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Lunch » Tags » Movies » Reviews » Abominable Dr. Phibes

Abominable Dr. Phibes

3 Ratings: 3.3

a 1971 Vincent Price horror movie directed by Robert Fuest

A man who was horribly disfigured in an automobile accident that also took the life of his wife, seeks revenge on those whom he believes to be responsible.

Tags: Movies, Horror, Suspense, Horror Movies

Cast: Hugh Griffith

Director: Robert Fuest

Genre: Horror

Release Date: 1971

MPAA Rating: PG-13

1 review about Abominable Dr. Phibes

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Dr. Phibes - Chocolate covered locusts anyone?

Nov 12, 2001

by SusiDee34
posted in Movie Hype

Rating:

Pros: Price is very good

Cons: locusts are very bad

The Bottom Line: Good direction and acting for an older movie

The Oracle says: Virginia North has a Bacon number of 3.
Virginia North was in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) with David de Keyser
David de Keyser was in Simon Magus (1999/I) with Stuart Townsend
Stuart Townsend was in 24 Hours* (2001) with Kevin Bacon ***

If the thought of face eating locusts bothers you, this probably wouldn't be a movie for you. This is one of the many bizarre, strange and outright ridiculous films by Vincent Price. Thought they are classified as horror, they are so campy that you get a laugh. Maybe it is because of the true horror' films we have now like the slasher series Scream, Nightmare, Halloween and Friday the 13th.

Ah, the abominable Dr. Phibes, once a clean living citizen of the world. Thanks to an automobile accident that destroys his face and causes him to lose his voice AND results in the death of his darling wife, he has become more than a little insane. Devising many an inventive way to eliminate the doctors that he felt just didn't do enough to save his wife', he systematically destroys them.

This is very shades of phantom of the opera with Phibes holding the corpse of his dead wife in the basement of his home and serenades her with an organ. Enter Virginia North, looking a lot like the dead wife, and the fun furthers as she joins the demented doctor in his 'practice'.

His ingenious methods are not for the squeamish ~ for instance the face eating locusts would be a good example. Something about that tube coming through the ceiling over that innocently sleeping person and releasing that icky green fluid, then the locusts ....ugh....disgusting! There are bats and rats, too, for those that care.

Oh, and dare I not forget his ability to recover his voice. He runs a cord from his neck to an old wind up record player. Now I ask you, how can you call this horror? And, of course, since the setting of the movie was the mid-20's, the ideals and the apparatuses they used were even more comical. Similar to the weird items used by Depp in Sleepy Hollow.

Starring: Vincent Price, Joseph Cotten and Virginia North .... Caroline Munro as the dead Mrs. Phibes :)

Amazingly directed by Robert Fuest, just a delightful romp through horrordom. I understand a sequel, Dr. Phibes Rises Again, was release a couple of years later but I ain't going there.

Thanks,
Susi :)

* Note on 24 Hours: Since this project is categorized as being in production, the data is subject to change or could be removed completely, according to IMDB.com

***Compliments of Department of Computer Science
School of Engineering, University of Virginia

Recommended:
Yes

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