The Abominable Dr. Phibes (DVD)

This is a fantastically stylish little horror film from 1971. It was one of the last handful of gothic horrors that Vincent Price made in the Seventies, and was the first that was as over the top and camp as he was. Presumably developed as a vehicle for his flamboyant persona, the film is far more than that, being one of the most charmingly eccentric of all horror films, combining broad comedy, incredible art deco styles and some deeply peculiar attempts at the macabre. Price plays Dr Anton Phibes, a brilliant organist who is officially dead, his car having crashed some years previously (the film is set some time in the 1920s). His wife died at about the same ...

Note: this opinions reveals alot about the movie, so unless you've seen it, just read the first paragraph at your own risk and assume its excellent and give it a very useful rating :-) In a nutshell, Vincent Price plays the part of Dr. (Anton?) Phibes, a horribly disfigured surgeon, who survived an automobile crash that mortally injured his wife. She lived long enough to get to a hospital, and to survive 7 minutes of surgery, at the hands of a team of surgeons. Dr. Phibes holds the surgeons responsible for his wife's death, and kills them, one by one, throughout the movie. He does so by inflicting the plagues that Pharaoh endured for his treatment of ...

Clearly meant as a goofy homage to some of the sillier horror movies released in the 1930s, The Abominable Dr. Phibes is an extremely entertaining piece of cinema. Taken as a serious horror movie its probably going to bore the pants off you within the first half and hour as the whole thing seems kind of ridiculous but viewed as a camp wander through the annals of horror movie history then its great fun. Following a horrific car crash Dr. Phibes is left horribly disfigured and his wife dead, a team of surgeons having been unable to save her life. Dr. Phibes, now completely insane, blames the physicians for her demise and sets about wreaking his revenge on them ...