods. It also offered us one first-rate, sympathetic actor in a leading role, Joseph Cotten as Dr. Vesalius. If the first Dr. Phibes film was an unctuous slice of liverwurst, this one is simply an under-cooked blood-pudding, stuffed with bits of edible body organs but under-seasoned. Even Vincent Price's hamminess is held in check. He's constrained by the make-believe that he has to use an artificial speaking device (because of an encounter with acid). All his lines have been recorded separately, probably after filming, leaving him on camera to twitch a bit when we hear his voice.

To watch Price in all his hammy glory in witty vehicles of camp, comedy and corpses, try Theater of Blood and The Abominable Dr. Phibes. As for this film, well, it does no real damage except to Harold Arlen and E. Y. Harburg; the last thing we hear is Vincent Price singing "Over the Rainbow."

MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!

This follow up to 'The Abominable Dr Phibes' just goes to prove that you can't keep a good man down. Vincent Price, as knowingly camp as ever, tips a nod and a wink to the audience through his portrayal of Byronic, romantic hero, Anton Phibes - a disfigured creature determined to re-vivify his dead wife (Victoria) and for both of them to live happily ever after throughout eternity.

Fair enough! Stopping him from achieving his goal are the usual suspects of devious businessmen, sly archaeologists and incompetent policemen. Through 1920s England and Egypt, Phibes pursues this goal, merrily dispatching all those who stand in his way through a truly ingenious catalogue of murderous mayhem.

What makes the movie superior to the original is that director, Fuest has used his knowledge of television production (he helmed some excellent 60s 'Avengers' episodes) to create an altogther realistically fantastical world played out in the normal sphere of everyday life. Therefore, whilst the sets are art-deco in style and incredibly inventive and playful, the murders are juxtaposed to the settings in a neat and carefully composed, almost romanticised view, of the world. For example, whilst the settings in the Egyptian desert are almost always stagebound, the settings within the pyramid which houses Phibes key to immortality, are incredibly detailed and beautiful to look at, engaging the viewers sense of aesthetics not normally called upon in early 70s horror. Overlapping this is the sheer delight found in the way the labyrynthine plot overcomes its shortcomings by allowing the viewer to identify with Phibes - primarily because of the first movie and the wish to see him survive.

Of course, the undeniable strength of the movie is the portrayal of Phibes by the always enigmatic Price. It is this familiarity of the actors playing that engages the viewer. Portrayed as a man searching for love at all costs, Phgibes is not a monster but a tragic and lonely figure, thus creating audience sympathy immediately.

That the last view of Phibes is of one of triumph indicates that perhaps a sequel was to be made. But, in hindsight, Phibes got the richly deserving send off that he so desparately wanted.

The movie really is a truly globe-trotting, almost Bond-like adventure. Despite the low budget, the movie does indeed look at times absolutely magnificent. The cinematography, the mise-en-scene, the lighting and music all combine with excellent direction and acting to provide the audience with a movie that could outshine all postmodern horror movies. It is one of the last truly great gothic outings that British cinema has provided.

MISS IT AT YOUR PERIL!

Even though it has some outstanding sequences, great music, great production values, one of Vinnie's greatest performances and one of the most memorably creepy endings in the genre's long history I have to tell the truth: I never cared much for the original Dr. Phibes movie. I don't hate it, but I just didn't find it to have the qualities it is most often praised for, and those I did find certainly were not as effective as they could have been.

That said, I was expecting the often lambasted and so-called 'inferior' sequel to be a waste of time. I was dead wrong!

I will concede that this film is technically inferior as a film to the original, and the script is so full of holes it is ridiculous, it also features a crass waste of actor Peter Cushing that is simply unforgivable, several 'guest stars' appeared in the previous film and several elements that kept the original film glued together are missing. But that doesn't matter, because the film is FUN FUN FUN!("Theatre of Blood" is still better, though.)

All of the elements of humor and horror that the original is often praised for are actually more prominent, and much better handled in this film. Several scenes are truly frightening, and the comedy bits are hilarious without becoming just silly.

The story is quite simple; Phibes is restored to life because of movement of the planets, which replaces the embalming fluid he replaced his blood with at the end of the previous film, and(now much more talkative; spouting dialog worthy of Dr. Doom through his phonograph)he summons Vulnavia again(confirming that she was a supernatural figure) and is about to take off on a quest to the river of life, only to discover his former lair ravaged by the greedy, corrupt businessman and archaeologist Darius Biederbeck(Robert Quarry)and his map stolen. Phibes doesn't need the map, and Biederbeck; who is also seeking the river, has no knowledge of his existence; but that's okay, it gives the No-good-nick Doctor a chance to pass the time doing what he does best.....in Egypt no less!!

Although hardly 3-dimensional fleshed out characters, all of Biederbeck's allies are given flaws and personalities so that we either like or dislike them and thus get to either fear for them, or laugh to death at their murders. The Egyptian-themed murders range from truly unpleasant(a man gets pecked to death by vultures, another has his flesh sandblasted off)to laugh-out-loud funny(Big Milton Reid; the evil Mulatto from 'Captain Clegg' and a henchman from the James Bond movies ends up 'phoning it in' quite literally after battling robotic cobras, and a horny guy seduced by Vulnavia gets....well, you'll see...) even the lamest of them puts the ones in the original to shame(Never mind that Phibes couldn't possibly have planned or had the materials necessary to carry out a single one of them....).

The film is no masterpiece, but it's very entertaining, and the film has a feel reminiscent of both the Indiana Jones movies and the Adam West 'Batman' show if 'Batman' had actually been funny. It features all the qualities the original is praised for a 1000x better; plus, it features the ear-splitting spectacle of Vincent Price 'singing' "Somewhere over the Rainbow" in a grating mechanical voice!!!!!!!

How can you hate a movie with THAT in it??? Pull out the weed and enjoy.~

The musical master of the macabre is back from the dead, and boy, is he loving it! After entering stage one of the underworld in the first of two films, Dr. Philbes loaded himself up with formaldehyde and went off into a deep sleep, prepared to be woken up by his silent assistant and head off to the next part of his big adventure. In the process, more people have violent and painful deaths, all the more head-turning and difficult to watch than the very first one. While death may not exactly happen on the Nile, it is near the land of the Pharaohs, and if you think Joan Collins had a nervous breakdown when she found herself being enclosed in that 1955 camp epic, wait until you see what happens to modern intruders on Philbes' efforts to find life eternal here.

A rather rough looking Mr. Clean wanna-be gets amusement by computerized snakes which interrupt him playing pool. But of course, one of them is real. Yet, this isn't enough to stop the macho muscle man from cutting out the venom, but there's another surprise in store. Hugh Griffith, who had a cameo in the first film as a rabbi, comes across Philbes' musical dummies on the Egyptian bound cruiser, and literally ends up meeting the bottle in one of the funnier (if still macabre) moments, taking the phrase "stuff it!" to extremes. Another one of the explorers intruding in on Philbes' plans ends up with a truly painful demise involving a key he desperately needs in the middle of the most gruesome form of living animals. I had to turn my head throughout this entire sequence but even with that was laughing, half in disgust, half at myself for being such a coward in not being able to watch it. Another goes down "Days of Our Lives" territory where he finds the danger of the sands through the hour glass. Cameos from Peter Cushing, Terry-Thomas (playing a different character who doesn't meet a grizzly end) and Beryl Reid seem pointless.

As an artistic looking horror film with much art deco, a wonderful period feel and some brilliant comedy, this succeeds. But as a film and especially as a sequel, it truly feels unnecessary, since the previous movie had wrapped everything up neatly and didn't warrant continuation. There's also a major blunder concerning the silent character of Vulnavia, Philbes' obvious mistress, who was brutally covered in acid at the end of the first film. The recast of the role is supposed to make you assume that the character had some sort of plastic surgery, but certainly, Dr. Philbes' accomplice, even with medical attention needed, would have been incarcerated for life after all the hideous things she helped him accomplish in the first film. The film is obviously a matter of taste, and while the squeamish not need bother, neither should those who look for consistency and pretty much demand that even the worst of horrific films like this have a point. The first one did; The only point this one had for me was the fast-forward button on the remote control.