Disc Reviews

The Complete Dr. Phibes Blu-ray Review

• 22nd Jun 2014

A beautiful limited edition package from Arrow Films of some more Vincent Price classics, this time the films ‘The Abominable Dr Phibes’ (1971) and its 1972 sequel ‘Dr Phibes Rises Again’. This package is limited to a run of 3,000 and comes with a magnificent 100 page booklet. In ‘The Abominable Dr Phibes‘, Price plays the star turn of the horribly disfigured and clearly evil genius, the titular Dr. Phibes, who we learn is back from the (supposed) dead and wreaking his revenge on the eight doctors and nurse who he believes were responsible for the death during surgery of his beloved late wife, Victoria. Bumping them off each in turn in bizarre and gruesome ways, he uses the ten plagues of Egypt as his inspiration (cue bats, bees and a head squishing frog) with the help of his bizarre and sinister clockwork orchestra ‘Dr Phibes Clockwork Wizards’  (being an organist in his spare time from revenge-wreaking) and glamorous assistant Vulnavia. We follow his crimes one by one, each more bizarre than the last, whilst he is of course pursued by the police and must finally retreat to his wife’s embalmed corpse, hoping for a chance to rise again when the time is right.

Set in the 1920’s but clearly with a 70’s influence on the Deco, this crazy film looks fantastic and the reveal of Dr.Phibes’ acid ravaged face at the end is still shocking. Price is wonderful as always, and acts his socks off despite being denied a traditional speaking voice and having to act over a recorded soundtrack due to Phibes only speaking through a bizarre neck tube. The support is admirable and direction superb. Despite the clearly obvious dating of this film, the action doesn’t date at all and it is still an immensely enjoyable addition to the Price cannon. Accompanied by a top notch commentary by Robert Fuest and William Goldstein, the extras are really enhanced by the brilliant documentary ‘Dr. Phibes and the Gentlemen’ where the League of Gentlemen discuss the film in depth. Brilliant. Highly amusing is the original trailer (spoiling the murders as usual) which adds to a pretty standard but nice little package of extras.

‘The Abominable Dr Phibes’ opens three years later with a very tenuous reawakening of Dr Phibes who resumes his quest to resurrect his wife’s corpse despite being thwarted by the destruction of his house and theft of his key papyri. The quest to retrieve this papyri, locate the ‘River of Life’ and murder the thieves along the way takes the action all the way to Egypt and includes some brilliant cameos by John Thaw and the adorable Peter Cushing. The clockwork orchestra (who in a seriously bizarre highlight of the film, imitate Scottish Fusiliers in the desert) and the perpetually glamorous Vulnavia once again accompany him as scorpions and snakes now make a gruesome appearance as tools of death. A highly enjoyable sequel despite its rambling and downright bizarre narrative, Price once again pulls it off, and the locations and characters are interesting enough to keep the viewers attention. Whilst clearly an effort to quickly replicate the previous films charm and popularity, this sequel still stands well on its own in Prices oeuvre and is well worth a watch if you are a fan of the original film.

Extras are sparser but no less watchable on this second disc with a notable appearance again by Price’s daughter Victoria giving her insights into her father’s work on the film, and a great interview with his amusing biographer David Del Valle. A decent commentary and the obligatory theatrical trailer are also included which round off a pretty good package. Overall it would have been nice to see a making of documentary, perhaps some behind the scenes stills or some more length to the specials features but otherwise I can can’t fault it as a package, particularly with the inclusion of the comprehensive booklet. As always with Arrow Films, the films have been lovingly restored and transferred, with crisp, clear soundtracks and they have clearly spent a lot of time creating this special blu-ray package. Highly recommended.

Claire Hyypiä