The Abomidible Dr. Phibes April 21st, 2010
Originally Written 04/13/03
I’ve been trying to catch up on Vincent Price’s old movies as they come out on DVD and The Abomidible Dr. Phibes sounded fun. The plot of a madman exacting revenge on the nine doctors he blamed for the death of his wife, all with deaths planned after the curses of the Egyptians from Exodus in the Bible, had great promise. Unfortunately the pacing of the film was very tedious and distracted from its enjoyment.
The film was very showy and gimmicky and had a bit of flair to it which was amusing though, so it wasn’t all bad. I also got a chuckle from the death of rats, where a guy was freaking out from having what were obviously just tame pet rats crawling over him, and how they tried to edit it to make it seem like they were attacking him.
Unfortunately, the character who Price played had been injurred in an accident, and could only talk through a mechanical device. He spent most of the film mute, so his usual pressence was dilluted. I’ve heard Theater of Blood is a movie that uses a similar idea of thematic murders, so I may check that out sometime.
Update 04/20/10
I’ve watched Theater of Blood and it was a better movie. It was pretty goofy like Phibes, but it had more of a devilish sense of glee in dispatching the reviewers who spurned a mad Shakespearean hack actor. Vincent Price had more of a presence in that film as well.