The Abominable Dr. Phibes
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The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) is a horror film starring Vincent Price. It was followed by a sequel, Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972)
This movie was released on DVD for the first time, on February 20, 2001 in North America.
Current Tagline: Revenge Is The Best Medicine.
Original Tagline: (In a pun on the tagline for the movie Love Story) Love Means Never Having to Say You're Ugly.
Plot
Anton Phibes, famous organist and a doctor of Music and Theology, thought to have been killed in a car crash, was in fact only horribly disfigured. Phibes is convinced that his lovely wife, Victoria, who died during a surgical operation, was a victim of incapable doctors. Several years after the operation, Phibes begins to put his vendetta into effect, killing the doctors that operated on his wife. Inspector Trout from Scotland Yard suspects Phibes, but it is difficult to prove when he is believed dead, not helped by the incompetence of the force. Trout eventually discovers that Phibes has been taking his inspiration from the Bible, specifically the the ten plagues of Egypt, which is part of the psychic force that drives him. Helped by his mute assistant Vulnavia, Phibes kills seven doctors and the head nurse, one by one and more brutally each time, using the first eight plagues as themes. Phibes reserves the worst punishment for the head of the team of doctors, Dr. Vesalius. He kidnaps the doctor's son and places him on a table on which a container full of acid is waiting to disfigure the boy's face. A small key implanted near the boy's heart will free him. Versalius will need all his skill to operate and free his son. As Vesalius arrives, he learns he has only six minutes to operate on his son and to save him from the acid. The operation succeeds and the acid instead strikes Vulnavia (either killing her or otherwise incapacitating her). Convinced he has completed his vendetta, Phibes lies beside the embalmed corpse of his wife and, as his blood drains out, with the police and Inspector Trout closing in, the chamber under his house in Muldean Square sinks into darkness. As the stone sarcophagus sinks, we hear Phibes singing Somewhere over the Rainbow, one of the most bizarre endings ever given to a horror film. Sadly, due to copyright difficulties, when the film is shown in the USA, it is replaced by another tune, thus totally ruining the intention of the mixture of the macabre and the wistful. Thankfully, when the film is shown in Britain, the original ending is always intact.
Trivia
- Robert Fuest rewrote most of the original screenplay. One of the few scenes to remain as scripted was one in which Trout consults a rabbi and first learns of the curses. Here are some sequences that were originally planned:
- * The victim of the plague of rats was to be attacked on a boat rather than in a plane. It was changed as most people's reaction was, "Why couldn't he just jump off the boat?"
- * Vulnavia was going to be revealed as another one of Phibes' clockwork devices (he has a clockwork band called "Dr. Phibes' Clockwork Wizards.")
- * Phibes was much more violent and unlikeable in the script, abusing Vulnavia, smashing furniture, etc. It was decided to make the character more sympathetic.
- The actor who plays Dr. Vesalius' son is dubbed.
- Peter Cushing was considered for the part of Vesalius.
- Vincent Price went through hours of make up, which often had to be reapplied as he kept laughing.
- In order for Joseph Cotten to know his cues, Phibes' dialogue was read aloud by a crew-member.
- Price commented that Cotten was uncomfortable doing these scenes, so he intentionally pulled a lot of faces to crack him up.
- The film inspired the name of an English band called Dr Phibes & the House of Wax Equations. House of Wax was another Vincent Price film, but not one in which he plays Dr. Phibes.
- The film also inspired the name of a hard rock band in south Brazil, called "Doutor Phibes". See the band official homepage (in Portuguese): [link]
- The film is cited by Alan Moore as an influence on his comic book series V for Vendetta.
- Who drummer Keith Moon was a huge fan of this film, and watched it at home on the night he died''.
External links
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