The Abominable Dr. Phibes Full Movie

0 views

Skip to first unread message

Courtland Boland

unread,

Aug 3, 2024, 12:11:55 PM8/3/24

to trocporrecho

Famous organist Anton Phibes is horribly disfigured in an automobile accident while rushing to the side of his sick wife and presumed to be dead. Once Phibes learns that his wife died on the operating table, he is convinced the doctors are responsible and begins exacting his revenge on all those involved.

various ways vincent price kills people in this: catapulting a brass unicorn head into a man's gut, unleashing rats on a man flying a plane, decapitation via giant frog mask, dripping brussels sprout goo on someone's face so that locusts will eat it off. absolutely insane movie

A vengeful mute serial killer organist. A litany of absolutely insane torture traps and murder scenarios. An obsession with (an edited version of) the Old Testament. Colorful gothic fever dream flair oozing out of the fucking walls.

This isn't a movie. This is more like a visual album. Each murder is a track, "Bats", "Locusts", and so on, the Ten Plagues of Egypt, re-imagined in the style of a murderous Batman or Avengers TV episode. Vincent Price leads his mechanical band on the organ. The end credits might clue you in on who to root for and who is just part of the ensemble, organized into "Interested Parties", "The Law", "The Victims", "The Girl" (the wonderfully enigmatic and quite helpful murder assistant and violinist Victoria North), and "The Protagonists": consisting of Vincent Price as the abominable Dr. Phibes himself, and Joseph Cotton as Dr. Vesavius, the man he most wants dead. Dueling Doctors. Organs vs. Organist. Performance art. Play Somewhere Over the Rainbow when they bury me, for I'm going to see my beloved again.

A high quality Vincent Price Amicus proto slasher. The Abominable Dr. Phibes shares similarities with Theatre of Blood, but this is the superior movie in my opinion. I loved the (British) cheekiness, the extremely creative kills (death by locust, death by brass unicorn ?), the elaborate sets, and of course Price and his theatrical antics. This was obviously highly influential on a lot of horror movies in the coming decades.

Ive been interested in this film ever since Kumail gave a great pitch for it in The Big Sick, but I must say I was slightly let down. It has its moments, but it was a bit slow. Price is best when he can be playful, and he was all too serious in this. I wish they let him actually speak in this, as his voice is a massive asset.