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Post by dem bones on Jun 16, 2008 23:02:26 GMT
Unfortunately for you, Caroline's enthusiastic post on the Fantastic Films Weekend reminded me I had a rotten 'review' of his abominableness's finest moment hanging around doing nothing .... The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) In late 1970, while the Graveyard Superintendent and his colleagues were busy repairing the damage wrought by over-zealous "vampire" hunters, yet another film crew invaded the grounds of a certain London cemetery. No matter that it was such a hotbed for Necromantic rites, Devil-worship and amusing, Dracula: Prince of Darkness-inspired tomfoolery. Not a soul stepped forward to dissuade them from their dangerous venture! What were the insurance company thinking of? Fortunately for Vincent Price, Caroline Munro, Terry Thomas and friends, "The Vampire'', having survived his recent "exorcism", had, we're told, hauled his black casket off to Crouch End where he might plan his revenge in peace. Revenge was uppermost in the mind of Mr. Price's ghastly character, too. One Long Spoiler 1920's London, and our hero, Dr. Anton Phibes, is having a tough time of it. Despite the best efforts of the medical team who attended her, Victoria, his beloved wife, is dead. His mood doesn't improve any when, in a mercy dash to her bedside, he's incinerated in a car crash. Phibes is not one to let a little thing like death get in the way of his vengeance, however. Hadn't he vowed that "Nine killed her...nine shall die!"? Pretty soon it's evident that, flame grilled or not, he isn't a man prone to making idle threats. Hardly is he cold in his grave (or is he?) than the surgeons duly begin dropping like flies in increasingly bizarre and gruesome circumstances. The City has a criminal mastermind on its hands, one who utilizes bees, blood lusting fruit bats, rats, an airborne brass unicorn head, Brussel sprout-crazed locusts and a skull-crushing frog mask to annihilate his perceived enemies. Poor Terry Thomas' character endures a genuinely disturbing end, having every last drop of blood drained from him before his disbelieving eyes. The police are stumped but potential corpse Dr. Vesalius, the surgeon who operated on the late Mrs. Phibes, is inclined to believe that Dr. Phibes has something to do with it, but how can that be? The police are sent to locate Phibes and do so - he's in Highgate Cemetery, or at least, he ought to be. An exhuming reveals the bodies of both he and his wife's have scarpered! Dr. Vesalius visits an expert in Old Testament studies, Rabbi Gabirol, to see if he can shed any light on the mystery and within seconds that worthy has it all figured out: Phibes - what's left of him; face-wise it certainly doesn't amount to much at all - has visited his unique take on the ten plagues of Egypt upon his enemies! Phibes is assisted in all this mayhem by the besotted Vulnavia who lures many an unsuspecting victim to their doom. We're not so sure that Mrs. P. would have approved of the tender moments they share, but needs must when you're a homicidal maniac bent on dispensing "justice". Besides, come the end of the film, Vulnavia is sporting a look not too dissimilar to the object of her desire's, having fallen foul of the trap set for Vesalius .... A total classic of the macabre!
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Post by carolinec on Jun 16, 2008 23:11:47 GMT
... and have you got one on Dr Phibes Rises Again? ;D
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Post by dem bones on Jun 17, 2008 9:54:34 GMT
No - you had a lucky escape there, Caz. Last time I saw Dr. Phibes Rises Again I was well mangled and couldn't take much in. "Caroline Munro was nice in it!" doesn't really constitute a review (especially if I only imagined she was in it) although, admittedly, it's certainly an improvement on the ... Abominable abomination posted above.
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Post by Johnlprobert on Jun 17, 2008 10:16:49 GMT
One of my all-time favourites this. In another life I would have loved to have written & starred in a remake of it.
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Post by Calenture on Jul 22, 2008 20:41:25 GMT
Dr Anton Phibes is believed burned to death in a car accident, while his beloved wife Victoria survives only 6 hours on Dr Vesalius' operating table. But did Phibes really die in the crash? Was it his charred body recovered from the wreckage? Proving that you really can't keep a bad person down, Phibes not only corners the market in pretty psychotically murderous assistants but also wreaks dreadful revenge, by bee sting, bat bite, locusts, rats and snow. Heaven help the psychiatrist who jokes "I'm a head shrinker!" when Phibes is within earshot. And Dr Longstreet's exhaustive exsanguination is possibly one of the nastiest deaths on film as he's drained dry to the sweet sound of Vulnavia's white violin. Only the first few deaths are shown here as the flash page became too difficult to manage as it grew larger; so this show will have to be posted in two parts. Virginia North as Vulnavia Click on any of the images for slide show at the Doll's House, if I can remember how to do this.
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Post by Calenture on Jul 23, 2008 20:58:44 GMT
The Curse of Darkness This is an illustration of The Curse of Darkness, the last of the ancient Hebrew curses that Phibes is calling down on his enemies. But I'm getting a little ahead of myself here... Victoria Regina Phibes The lady above, in case anyone should forget is she whose death motivates Phibes' reign of terror and revenge. Phibes mourns his dead bride It's going to take still a third post to complete the slide-show. Might have been simpler to have just uploaded the film. Never mind, this is one film that's worth the time. Click any of the three pictures here for the second part of the show.
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Post by Calenture on Jul 26, 2008 22:32:26 GMT
For this last much-awaited final episode in an exercise of turning a silk purse of Brit Horror into a sow's ear...yes, it's the final part of The Abominable Dr Phibes! The slideshow (not that you care) now being hosted at Freewebs! Just click that adorable face above. P.S. Just made quick change to the link!
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Post by franklinmarsh on Jul 28, 2008 7:36:12 GMT
Excellent stuff, Rog. It's been too long since I watched this. Despite David Pirie jeering it in A Heritage Of Horror it's always been a firm favourite with me. Will you be doing Rises Again?
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Post by sean on Jul 28, 2008 11:30:21 GMT
Cool slideshows, and the freewebs thing looks nice!
I've just checked on youtube, and 'Phibes' is up there, and I think its about time I watched it again.
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Post by Johnlprobert on Jul 28, 2008 11:53:32 GMT
I think Mr Pirie's trashing of this wondrously witty piece of horror art-deco has long been recognised as one of the few serious mistakes in what is otherwise a seminal work in the field.
Although apparently his updating of it - 'A New Heritage of Horror' really isn't very good at all.
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Post by carolinec on Jul 28, 2008 12:05:37 GMT
This is a great film. I was lucky enough recently, of course, to see it (and "Rises Again") in all it's big screen glory at the Fantastic Films Weekend.
Funnily enough, I didn't really think much of either film until I saw its director, Robert Feust, interviewed at FFW a few years ago. Although I loved the art deco "feel" of the film (especially the clockwork band), and there are some marvellous moments in it (the frog head death scene being a particular favourite!), I didn't fully appreciated it as I hadn't realised it was intended to be quite tongue-in-cheek! Listening to the superbly witty Feust made me see it again in a new light. It's well worth watching again for anyone who hasn't seen it recently! ;D
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Post by Calenture on Jul 28, 2008 14:13:25 GMT
Despite David Pirie jeering it in A Heritage Of Horror it's always been a firm favourite with me. Will you be doing Rises Again? Seems that everyone but me's read David Pirie's Heritage of Horror. I always think of these films as neglected, though Wikipedia describes them as perennial favourites! It just seems to get forgotten while the better-known horrors crawl over our screens at Christmas. It certainly wasn't seen as often as the same director's And Soon the Darkness, with Pamela Franklin and Michele Dotrice cycling around France while a rapist-serial killer lurks in the hedges. Image nabbed from: all movie. I've certainly seen director Fuest's name appear often while I've been putting Avengers episodes onto disk recently - and not just New Avengers which is all Wikipedia seems to credit him with. I could do a slideshow of Rises Again, but there are a couple of others I've been grabbing screens for recently - Onibaba (mentioned on a thread here recently) and Fiend Without a Face (god what an awful film! :
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Post by franklinmarsh on Jul 28, 2008 14:39:20 GMT
Never seen And Soon The Darkness. I have seen Fuest's remarkable failure of an attempt to film Michael Moorcock's The Final Programme. Phibesian in its wonderful production design but unfortunately didn't capture the uniqueness of the novel. Moorcock reputedly wasn't pleased. (And it could have done with a Hawkwind soundtrack)
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Post by carolinec on Jul 28, 2008 15:38:40 GMT
I've certainly seen director Fuest's name appear often while I've been putting Avengers episodes onto disk recently - and not just New Avengers which is all Wikipedia seems to credit him with. Try IMDB - they credit him with 7 episodes of "The Avengers": www.imdb.com/name/nm0297523/"And Soon The Darkness" is OK but not brilliant, in my opinion. It's remarkably claustophobic, though, considering it all takes place in bright summer sunlight! So it's well done, but not really my kind of film. I've never seen "The Final Programme". Although they showed that (and "And Soon The Darkness") at the aforementioned FFW a few years ago, I didn't like the sound of it and went for something else instead.
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