135. The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)

March 4, 2014

It may seem a little redundant for me to keep talking about how great Scream Factory is, but they really are fantastic. Released on blu-ray last year, The Abominable Dr. Phibes is part of a 6 film Vincent Price box set. I really hope this is just volume one, as I would love to see Dr. Phibes Rises Again, The Raven, Comedy of Terrors, The Tingler, and many more Price movies included on future sets. Even if they don't release any more, I feel like we are fortunate to have such a lovingly put together collection of some of Price's best films, and The Abominable Dr. Phibes is one of my favorites. I love this movie. From the awesome costumes to the highly imaginative deaths, everything about this movie is cool. Price stars as Dr. Phibes, a talented organist, a brilliant scientist, a man whose face was hideously disfigured in an accident, a man assumed dead from that crash, a man whose wife was killed on an operating table years ago by a team of nine doctors, and a man who vows revenge on those nine doctors by way of a series of ancient biblical plagues. The plagues, including death by bats, rats, locusts, hail, and several other horrifying ways to die, are creatively concocted by Phibes over many years, and he is solicitously aided by his devoted and beautiful assistant, Vulnavia. When several doctors start dying and the authorities discover a pattern in this series of somewhat random but bizarre deaths, all signs lead to Dr. Phibes, who has been presumed dead for several years, but would seem to be the only person with a vested interest in killing off the team of doctors present on the night of his wife's operation and subsequent death. The police are always a few steps behind Dr. Phibes, however, and everything goes almost entirely according to his plan. Also, I can't forget to mention this - Dr. Phibes has his own band of musical marionettes called 'Dr. Phibes' Clockwork Wizards', and he has a table full of wax faces that he melts as part of a ritual after every person he kills. Like I said, this movie is really cool.