Dr. Phibes Rises Again

• Directed by Robert Fuest
• July 5, 1972

Phibes returns to seek eternal life for he and his wife in Egypt while he pursues a centuries-old man who has taken the ancient Scrolls of Life that Phibes needs for his plan.

They don’t make horror icons like they once did. Are there really any horror icons around anymore? Vincent Price was not only a horror icon but also a very talented actor. He could make the stinkiest crap into gold. I can think of a few less than good movies I have seen him in that he made better just by being there. In Dr. Phibes Rises Again Price’s Phibes is just as maniacal and evil as he was before when he killed his way to get revenge for his wife Victoria. This time it’s not vengeance for the death of his wife but a chance at resurrecting her that drives the story.

The plot of this outing centers around something called the River of Life and it’s every 2000-year flooding which coincidentally is in a couple of days of Dr. Phibes’s returning from the presumed grave. You see at the end of the last film he did not commit suicide to be with his wife. Rather he put himself in a state of suspended animation in order to return again. This also is used to explain through a little bit of dialogue that his wife was not necessarily dead but near death in a similar state as he was for three years.

This bothers me a bit. It was clear in the last film that Victoria Regina Phibes was indeed dead though it did not explain how good her corpse looked. Phibes said enough and the members of the medical team acted as if she were indeed dead.

The entrance to the magical river is in Egypt and sealed within a tomb. Robert Quarry plays the mysterious Biederbeck who is also seeking the river for his own purposes. As the story unfolds we come to learn Biederbeck has run out of an immortality formula and is seeking the river to extend his own life. The issue is that bit is not really obvious and feels tossed in as an afterthought. Was his formula made from the river or of something else? They do not really say.

Aside from Price, Peter Jeffrey returns as Inspector Trout (though no fish jokes based on his name are uttered) and John Cater returns as Superintendent Waverly and for all intents and purposes becomes Trout’s partner in the story. Schenley, Trout’s partner in the last film, is absent and unmentioned as a character. Hugh Griffith and Terry-Thomas return as well though in different parts. Valli Kemp takes on the part of Vulnavia and the legendary Peter Cushing has a bit part as a ship’s captain.

The Ten Plagues are no longer the murder theme. Aside for a man in a bottle, the kills take on a bit of an Egyptian aesthetic this time around. They are still very macabre and very imaginative.

Visually Dr. Phibes Rises Again is a product of its time. There is a glam rock look to it all and the colors tend to be bright. Phibes’s garish wardrobe contrasts with the period dress of his victims. Like in the last one he looks like an ancient priest, and one could almost believe his dress was inspired by some ancient Egyptian image.

This is still very much a horror comedy though it vacillates between horror and comedy. The jokes are a little more humorous but the way the story is structured there is a joke then there’s something terrifying and there’s a joke and so forth.

The film is capped off with a climax in the tomb and Phibes floating down the mystical river singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” You can nitpick and say the movie is set in 1928 and the song did not come out until 1938, but it just perfectly expresses and drives home the oddity of the whole story.

Dr. Phibes Rises Again is a great follow up to the original film. It’s just as weird and utterly disturbing and funny as the last one. If you enjoyed the original this is certainly for you!