TOMB OF NOSTALGIA: THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES (1971)

THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES (1971)

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Four years earlier Dr. Anton Phibes (Vincent Price) lost his beautiful wife, Victoria (Caroline Munro) during a medical procedure. Racing home upon hearing the news, Phibes himself got into a car accident and was presumed burned to death. But the doctor is not dead and though horribly scarred, he plans to exact revenge on the nine medical personnel he feels responsible for Victoria’s death. Now the police are baffled as Phibes begins to exact his revenge in the form of biblical plagues and begins a bloody path leading to the chief surgeon (Joseph Cotton) for whom he plans the worse fate yet!

Price classic is stylishly directed by Robert Fuest from a script by he, along with William Goldstein and James Whiton. The flick may take place in 1925, but Fuest gives it a 60s art deco look and a very twisted sense of humor. While Phibes’ plans for those he seeks revenge on are quite ghastly, there is a sense of fun as Phibes unleashes his plagues with an assortment of bizarre gadgets and a disguise or two. The results can be gruesome, but nothing too extreme as the film was rated PG…or “GP” as it was called during this era. There is some fun to be had in watching Phibes make a fool of Scotland Yard Inspector Trout (Peter Jeffrey) and evade any attempts by the law to protect those still yet to meet a horrible fate. It is a bit methodically paced and feels somewhat longer than it’s 94 minute run time, but watching Phibes play the organ while plotting horrible deeds is campy, ghoulish fun with Price doing what he does best. On a technical level it is well made though some of the FX are delightfully cheesy by today’s standards.

As for the horror legend, Price is at the top of his game here as the sinister Phibes. Even having to play the role mute and add his voice later (Phibes lost the ability to speak in the accident and uses a device to emit his voice) he still chills with the look in his eyes and his mannerisms and his dialogue is still recited with that Vincent Price flair. He never goes overboard, but just over-the-top enough to give a diabolical horror movie style Bond villain vibe to the gadget making/organ playing Phibes. Joseph Cotton is another movie veteran who knows to take the campy/creepy material seriously as the main target on Phibes’ list, Dr. Vesalius. Peter Jeffrey seems to be having a good time as the constantly baffled and outwitted Inspector Trout. Another role that is meant to be campy with the actor showing just enough restraint to not become outright silly. Virginia North is a sexy femme fatale as Phibes’ silent assistant Vulnavia and an un-credited role playing Phibes’ Victoria in photos and corpse form is British film vixen and future Bond girl, Caroline Munro. A classy cast that all approach the material with proper amounts of camp or seriousness.

Overall, this is a cult classic and another example of why Vincent Price is a legend. As a film itself, it is a little too slow paced for it’s own good and the mix of gruesome and giddy may not always work completely, but it is still a lot of twisted fun. The diabolical doctor would return for a sequel, Dr. Phibes Rises Again, the following year.

-MonsterZero NJ

3 Phibes.

 

 

 

TOMB OF NOSTALGIA: THE DEVIL’S RAIN (1975)

THE DEVIL’S RAIN (1975)

As a horror movie fan and an all around movie geek, I try to give even some really bad movies a break if there is something to entertain within it. Some movies are delightfully bad and I have no problem giving them credit even if they are entertaining for the wrong reasons. But occasionally a movie comes along that should have been ripe for a fun time and yet just doesn’t live up to it’s potential either as a solid flick or as campy fun…and sadly, The Devil’s Rain is one of them.

The story has the Preston family being hunted…for centuries apparently…by a cult of Satanists and their leader Corbis (Ernest Borgnine), to regain a book that is in the family’s possession that will grant the cultists great power. When the mother and father are taken, son Mark (William Shatner) goes to confront Corbis and win his parent’s freedom. When Mark fails and becomes one of Corbis’ soulless servants, his brother Tom (Tom Skerritt) comes looking for his family and must find a way to destroy Corbis and his followers by releasing the souls that Corbis has imprisoned.

This Robert Fuest directed horror was universally panned when it came out and while I don’t think it’s quite as terrible as it was accused of being, it is a rather dull flick despite a heavy dose of horror trappings. Fuest tells his tale filled with Satanic ceremonies, sinister visuals, psychic phenomena and plentiful make-up FX, with a very slow pace and fails to really instill any menace in what should be a story filled with dread. The cinematography by Alex Phillips Jr. is quite good and makes good use of the desert locations and the spooky sets, but fails to give the film the atmosphere it needs to chill us. The movie has a very good cast with Eddie Albert, Ida Lupino, Keenan Wynn and a young John Travolta joining Skerritt, Shatner and Borgnine, but only Ernest Borgnine really seems to get the material, giving his Jonathan Corbis some nice over the top villainy. The rest of the cast seem to perform by-the-numbers, not that the script…written by three people no less…gave the characters or story much development to work with. The dark humor and sinister sense of fun that Fuest brought his Dr. Phibes films starring Vincent Price, is sadly missing. This film could have used a bit of those movies’ morbid sense of humor, especially when things get borderline silly in the last act. The production value on the film is fine and it’s make-up effects by Ellis Burman Jr. are top notch for the time…especially during it’s climactic meltdown…but there is just very little life in a movie that’s plot was well suited for some over the top horror fun…and with people turning into human rams and scenes of dozens of melting cultists, you’d think the director would have had a good time with it.

Still, the film has developed a bit of a following and the fact that Satanist Anton LaVey is listed as a consultant adds to it’s infamy, but bottom-line, the film simply doesn’t live up to it’s potential and is an oddity and a curiosity at best. Oddly the very last scene has the kind of creepiness the rest of the film desperately needed, but it’s far too late. Even the film’s marketing failed, as it used it’s climax as the focal point of it’s advertising, so anyone going in to the movie already knew how it was going to end.

If you’re a horror completest or just a fan of bad movies like I am, it’s worth a look, but this could have been a lot of fun had the filmmakers and cast chose to have fun with the material. And by that I don’t mean make a joke or comedy of it, just perform the scenes with some gusto instead of this almost funeral-like deadpan. You know there is a problem when Shatner isn’t being theatrical. At least veteran actor Borgnine enjoyed himself and Skerritt had Alien and Shatner the return of Star Trek to keep their careers afloat while, sadly Fuest all but disappeared from feature film-making. In a time of endless remakes, this flick is one that could use a redo by someone who gets material like this, like Eli Roth or Alexandre Aja, and make it the fun horror blast it could have been. It has it’s fans, so I guess that’s something.

-MonsterZero NJ

2 horny goat Borgnines.