Dr. Phibes Rises Again
1972Dir. Robert Fuest
Three years after he murdered the surgeons he held responsible for his wife Victoria’s death, Dr. Phibes (Vincent Price) awakens from his hidden tomb to discover his parchment scrolls detailing the location of a Pharaoh's Tomb have been stolen. The tomb grants access to the River of Life, and could revive his beloved wife. Phibes quickly murders those responsible and reacquires the parchment. But! He soon realises he is not the only one looking for the Pharaoh’s Tomb and the secrets of eternal life – an archaeological team led by the dastardly Darius Biederbeck (Robert Quarry) is close behind him. Phibes, aided again by his loyal assistant Vulnavia, resorts to what he does best to eliminate the competition – killing them off one by one in ever elaborate ways…
Flesh crawls! Blood curdles! Phibes lives!
Much like its predecessor, Dr Phibes Rises Again is drenched in an irresistible high camp Gothic and grandiose excess. We open with a recap of the events in The Abominable Dr Phibes, with an emphasis on Phibes’ fiendish and diabolical plot to avenge the death of his beloved wife Victoria featuring ‘highlights’ of his prior ridiculously elaborate murders. When Phibes emerges from his secret burial chamber, he calls on his impressively named assistant Vulnavia (here portrayed by Valli Kemp) to help him in get back his scrolls. Vulnavia materialises from some sort of never-world and seductively frolics in a mirror tunnel before indulging in the spectacle of Phibes playing his ridiculously ornate organ.
The score, courtesy of John Gale, breezes effortlessly from kitschy lounge jazz to sweeping and hopelessly romanticised orchestral motifs, perfectly capturing the dark heartache of Phibes. The florid script by director Robert Fuest and co-writer Robert Blees uses language as colourful and vivid as the elaborate Art Deco set designs and ostentatious death scenes. The script also indulges in inevitable gallows humour resulting in a delightfully doomful and off-kilter tone. The cast is rounded out by dependable actors like Robert Quarry as Darius Biederbeck, Phibes's main competitor for the secrets of the Pharaoh's Tomb, Fiona Lewis as Diana and Hugh Griffith as Harry Ambose. Once again joining in the pantomime are the two bumbling yet affable detectives from the first film, Inspector Trout (Peter Jeffrey) and Sir Wayne Waverly (John Cater), whose comic timing and banter blend in perfectly with the ensuing chaos. Just as well really, as they seem to serve no other function to the plot whatsoever. Peter Cushing even puts in a cameo as the captain of a ship bound for Egypt.
Of course the best thing about the Dr Phibes films is Vincent Price. Obviously. Positively relishing his role with an unmistakable glinting glee, Price theatrically swishes his way around elaborate sets and manages to convey a rich depth of emotions simply by using his eyes and inimitably velvet voice. You see, a freak accident horrifically disfigured Phibes, rendering him unable to speak without the aid of a mechanical device attached to his throat – he never opens his mouth. Whilst eating, he inserts his food into somewhere behind his head. A rather comical moment has him almost choke on a fish bone – removing it from the back of his neck he shoots Vulnavia a dry, withering smile – encapsulating the camp, tongue-in-cheek tone of the film. Who else but Price could carry off such a role with aplomb, deftly imbuing anti-hero Phibes with a heavy melancholy and ensuring that the viewer is constantly won over to his side. Or was that just me? Anyway. Like its predecessor, Dr Phibes Rises Again also possesses an oddly lyrical quality in the scenes with the titular doctor as he soliloquizes his dead wife Victoria. These moments are usually accompanied by Gale’s lush score ensuring a morbid and deliciously overwrought romance takes centre stage.
‘Sleep on, my sweet Victoria, for regal claws of noble birds guard well your place of rest. For those poor fools that dare intrude, the penalty is death.’
The death scenes, while not in keeping with the first film’s ‘themed’ murders (The ten plagues of Egypt) are still executed (pardon the dreadful pun) with as much precision. They range from the rather mundane (a clockwork snake and a booby trapped telephone, an eagle pecking out John Thaw’s eyes) and the downright nasty (stinging scorpions) to the absolutely ludicrous (the concertina bed and a giant fan masquerading as a desert storm) and slyly nod to the likes of Henry James and Shakespeare along the way. There is also the baffling scene in which an elderly gent is sandblasted to death in his own car; but only after he comes across Phibes’ clockwork band playing the bagpipes in the middle of the Egyptian desert. Yes, really.
Of course, we’ve seen all this before – namely in The Abominable Dr Phibes. But the film still charms with its absurdist humour and over-the-top melodrama, and though it is definitely the weaker of the two films, it still can’t fail to entertain. And of course, it stars Vincent Price – who is always immensely watchable. An exquisitely absurd film that ends with Phibes and Victoria sailing down the River of Life on a gondola accompanied by the strains of Somewhere Over the Rainbow – a fitting end to a highly camp, oddly touching and riotously funny yarn.
