TITLE:   The Abominable Dr. Phibes

RELEASE DATE:
1971

RATED:
PG-13

REVIEWED BY
: The Darksider 3/22/05
THE PLOT: It is amazing the creativity some madmen can have.  In this case if murder was art, Dr. Phibes should be in every museum.The gifted and sorely missed Vincent Price plays the doctor.

Several doctor's have been picked off in a series of odd murders.  Detective Trout (not sure if he was the rainbow or brook version...nevermind...) from Scottland Yard takes up the murder trail.  After visiting a murder scene he finds a clue.  Phibes always wears a pendant with a Hebrew symbol representing one of biblical plagues. Trout finds out that Phibes is following the plague pattern in his own unique way using bats, rats, etc.  Shortly thereafter he finds out from a doctor, Vesalius, that Phibe's wife died on the operating table in one of the proceedures he was doing.  Of corse the doctors that had been bumped off were assisting him.  Problem for Trout is that all records point to Phibes dying in a car accident.  Well, turns out Phibes was horribly disfigured but was still very much alive. 

After all the doctors and assistants are picked off, Vesalius's son is captured by Phibes as part of the plague pattern.  Vesalius rescues his son, and Trout arrives to assist but Phibes embalms himself alive next to his dead wife.  He then closes their tomb disappearing til the sequel.

Vincent Price is downright creepy as the sadistic doctor.  You can tell he really loved his wife and really hates those "involved" with her death.  The deaths are filled with dark humor and nothing is ever to gross to laugh at.  What the hell will he do next is what one keeps wondering while watching and that in it's purist form is brilliant.
ITS THE INNARDS THAT COUNT: (most gruesome moments)
Bat-ter Up - Dr. Phibes takes care of one of his victims by introducing him to some furry friends.  I wasn't aware that bats fly with the help of fishing line.  They don't teach you that s**t in National Geographic.

Killer Kermit - Phibes knocks off another person with a frog mask.  The mask tightens and squishes the victim's head.  Its kind of a sweet revenge for frogs blown up by M-80s everywhere.

Blood Cola- The ever creative doctor kills off another person by slowly draining 8 pints of blood from him.  He does this with the help of his female assistant who ties the victim to a chair.  Phibes pokes him with a pin attached to a tube and drains his blood slowly into 8 seperate bottles.  By the way, the vitcim was watching porn before all of this.  I couldn't help but notice that it must have been hard for him to crank one out while he was cranking the projector.

Rat-Air - Our friend Phibes sets up a doctor by placing rats in his plane.  I'm sure if the pilot was from India he would have thought nothing of it.

Unicorns Do Exist - Phibes shoots a unicorn head and impales one of the last victims.  The scene that follows where Trout and his assistant try to get him un-impaled is one for the ages.

Frosty Freeze - The doctor freezes one of his victims with a high powered icy machine.

Locust Feast - Doctor Phibes has a nurse eaten out...by some locusts of corse.

YOU'RE A GRAND OLD A-HOLE:
Dr. Phibes - Seeing the murders speak for themselves, its conspiracy theory time.  Say if Dr. Phibes was a real person and not just an actor.  (I'm sure there are plenty of people out of there that talk out of phonographs by the way...)  It is possible that he could easily strike at any time.  He has a talent in music, prosthetic noses and ears, and a creepy appearance.  All I have to say is...DAMN YOU PHIBES...where is the real Michael Jackson from the 80s and why have you chose to replace him??  Take a look at the comparison yourself and tell me it isn't canny. Oddly enough if you think back to the Thriller album, Vincent Price did have a speaking part in it.  Shortly thereafter Michael did go under a change in appearance.  All of this pure coincidence...I think not...
OVERALL SCORE
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