Rish Outfield's reviews
Just a short review for this one. The great Vincent Price plays the brilliant and insane Doctor Anton Phibes. Obsessed with avenging his lost love, he murders those he blames for her death in truly creative ways. As the film progresses, we follow the Scotland Yard investigators who unravel the clues left at these bizarre crime scenes.
Phibes dispatches his victims according to the following plagues or in the following manners: Bats, Bees (boils), Frogs (sort of), Blood (rather illogical and hard to swallow, but ah well), Hail, Rats (?), Unicorn impaled in guy's chest, Locusts, Firstborn Son, Darkness. A lot of these killings were absurdly contrived, but I doubt anybody really cares. It's all just so sly that we just accept it and have fun watching. Vincent Price is extremely sympathetic, as usual, and seems to be enjoying himself. The face he wears is a disguise to cover his true condition, which is RAD when finally revealed. He had a very attractive mute assistant girl, who serves no real purpose other than prettiness, but things like that are what give this film charm.
AIP (American International Pictures, the late drive-in studio) is just a cool studio. Like a lot of their releases, this one was fun, a bit campy, but intentionally so. The film is filled with clever British humour and dialogue, plus lots of really black comedy. I get the picture we're supposed to like the inspectors, but want Phibes to continue killing, just to see how he'll do it.
I'd Recommend It To: I'm not sure. The word "cute" comes to mind to sum it up, but is it possible for a film in this genre to be cute? If so, I'd recommend it to Vincent Price fans, and to those who like cute horror movies.