cult film freak: CLASSIC HORROR VIBES REVIVING 'THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES'

Written by James M. Tate / 4/11/2024 / No comments / american international , body count , caroline munro , dark comedy , exploitation , horror , peter jeffrey , seventies , terry-thomas , vincent price , virginia north

CLASSIC HORROR VIBES REVIVING 'THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES'

4/11/2024 | No comment

Virginia North in THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES Year: 1971 Rating: ****1/2

For American International Pictures, THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES was a hit, and for star Vincent Price, a comeback... despite the fact he never followed it up with anything quite as good and, for a comparably modern body count horror still holding onto the antique Victorian style within then present-day England, the titular Phibes gets severe revenge by killing off an assortment of who we later learn are fellow doctors that had...

Well that's something that shouldn't be spoiled despite every summary doing so, particularly since the movie deliberately plays out with that very twist concealed... while each and every Biblical Plague death carried-out, from a man in a suffocating frog mask to killer bats to bloodletting and being frozen alive in an automobile, is unique and spellbinding... and a lot of bloody fun with the kind of class that Price, only able to speak through a contraption that makes the audience basically adhere to an expository narration, pulls off with ease...

Vincent Price in THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES

There are three other important central characters in token investigator Peter Jeffrey, shown at Scotland Yard trying to figure out each murder right after each murder, making PHIBES both Gothic horror and police procedural... each sharing a fair amount of British dark humor, so even the extremely serious crimes don't feel extremely serious...

Then there's second-billed American-import Joseph Cotten, the "final girl" of sophisticated males... his only shortcoming being a cheesy effeminate son while Phibes, vainly dreaming of his own dead-preserved wife living once again, has a mute moll in the gorgeous Virginia North as Vulvania, ghostly present at every crime scene and the keeper of Phibes CLOCKWORK ORANGE-style interior manner with a mechanical band (not so ironically deemed CLOCKWORK WIZARDS), injecting science-fiction into the classy classic horror.

Peter Jeffrey and Joseph Cotten in THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES

Joseph Cotten in THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES

Virginia North in THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES

Vincent Price in THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES

Virginia North in THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES

Vincent Price and Caroline Munro in THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES

Vincent Price in THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES

Share This Post :

Tags : american international , body count , caroline munro , dark comedy , exploitation , horror , peter jeffrey , seventies , terry-thomas , vincent price , virginia north

James M. Tate

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

FAVORITES SHORTLIST

1)OTLEY 2)HELL IS A CITY 3)ROBBERY 4)THE FEARMAKERS 5)CANYON PASSAGE 6)VIOLENT SATURDAY 7)HOT CARS 8)JUNGLE STREET 9)THE CROWDED SKY 10)THE ROARING TWENTIES 11) ANATOMY OF A MURDER 12)SHARKS' TREASURE 13)SWEENEY TWO 14)RAIDERS FROM BENEATH THE SEA 15)HARDCORE 16)THE BREAK 17)WHITE HEAT 18)AL CAPONE 19)HIDDEN FEAR 20)FALLEN ANGEL 21)THEY CAME TO ROB LAS VEGAS 22)THE ASPHALT JUNGLE 23)ASH WEDNESDAY 24)THE SYSTEM 25)AIR PATROL 26)THE STONE KILLER 27)EASY LIVING 28)WILLIAM CONRAD'S BRAINSTORM 29)FRENZY 30)THE MAN FROM LARAMIE 1)DANA ANDREWS 2)JAMES CAGNEY 3)STANLEY BAKER 4)MARLON BRANDO 5)CHARLES BRONSON1)VIRGINIA MAYO 2)SUE LYON 3)GENE TIERNEY 4)MERRY ANDERS 5)FAYE DUNAWAY DIRECTORS 1)JACQUES TOURNEUR 2)RICHARD FLEISCHER 3)VAL GUEST 4)STANLEY KUBRICK 5)OTTO PREMINGER 6)ORSON WELLES 7)JOHN GUILLERMAN 8)JOHN LANDIS 9)JOHN CARPENTER 10)MICHAEL WINNER