Dr. Phibes Rises Again! (1972) review

7. Dr. Phibes Rises Again! (1972)

Directed by: Robert Fuest

Produced by: Louis M. Heyward

Screenplay by: Robert Blees, Robert Fuest

Starring: Vincent Price, Robert Quarry, Peter Jeffrey, Valli Kemp, Fiona Lewis

Well, we’re out of “Mummy” movies for now, but we still have the Egyptian motif going on. “The Abominable Dr. Phibes” is a trippy, underrated horror mystery that features Vincent Price in one of his more interesting roles, the vengeful Anton Phibes who sets elaborate murderous traps inspired by the Ten Plagues of Egypt against the medical team that failed to save his wife following an accident. One year later, a sequel came out called “Dr. Phibes Rises Again!” This time, it’s about Phibes attempting to revive his wife Victoria (Caroline Munro) by traveling to the River of Life in Egypt; but there’s also a man named Darius Biederbeck (Robert Quarry) who also wants to find the river for himself. Much like the first movie, this has terrific production design; the visuals are hypnotic, the music grandiose, and the tone irreverent. However, the story isn’t quite as interesting or provocative, resulting in a film that’s acted well and looks stunning, yet is at times a struggle to follow.

It opens three years after the events of the previous movie, with Phibes awakening from suspended animation; with his revenge mission complete—as far as he knows—he now plans to take Victoria’s body, kept perfectly preserved, to a river inside a hidden temple that can grant them both eternal life. But his papyrus map has been stolen by the enigmatic Biederbeck, who’s lived for centuries through a now-depleted elixir, and seeks the River of Life for him and his lover Diana (Fiona Lewis). Aided by his assistant Vulnavia (Valli Kemp), Phibes steals the map back and beats Biederbeck’s archaeological team to Egypt, holing them and his clockwork band inside the temple while Biederbeck tries to get in. Seeing him as an obstacle to being reunited with his wife for eternity, Phibes sets up more death traps, but Biederbeck is hell-bent on finding the river, so it becomes a challenge of who’s willing to sacrifice more.

Price is endearing for pretty much the same reasons he is in the first movie: the enjoyably slimy voice, practically Shakespearean dialogue, and genuine commitment for his purpose. Again, all his lines are spoken through that phonograph machine, yet even if he didn’t say a word, we can tell through his body language exactly what he’s thinking. He’s dedicated and twisted, but also kind of flamboyant and theatrical. Meanwhile, Robert Quarry plays Biederbeck, who’s a solid foil for Phibes; he’s also extremely resolute in what he wants to do, almost comically callous when his team members are dying for the sake of his cause. Their dynamic reminds me a little of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” with Indiana Jones and Dr. Belloq; both men are scoundrels who have the same goal, except it’s a little more cutthroat. There actually was a bit of an on-set rivalry between Price and Quarry, with American International Pictures grooming the latter to replace the former as their next horror star, but it never really happened.

While I like the direction of Biederbeck’s story, I wish there was even more of a focus on him and Diana; she’s constantly trying to keep him grounded, but he’s so obsessed with this mission, and I really feel the film could’ve explored that relationship further. It would’ve been much more interesting than the police storyline; Inspector Trout (Peter Jeffrey) and Superintendent Waverley (John Cater) return from the first film following the body count, and it’s just dull. I don’t see any reason to include these characters again, other than it gives us a great scene with character actor Terry-Thomas as a shipping agent who’s just ever so perturbed at being called out to answer questions on a Saturday. By the way, Peter Cushing has a scene as the ship’s captain; I bring this up so briefly because that’s about as much time as the movie devotes to him. Not that this is a Hammer film, but I just find it so strange that they give one of the biggest horror stars of the time no more than a cameo; however, if you remember, he was originally cast opposite Price in the first movie, but withdrew due to his wife’s poor health.

Naturally, the appeal of the film is to watch the elaborate traps, and there are some malicious yet campy ideas, like the use of robotic snakes and a rigged phone, being impaled by a chair and besieged by scorpions, and basically have your skin blown off by a sand-blaster. Okay, the last one’s a little too bizarre, but either way, you get what you expect with the murder scenes. However, I find myself missing the stakes and intrigue of the first movie, using the Plagues as inspiration; they’re in Egypt, after all, but the story is just too scattered and unfocused. That may be because the script was reportedly a mishmash of two different drafts without any collaboration, and there were a lot of scripted sequences—the climax, for instance—that were cut down for budget. So we’re left with an ending that may be appropriate on a character level, but the momentum just feels flat and standard.

But like I said, there’s a lot to look at with the surreal cinematography, beautiful landscapes, and colorful sets; however, the story just doesn’t grab me as much as the first movie. I guess in the end, “Dr. Phibes Rises Again!” is still worth seeing as a progression of the titular character; he’s just such a classy, unpredictable bastard that also has kind of a sick sense of humor and clearly can hold a grudge. I just wish the movie focused on some aspects more than others. There were plans for a third movie that were kicked around for a long time, with ideas of Phibes fighting Nazis, being revenged by old characters from the first movie, or Victoria rising as an even more deranged threat, but they all fell through, and now these are just known as a pair of campy horror flicks from the early 1970s that happen to have biblical undertones. I think they deserve more credit than that, so give them a watch; this one certainly has its highlights, just less consistently.

My rating: 7/10