Die Rückkehr des Dr. Phibes

I bought this one as part of a back to back Dr. Phibes Midnight Feature DVD. I didn't like it quite as much as the original, but it was not completely without its charm. Vincent Price's performance was good (as per usual) and Robert Quarry did well as Biderbeck (Dr. Phibes' foe in this film). As anyone who has seen the original can guess, there's a lot of really elaborate deaths and more of Vincent Price talking through a machine plugged into his neck.

The film picks up with a brief recap of the original (Phibes out to kill the doctors who where operating on his wife when she died). Phibes then arises from the tomb in his basement where he and his wife's corpse were resting for about three years. Phibes has a plan this time to find a secret river of life in Egypt that comes to a pharaoh's tomb once every 2000 years so he can bring his wife back to life and have eternal life. However, Phibes' house has been demolished and a priceless scroll that had the secret of the tomb has been taken. Biderbeck (Quarry) somehow acquired the scroll and intends to find the river for himself and his girlfriend. Both travel to Egypt to find the river of life, and Phibes kills Biderbeck's lackeys along the way in his usual methods.

It's not that bad. It didn't live up to the original, but it still delivered big on the theme deaths. The deaths aren't quite as structured as in the last Phibes film, but they're still pretty fun.

The juxtapositioning of lame one-liners and overused sight gags with some rather memorable and disturbing murders are what this film is all about. Its all of a rather low quality in virtually all respects, yet with Vincent Price as a diabolical lead, the many foibles are easily overlooked. Phibes has risen from suspended animation and once more has a bee in his bonnet for those who killed his wife and took away his face. He's not content with simply killing them. Oh no, each murder is creative, elaborate and basically nonsensical in their conception. But still horrific somehow. There's no sport in criticizing the plot, questions like why Phibes conjures these nasty deaths for the lackeys of his enemy who are all actually ignorant and innocent of any wrongdoing. Then he chooses to reason with the one man who is actually trying to destroy him. Very EC comic inspired, and if you like that sort of thing, you will like this film. Keep this away formt he impressionable kids though. I saw this when I was really young, and the images were emblazened on my brain for all time. Beware!!!

Not as good as the first Phibes movie (The Abominable Dr...) but jolly good fun, so long as you're not expecting a horror movie! This is a comedy! The double act of Peter Jeffrey and John Cater as the bumbling police officers Trout and Waverley are a joy. Vincent Price, himself, often portrayed his characters with tongue firmly in cheek, (witness the AIP Corman series of E A Poe titles) and this is no exception. What I would like to know is what is the obsession with dance band leaders and jazz cornet/trumpeters all about? OK, its set in the 20s, (allegedly!) and the mechanical band look like an old dance band of the time, or is it just another in-joke probably lost on most viewers? I'll explain: Beiderbeck (Bix Beiderbecke - legendary cornettist, who died of drink at 28); Hackett (Bobby Hackett - cornettist often compared to Bix for his lyrical style); Baker (Harold "Shorty" Baker - one-time trumpeter for Duke Ellington. Or even Kenny Baker, English trumpeter of considerable ability); Shavers (Charlie Shavers - highly accomplished trumpeter from the 'swing era'); Stewart (Rex Stewart - cornettist with Duke Ellington during 30s/40s). Get the picture? Then we have two band leaders: Ambrose (English dance band leader from the 30s) and Lombardo (Guy Lombardo, Canadian dance band leader from the 20s and 30s). Obsessive or what? Never mind, I just thought I'd point it out!!!! Its still an enjoyable load of old nonsense all the same. 10 out of 10 for cheekiness, but overall a 7.

Some feel that this sequel to 1970's The Abominable Dr. Phibes surpassed the original film with its all-out camp elan, wild-and-woolly murder sequences (it's hard to imagine anything more skin-crawlingly gruesome than the Scorpion Throne sequence in this film), exquisite Deco Egyptienne sets and scenery-chewing performances by such stellar talents as Hugh Griffith, Terry-Thomas (a priceless cameo), Beryl Reid and Peter Jeffrey. Robert Quarry has probably his best role ever as the perfidious Biederbeck, and Valli Kemp makes a fetchingly arch replacement in the role of Vulnavia originated by Virginia North (Kemp's Vulnavia is more in the vein of Maxfield Parrish, while North was arctically Deco). But it's Vincent Price--"how ironic and how clever!"--who rules this bizarre, darkly comic universe of murders and ancient Egyptian occult wisdom. The score by John Gale is also worthy of considerable praise--one of the great horror scores of the latter 20th Century. When is the CD coming out?

I've seen this movie about 7 times, and every time I always notice some little quip or detail that escaped me on first viewing. For trivia buffs, a third film was planned, which was due to bring Phibes face to face with Hitler. Vincent Price was so incensed at the chopping of the original running time of Rises Again that he refused to have anything to do with the third project, so it was abandoned. Director Robert Fuest worked on the Linda Thorson season of the Avengers (the Takeover episode shows some of the Phibes style), and went on to produce a stylish send-up of one of Michael Moorcock's future-sex fantasias.

This movie is so similar to the original that I sometimes have trouble remembering which crazy diabolical way of murdering his enemies occurred in which movie. Dr. Phibes returns (even though we DISTINCTLY saw him kill himself in the last movie!) and this time he is a little less focused on revenge and devotes most of his energy to resurrecting his long dead wife. However, have no fear, this does NOT mean he won't be killing many people in the process of restoring her! Yep, once again he comes up with many wacky and twisted ways to kill. So, in essence, if you loved the first movie you'll be happy but if you hated it, it doesn't get any better! I liked both and admit they are a guilty pleasure---they are SO cheesy and silly but I really liked the movies a lot!

UPDATE: I just saw this movie again tonight just after seeing the first Phibes film. I sure had a different reaction this time. While Phibes' murders were once again quite interesting, the film had two major ways that made it very inferior to the original. In the first film, whether right or wrong, Phibes felt he had a legitimate reason to kill. Here in "Dr. Phibes Rises Again" he clearly kills completely innocent people and is much more of a jerk. Also, the plot is not nearly as coherent as the first film and seems like it could have used some re-writing. Still worth seeing but clearly not up to the standards of the first.