Dr. Phibes Rises Again

Dr. Phibes returns from death in this sequel. This time he is not seeking revenge, but the restoration of his beloved wife to life. Upon waking, he discovers his house demolished and an ancient scroll that can lead to his wife’s resurrection stolen. It is in the possession of a new adversary, Biderbeck, who has his own secrets and need for the scroll. Phibes pursues Biderbeck to the desert for the secret of life and will kill anyone that tries to stop him.

After the success of The Abominable Dr. Phibes, American International Pictures started working on this sequel. Dr. Phibes Rises Again continues the overly theatrical mannerisms of Phibes and his unique way of eliminating the ones he sees as his enemies. While the kills are not themed as in the first film, they are still creative and fun in a morbid way. You get to see everything from scorpions to crushing vises and more. The little gore effects that are in the movie are done well enough that they still look decent today. As I said in my other review, you could see this franchise as a campy influence on the SAW films.

Vincent Price’s (Dragonwyck, House of Wax) performance is as entertaining as ever and I am so happy that this character with Price as the actor got more than one film. I am also sad because there was an intention to make a trilogy that never panned out. Peter Jeffrey (The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, What Became of Jack and Jill?) returns as Detective Trout, once again on the trail of Phibes (although he does not realize it at first). He also brings the same caliber of comedy performance that he gave in the first movie.

Finally, Robert Quarry (Count Yorga, Vampire, Madhouse) plays Biderbeck, Phibes’ nemesis. His ability to ooze arrogance is perfect for the character and you find yourself cheering for Phibes to beat Biderbeck up until almost the very end of the movie. Interestingly, it has been said that behind the scenes there was animosity between Vincent Price and Robert Quarry. Unfortunately, this conflict did not have time to reflect in their onscreen performances as they only share the screen for a few minutes towards the end of Dr. Phibes Rises Again.

The story is interesting, but the fact that no one (besides the audience) even knows that Phibes is around until more than halfway through the movie makes it feel a bit disjointed. While that worked in the first movie, it doesn’t work well here. I think that the film would have been more exciting if Biderbeck knew who Phibes was before his accident and knew what he was capable of after right at the start. He would spend the movie trying to guard against Phibes and still beat him to the secret of life. We would have two driven men trying to outlast each other to the end with Phibes always being the more ruthless.

I have read that besides the conflicts between the leads, Dr. Phibes Rises Again was altered by the studio before release. It was established that Phibes was only able to talk when he was hooked up to a phonograph. However, in this film, there is a lot of dialogue from Phibes when he is not hooked up to anything. It could be passed off as internal monologuing (which is my headcanon when watching the movie). These additional dialogue pieces were added by the studio to help clear up plot holes that were left after the studio cut out sections of the film (possibly up to 10 minutes). This could be one of the reasons for the disjointed feeling of the film. Even with these alterations, however, the film is still enjoyable.

I watched this movie on the same double feature DVD as the original movie and the quality is the same for both. A good picture and sound (even though it is mono). I had seen Dr. Phibes Rises Again when I was younger on VHS and it had an alteration on the ending. On the DVD version, Vincent Price (as Phibes) sings a small snippet of Somewhere Over the Rainbow right before the credits. This was removed when the VHS was released (apparently for copyright reasons) and has been restored on the DVD. I prefer the VHS version with just the music. The singing is just distracting and unnecessary. On the DVD you will get the original theatrical trailer and the film. Not much in the way of special features.

While I don’t think Dr. Phibes Rises Again is as good as The Abominable Dr. Phibes, it is still a fun, campy, and entertaining horror film. I would have loved for more to have been made, but I am happy that we get more of Dr. Phibes than a single film. In this day and age of reboots and remakes, this is a film that I think could lend itself to that treatment. However, you would need the right actor to follow in Price’s footsteps. For an enjoyable campy horror film, this franchise is one of the best. So pop it in your player, secure your precious scrolls, relax on your couch, and save me some popcorn!

Check out our other reviews of the Phibes franchise!

The Abominable Dr. Phibes

Rating:

Jack Savage:

While not quite as good as the original, Dr. Phibes Rises Again gets pretty close.

Trailer:

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