Dr Phibes Rises Again *** (1972, Vincent Price, Robert Quarry, Peter Cushing, Beryl Reid, Terry-Thomas, Hugh Griffith) – Classic Movie Review 6,003

Co-writer/ director Robert Fuest’s 1972 kitsch, theatrical and extravagant horror movie Dr Phibes Rises Again is the welcome sequel to The Abominable Dr Phibes (1971), bringing the great Vincent Price back on the campy rampage as the crazed and vengeful Dr Anton Phibes. This time he seeks the Scrolls of Life, coming up against Egyptologist Darius Biederbeck (Robert Quarry), in his bid to resurrect his dead wife.

As preposterous and stylish as they come, this is good comedy horror fun, if maybe not quite as good as the original. Brian Eatwell’s brilliant Art Deco art direction is as much the movie’s star as Price, though admittedly to choose between them for OTT kitsch value would be a close thing.

Terry-Thomas plays Lombardo.

It also stars Peter Cushing, Beryl Reid, Terry-Thomas as Lombardo, Hugh Griffith, Peter Jeffrey, Valli Kemp as Vulnavia, Fiona Lewis, John Thaw, Caroline Munro, Lewis Fiander, Keith Buckley, Gerald Sim and John Cater.

It is produced for American International Pictures (AIP) by Louis M Heyward and Richard Dalton.

Director Robert Fuest, Art Deco sets production designer Brian Eatwell and composer John Gale all return from The Abominable Dr Phibes, while Price, Peter Jeffrey, and John Cater all reprise their roles.

Hugh Griffith and Terry-Thomas appear in both films but played in characters. Poor Caroline Munro appears in both movies as Phibes’s late wife Victoria but in both lies silently in a glass coffin.

AIP insisted that Vulnavia was retained as Phibes’s assistant though she dies in The Abominable Dr Phibes, and Valli Kemp had to replace a pregnant Virginia North.

The desert scenes were shot in Ibiza, Spain.

It was rumoured that Price and Quarry did not get on well. Quarry later said that AIP had become disenchanted with Price, whose salary was rising while his films disappointed at the box office. AIP’s long-term plans to replace Price with Quarry when Price’s contract ran out were revealed to Price at a publicity event in England when a publicist asked him how he felt about being replaced by Quarry.

Producer Louis M Heyward, who brought Robert Blees in to co-write the film, recalled that the two men had frequent disagreements about the script, forcing him to mediate: ‘They were two men with great senses of integrity, but one protecting director’s viewpoint and the other protecting writer’s viewpoint.’

Dr Phibes Rises Again is directed by Robert Fuest, runs 88 minutes, is made by American International Pictures, is distributed by Anglo-EMI Film Distributors /MGM-EMI (UK), is written by Robert Fuest and Robert Blees, is shot by Alex Thomson produced for American International Pictures by Louis M Heyward and Richard Dalton, and scored by John Gale.

Release date: July 1972.

The US release was slightly edited for a a PG rating, cutting a few seconds from murder scenes.

AIP abandoned the idea of a third film in the series, The Bride of Phibes, in the summer of 1972. AIP solicited scripts but producer Louis M Heyward said they never found a suitable one.

The cast are Vincent Price as Dr Anton Phibes, Robert Quarry as Darius Biederbeck, Valli Kemp as Vulnavia, Peter Jeffrey as Inspecter Trout, Fiona Lewis as Diana Trowbridge, Hugh Griffith as Harry Ambrose, Peter Cushing as Captain, Beryl Reid as Miss Ambrose, Terry-Thomas as Lombardo, John Cater as Superintendent Waverley, Gerald Sim as Hackett, Lewis Fiander as Baker, John Thaw as Shavers, Keith Buckley as Stewart, Milton Reid as Cheng, John Comer as Ship’s Officer, and Caroline Munro as Victoria Regina Phibes.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 6,003

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