Dehydrator
06-22-2002, 05:18 AM
DR. PHIBES RISES AGAIN (1972)
Directed by Robert Fuest
Starring:
Vincent Price as Dr. Phibes
Robert Quarry as Biderbeck
Valli Kemp as Vulevia
my rating 7/10
+++ might contain minor spoilers +++
"The stories about the terrible Dr. Phibes were first heard about 5 years ago. Unfortunately, each of them is true!"
It's been a long time since I've seen the first Dr. Phibes movie but I remember liking it alot. Same thing here, this sequel, made one year after the original doesn't put the original to shame, it's just as cool. The centerpiece of the movie is, of course Vincent Price at his screenswallowing best, delivering lines you have to hear to believe.
The plot: At the end of the original, Dr. Phibes deceided to chill out for a while, next to his beloved (and dead) wife Victory whose accidential death on the operation table he went to avenge in the first movie. 3 years later (due to some moon configuration), his crypt opens and Phibes comes back, only to find his house broken down, his safe cracked and his papyrus that shows the way to the river of eternal life in egypt stolen. All of this pisses him off and so he gets back the papyrus (scratch one servant) and ships himself over to egypt where he intends to find said river and thus, make himself and his wife immortal. Dr. Biderbeck (played by Robert Quarry) has the awful idea of also discovering the river of life at the same time and his expedition staff is about to get cut short...
As I said, this movie wouldn't be shit without Vincent Price but as it is, it's a real hoot. Although I don't know if it is intended as an actual comedy, it sure comes across as howling funny with Phibes' weird methods of killing people ( deadly phone lines, scorpions, sandstorms inside cars, man-eating birds...) and Price's incredible larger-than-life dialogue. The rest of the cast is mostly there to die in painful ways but Robert Quarry makes for a nice counterpart to Price, although you should know who you root for after the opening scene (which hiliarously explains Phibe's motives and urges). Of course, the plot is loaded with silly stuff left and right but this isn't the movie you're supposed to watch with a straight face anyway, so don't bother about how Phibes manages to get all that stuff inside the mountain (he can't live without is awfully big organ and his mechanical jazz band...), let alone why he keeps spitting out those lines to noone but himself (his sidekick Vulevia doesn't talk and the only one he knows and doesn't kill is his dead wife). The murders are quite gruesome for it's time (the scorpion bit is harsh) but since the movie is so over-the-top, they're never taken serious anyway. I could have done with less of the two dumb cops and less screen time for the expedition, if this was a perfect world the movie would consist of Price killing people and nothing else. The score is quite cool too, if a bit too over the place sometimes.
Recommended to everyone and Price fans in particular, you just can't go wrong.
7/10
Directed by Robert Fuest
Starring:
Vincent Price as Dr. Phibes
Robert Quarry as Biderbeck
Valli Kemp as Vulevia
my rating 7/10
+++ might contain minor spoilers +++
"The stories about the terrible Dr. Phibes were first heard about 5 years ago. Unfortunately, each of them is true!"
It's been a long time since I've seen the first Dr. Phibes movie but I remember liking it alot. Same thing here, this sequel, made one year after the original doesn't put the original to shame, it's just as cool. The centerpiece of the movie is, of course Vincent Price at his screenswallowing best, delivering lines you have to hear to believe.
The plot: At the end of the original, Dr. Phibes deceided to chill out for a while, next to his beloved (and dead) wife Victory whose accidential death on the operation table he went to avenge in the first movie. 3 years later (due to some moon configuration), his crypt opens and Phibes comes back, only to find his house broken down, his safe cracked and his papyrus that shows the way to the river of eternal life in egypt stolen. All of this pisses him off and so he gets back the papyrus (scratch one servant) and ships himself over to egypt where he intends to find said river and thus, make himself and his wife immortal. Dr. Biderbeck (played by Robert Quarry) has the awful idea of also discovering the river of life at the same time and his expedition staff is about to get cut short...
As I said, this movie wouldn't be shit without Vincent Price but as it is, it's a real hoot. Although I don't know if it is intended as an actual comedy, it sure comes across as howling funny with Phibes' weird methods of killing people ( deadly phone lines, scorpions, sandstorms inside cars, man-eating birds...) and Price's incredible larger-than-life dialogue. The rest of the cast is mostly there to die in painful ways but Robert Quarry makes for a nice counterpart to Price, although you should know who you root for after the opening scene (which hiliarously explains Phibe's motives and urges). Of course, the plot is loaded with silly stuff left and right but this isn't the movie you're supposed to watch with a straight face anyway, so don't bother about how Phibes manages to get all that stuff inside the mountain (he can't live without is awfully big organ and his mechanical jazz band...), let alone why he keeps spitting out those lines to noone but himself (his sidekick Vulevia doesn't talk and the only one he knows and doesn't kill is his dead wife). The murders are quite gruesome for it's time (the scorpion bit is harsh) but since the movie is so over-the-top, they're never taken serious anyway. I could have done with less of the two dumb cops and less screen time for the expedition, if this was a perfect world the movie would consist of Price killing people and nothing else. The score is quite cool too, if a bit too over the place sometimes.
Recommended to everyone and Price fans in particular, you just can't go wrong.
7/10