Dr. Phibes Rises Again

Movie Information

The Thursday Horror Picture Show will screen Dr. Phibes Rises Again on Thursday, Sept. 22, at 8 p.m. in the Cinema Lounge of The Carolina Asheville and will be hosted by Xpress movie critics Ken Hanke and Justin Souther.
Score:

Genre: Horror
Director: Robert Fuest
Starring: Vincent Price, Robert Quarry, Valli Kemp, Peter Jeffrey, Fiona Lewis, Peter Cushing, Hugh Griffith
Rated: PG

“Flesh crawls! Blood curdles! Phibes lives” claimed the poster when Vincent Price’s Dr. Anton Phibes made his inevitable return (now we know why there was a phone in his coffin) in Robert Fuest’s Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972). Since the original The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) had been a hit, it followed there would be a sequel. (In just the same way, it followed that Thursday Horror Picture Show would get around to running it.) The movie is little more than a slightly campier reworking of the first film, but in the guise of a sequel. It picks up three years after the first movie with an announcer (Laugh-In refugee Gary Owens) bringing us up to speed about Phibes and the stories told about him (“all of them unfortunately true”). Phibes returns to life, finds his house has been destroyed, deduces that this was the work of his previously unmentioned arch-nemesis Biederbeck (Robert Quarry) done in an attempt to get the information on the location of the secret temple in Egypt that leads to the river of eternal life. From there, it’s pretty much the same set-up with Phibes engineering creative deaths for his adversaries while this time working toward getting himself and his beloved dead wife to paradise Egyptian style. It mostly works. Oh, granted that Robert Quarry is a pretty lame substitute for Joseph Cotten, but he’s good enough, while Terry-Thomas gets a more amusing role this time. Hugh Griffith fares about as well in both. Peter Cushing, on the other hand, is largely wasted. It’s really Price’s show—and that of director Robert Fuest (who ought to have had a better career)—and there it succeeds more than many things Price made. Plus, there’s a sublime ending—which was denied us for a time when the owners refused to plunk down the cash for the ancillary rights to a certain song, but which now is back. And in case you don’t know what song, I’m not spilling the beans.

SHARE
About Ken Hanke
Head film critic for Mountain Xpress from December 2000 until his death in June 2016. Author of books "Ken Russell's Films," "Charlie Chan at the Movies," "A Critical Guide to Horror Film Series," "Tim Burton: An Unauthorized Biography of the Filmmaker."

Before you comment

The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.

Leave a Reply

To leave a reply you may Login with your Mountain Xpress account, connect socially or enter your name and e-mail. Your e-mail address will not be published. All fields are required.