Dr. Phibes Rises Again!

Dir: Robert Fuest

1972

***

Robert Fuest's 1971 horror opus The Abominable Dr. Phibes is a cult classic, his follow up released the following year doesn't have quite the same impact or notoriety. Dr. Phibes pretty much did what he set out to achieve in the first film, his story was essentially over. This new adventure, that sees Dr. Phibes return to seek eternal life from the fountain of youth, which just so happens to be located in Egypt, in keeping with his interests and murder theme of choice. Now the first film made no sense and it really didn't matter, it was in keeping with the hokey humour, the camp horror and the altogether quirky quirkiness but, for some reason, the story kind of did matter here and the fact it made no sense was somewhat bothersome. In the first film Dr. Phibes killed the doctors he blamed for the death of his wife. Now we are told that these were the best doctors practicing in the world at the time, so when we learn that his wife is essentially in a state of status, you can help but wonder why he didn't force them to try and resurrect her, seeing as that is the mission in the sequel. What is even more confusing is that a few of the said murdered doctors come back in the second film, or at least the actors that portrayed them do. I find it hard to criticize any film that features the work of the great Terry-Thomas and Hugh Griffith but they both clearly died in the first film, quite horribly too. Both actors’ performances in the first were considered highlights but to include them again in the follow up is a bit lazy and doesn't have half the impact. The producers brought in new writers who didn't get on well with director and co-writer Fuest and this is obvious throughout the film's script. It's messy, not as well polished and just plain awful in places. Not one element of the sequel is as good as the first film, although I quite liked the conclusion. Too much was going on and too much was in preparation for a third film, when really they should have concentrated on making a decent follow up with a strong story. Vincent Price is on top form once more but his script isn't as strong, the set isn't as lavish and the horror, comedy and overall stylishness of the first is missing. It's almost too self-aware and the humour is too self-knowing. In this respect it feels like it is constantly self-congratulating itself, as if it has already become a great series of films, even though they had only made one film thus far. It all got ahead of itself too quickly and was made in a rush. There are moments of pure brilliance though, and these moments make it just about worth watching (as do Price, T-T, Griffith and the returning Peter Jeffery and Ronert Quarry as the alchemist Dr. Biederbeck) but it's not particularly easy watching.