Double feature: A Vincent Price classic (The Abominable Dr. Phibes, 1971) and its decent followup (Dr. Phibes Rises Again, 1972)

I stumbled across this double-feature Blu-ray from Kino Lorber recently while doing a little window shopping. I had never seen a Vincent Price movie beyond his short appearance in Edward Scissorhands shortly before his death.

But this looked interesting, and it was at a great price point for an impulse blind buy. So I let my curiosity take control.

These two titles from the British arm of B-movie factory American International Pictures were released in 1971 and 1972. Both were hits in America with the drive-in and midnight-movie crowds.

The first one in particular -- The Abominable Dr. Phibes -- was highly regarded in its day and has become known as a horror-comedy classic.

Both were directed by an Englishman named Robert Fuest, chiefly known in the industry as a production designer and screenwriter. His highest-profile work were the two Dr. Phibes movies and the British TV series The Avengers.

OK. That's enough background. I'm off to watch The Abominable Dr. Phibes and Dr. Phibes Rises Again.

I'll be back in a jiffy to give you a quick review of this double feature.

Hi. I'm back.

Well, that was fun. And I have to tell you, it was quite weird, much further off the beaten path than I had expected.

Here I was looking for something around the intersection of 1950s American sci-fi and 1960s Hammer Films horror.

Instead, I found Dr. Phibes way on the other side of town, near the southwest corner of classic Italian giallo and the 21st-century Saw franchise.

Dr. Phibes is a musician horribly disfigured in a traffic accident whose wife died in surgery. In The Abominable Dr. Phibes, he blames the surgical team for Mrs. Phibes' death and devises elaborate plots to kill them all one-by-one.

A couple of Scotland Yard inspectors are smart enough to detect that Phibes' murder spree is inspired by the Ten Plagues of Egypt. But Phibes is able to always stay a step or two ahead of the bumbling police as he stages his twisted killing scenes.

One of the doctors is mauled by bats, another is drained of his blood, another is impaled by a sculpted unicorn head ... most all of the kills are really bizarre. If you've seen any of the Saw movies, you'd have a pretty good idea what's going on here. I can't help but believe Dr. Phibes is where Jigsaw might have drawn his inspiration.

These two movies look great. Feust's Art Deco set designs and his use of light and shadows are stunning. 

Price is deliciously campy as Dr. Phibes without really doing a lot in front of the camera. The title character covers his facial disfigurement by donning a mask that looks exactly like Vincent Price. Price's facial expression rarely changes. He plays it all out as if he were wearing a mask. Also, Phibes talks through an electronic device implanted directly into his vocal chords, and Price doesn't move his mouth to speak. He delivers all his lines via prerecorded, slightly distorted voiceover. 

The Abominable Dr. Phibes is a delectable taste of the bizarre. It's mostly a fun ride, especially when we're following the main character's arc. The movie does tend to drag during stretches of exposition and comedic bumbling from the Scotland Yard characters. Some of it is essential, no question. But too much of that stuff took me out of the movie and made me anxious to get back to home base.

I give this movie 3 stars. Most of it was fascinating and entertaining. But too much of it was filler, and the ending was jarringly abrupt and unsatisfying.

The second film, The Rise of Dr. Phibes, has Phibes racing to find a regenetive river in Egypt to revive his dead wife. He battles a wealthy archaeologist who holds a map and a key to the gated source. The Scotland Yard inspectors also run this race, always a couple of steps behind. The sequel focuses more on the comedy and less on the horror aspects. Phibes does pull off a couple or three fantastic kills here, eliminating the archaeologist's team. I had some fun with this one, though it felt a little sloppy. I put it at the high end of 2.5 stars.

I'll happily revisit both of these movies at some point. There's more than enough here to love, even if these films are a bit rough around the edges.

Feust's weird, intricate world-building and Phibes' fantastically imaginative kills are well worth the 90 minutes to spend with each of these two movies.