The Abominable Dr. Phibes is a 1971 horror film starring Vincent Price, Joseph Cotten, Terry-Thomas and Hugh Griffith. The screenplay was written by James Whiton and William Goldstein, with additional uncredited scripting by director Robert Fuest (The Devil’s Rain). Its art deco sets, dark humour and knowing performance by Price have made the film and its sequel Dr. Phibes Rises Again cult classics. The character of Dr. Phibes is inspired by the Biblical ten plagues of Ancient Egypt from the Old Testament for the methodology of his murderous spree.
One of the most stylish and poetic horror films ever made, The Abominable Dr. Phibes sees Vincent Price appearing as Dr. Anton Phibes, presumed to have died in a car crash with his wife, Victoria (played, uncredited, by lovely Caroline Munro), some four years previously. It appears Phibes has somehow survived and he returns, eager to avenge his beloved Victoria, whom he believes to have died at the hands of incompetent doctors on the operating table. Set in England in 1925, a disfigured Phibes sets about killing the doctors he holds responsible by visiting upon them the ten biblical plagues of ancient Egypt. As Phibes’s victims rack up, it becomes a race against time for Inspector Trout and Scotland Yard to stop him before the final doctor and his young son meet their fate.
In this towering achievement of British horror, Vincent Price was at the very height of his powers, in what the film’s producers claimed to be his one hundredth film. The success of the film can certainly be in part attributed to Price, despite the fact that due to his disfigurement, his lines are largely post-dubbed by himself as he can only speak in the film with the aid of an uncomfortable-looking contraption attached to his neck, his familiar, strangled vowels seeming even more otherworldly crawling from the amplification device. The darkly humorous, yet genuinely affecting plot and script are perfectly suited to Price who had long since perfected the art of delivering barbed bon mots whilst giving a sideways glance at the camera.
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Assisted by his silent female companion, Vulnavia (Virginia North), the updated plagues unleashed by Phibes are:
Boils
A tricky one to translate to the screen (indeed it isn’t, it takes place before the film starts), unlucky Professor Thornton stung to death by bees.
Gnats
Gnats proving too difficult to present onscreen, Phibes lowers deadly vampire bats into Dr Dunwoody’s bedroom via the skylight. The ferocious winged beasts are cute vegetarian fruit bats, but shh, no-one noticed.
Frogs
Right animal this time, stuck-up Dr Hargreaves has his head crushed by Dr Phibes’s constricting frog head-piece at a masked ball. A funny and disturbing scene ensues as assorted horses and birds peer over to view his corpse.
Blood
Stag film loving, brandy-quaffing Dr Longstreet (Terry-Thomas) has his late-night viewing interrupted by Anton and Vulnavia as they carry out an unwanted complete blood donation. So delightful is Thomas, he returned as different character in the film’s sequel.
Hail
Dr Hedgepath is frozen to death in his car, a fiendish ice machine attached to the engine.
Rats
Again, flies too difficult and expensive to convey, rats are secreted into Dr Kitaj’s biplane, despite their fluffy appearance, enough to cause him to spin to the ground (in a hurry, and without applying the brakes). Originally, the rats were to kill the doctor on a boat but it was quickly realised that escape would’ve been relatively simple.
Beasts
Particularly ingeniously, Dr Whitcombe is impaled on the brass horn of an ornamental unicorn, fired from a catapult. Not a real unicorn, that would be silly.
Locusts
Perhaps the most well-known plague, poor Nurse Allen gets a really rough deal, after drilling a hole into her bedroom ceiling, he pours green slime over her sleeping body, a rare treat for the locusts who ravenously follow the liquid, gnawing her face off in the process
Death of the First-Born
Slip-shod policing assumes this to be the already dead elder brother of the doctor, not the actually kidnapped teenage son of lead surgeon, Dr Vesalius. Years before Saw, a devilish trap is contructed, the youngster facing a death by acid lest his father is able to perform a perilously quick operation to find the key to undo his bindings, hidden as it is within his body, close to his heart. Phibes finally comes undone, a daring, high-octane rescue being successful. This just leaves the final plague…
Darkness
Unaware of his failure, Phibes embalms himself, finally joining his darling wife in the greatest darkness.
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The genius of Phibes’s traps and his hideous visage, mostly covered throughout the film by a self-crafted mask and wig, have made the villain one of the most iconic movie monsters outside of the Universal canon. Price is ably assisted by a cast who by turns, play the film completely straight and conversely with an eyebrow permanently raised, in particular Inspector Trout, played by Peter Jeffrey (Countess Dracula, Dr. Phibes Rises Again), who gets most of the juiciest lines. Also worthy of mention are Trout’s assistant, Crow (Derek Godfrey from Hands of the Ripper), the jeweller played by Aubrey Woods and why not, a second mention for the incomparable Terry-Thomas.
Trade ad showing Peter Cushing was originally cast but had to drop out due to his wife’s death
Director, Fuest, had cut his teeth directing many episodes of classic 60s TV show, The Avengers, only slightly suggesting the visual feast and engaging plot he delivers in the film. He also directed the sequel and the enjoyable Shatner/Borgnine romp The Devil’s Rain. The Elstree-filmed sensational ‘thirties era’ set design came from the hands of Brian Eatwell, who also worked on Sam Fuller’s White Dog and the David Bowie-starring The Man Who Fell to Earth. The vibrant colours simply boil on the screen. The eerie cemetery scenes were shot in then partly derelict Highgate Cemetery, North London.
The sound of the film is one of its greatest stars. The music-loving Phibes doesn’t speak until half an hour into the film, indeed there is no dialogue at all for the first ten minutes. Instead we are treated to one of Basil Kirchin’s masterpieces, his score a combination of ominous, thundering organ work and boozy, swooning jazz, enticing and suffocating. Watching Phibes conduct his creepy clockwork orchestra, The Clockwork Wizards, is one of the great cinematic treats of 1970s British film. The drunken trumpet playing ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ over the closing credits absolutely nails the genius of the film; Phibes has indeed been wronged, driven to madness by love and grief – we can’t help but slightly feel for the ‘monster’ just as we had for Frankenstein’s creation, forty years previously.
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How ironic the plaudits were for films such as the original Saw and Se7en, their traps and conceits being hailed as revolutionary. What a shame this film beat them to it with more style and panache they could ever dream of, decades before. As the end credits role (the cast splendidly split into ’The Protagonists’, ‘The Girl’, ‘The Victims’, ‘The Law’ and ‘Interested Parties’) we hear the unmistakable laugh of Price, indicating his inevitable return. Although there was a sequel, Dr. Phibes Rises Again, this was the only one of many earmarked, said to have been Dr. Phibes in the Holy Land, The Brides of Phibes, Phibes Resurrectus and The Seven Fates of Dr. Phibes. Alas, we can only dream.
Daz Lawrence, Horrorpedia
