Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972)
Directed by Robert Fuest

Film Review

Never slow to milk to death any cash cow that came their way, American International Pictures didn't even pause to catch breath before rushing out a sequel to The Abominable Dr Phibes when it proved to be a hit at the box office.  Dr. Phibes Rises Again offered another bulimic helping of bloodcurdling horror and black humour, as frantically camp and zany as the original but looking far less polished.  The ingenuity and thought that went into the first Phibes film are singularly lacking in its sequel, which is essentially a lazy retread of what has gone before.  Production office interference scuppered any hopes the writers may have entertained of making this a logical follow on to Phibes' first adventure, and so the central villain ends up being just your average homicidal maniac in a mask, with a back story for every occasion.

That isn't to say the film isn't fun.  With Vincent Price staking his claim to be the greatest camp horror icon of them all, aided and abetted by a glittering ensemble of British acting talent (including Peter Cushing, the man who was originally offered the part of Phibes), Dr. Phibes Rises Again can hardly fail to entertain.  Price and co-star Robert Quarry's mutual antagonism is far from simulated (the actors hated each other) and this brings an edge to both their performances.  You can just imagine what fiendish death Price had in mind for Quarry, something far more colourful than the deaths by impaling, drowning, scorpions, bird of prey, compaction and sandblasting that Phibes casually dishes out in this film.  Compared with the slick The Abominable Dr Phibes, this too hastily cobbled together sequel is a pretty senseless, pretty aimless romp, but with Vincent Price on board, elevating camp villainy to a fine art, it is no less entertaining.

Film Synopsis

England, 1928.  Three years after his campaign to slaughter those responsible for his wife Victoria's death, Dr Anton Phibes awakes from suspended animation, to find that his London mansion has been destroyed.  Worse, fragments of an ancient Egyptian parchment have been taken from his safe.  Phibes had been planning on using these to locate the pharaohs' River of Life, by which he would revive his dead wife and confer on her and himself immortality.  Accompanied by his faithful assistant Vulnavia, Phibes traces the missing parchment to Biederbeck, a centuries' old adventurer who is also looking for eternal life.  Biederbeck follows Phibes to Egypt, with a pair of inept English detectives, Trout and Waverley, hot on their heels.  Once settled in his new subterranean lair, Phibes amuses himself by killing the members of Biederbeck's expedition in the most gruesome manner possible...