tomgillespie2002 At the end of the first film, The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971), the titular genius laid himself to rest in suspended animation after laying his vengeance upon the ones he blamed for the death of his wife, Victoria. Three years later, when the moon aligns itself with the planets in a way not seen for a thousand years, Phibes (Vincent Price) rises again, and this time he is in search of the elusive River of Life, which promises resurrection for Victoria and immortality for the two of them. Discovering that a sacred scroll containing the map to the River of Life has been stolen by the equally demented Darrus Biederbeck (Robert Quarry), Phibes, along with his beautiful assistant Vulnavia (Valli Kemp), heads to Egypt where the tomb is hidden, murdering anyone who dares stand in his way.With director Robert Fuest returning for the sequel, there's a real sense of continuity to the film, especially when a few actors - their characters slain in the first - occasionally pop up as for cameos that play out like small comic vignettes. Yet while, plot- wise, the first film was a relatively straight-forward albeit utterly bonkers tale of revenge, Rises Again is almost like a heist film, as two rival men, both mad geniuses (with one clearly madder than the other), scrap it out to uncover the most rewarding of prizes. The change of approach is certainly commendable, but it also means there's less fun to be had. Watching Price gleefully butcher a group of hapless doctors in a variety of inventive and preposterous ways in the first instalment was an absolute delight, but Phibes's battle-of-wits with his nemesis here doesn't offer quite the same amount of opportunities for inventive set-pieces.Anyone searching for a bit of tongue-in-cheek horror will certainly get a bit of relief though, as Biederback's team find themselves the poor saps to be routinely offed, this time inspired by Egyptian mythology such a scorpions and a hawk. Sadly, there just isn't quite enough of it. With the blood-letting turned down, Rises Again increases the insanity factors. Sets adorned with psychedelic decoration and Phibes's numerous outrageous costumes means the film is also beautiful to look at. Price looks he is genuinely having a ball and no matter how sadistic his character gets as he demolishes anyone who crosses his path, you'll be rooting for him all the way. At the end, it feels like the story of Dr. Phibes is not quite finished, with American International Pictures' planned sequel unfortunately never coming to fruition.

AaronCapenBanner Vincent Price returns as Dr. Anton Phibes, who is awakened from his three-year slumber by a carefully planned alignment of the stars that brings him back to life, only to be angered that his house was demolished, and the sacred scrolls of life he needs to resurrect his dead wife were stolen. With his assistant Vulnavia, Phibes tracks the thieves to Egypt, where he exacts a terrible revenge against them before retrieving the scrolls, though his arch rival(played by Robert Quarry) does battle with him for their possession.More-of-the-same sequel is made in the same grisly and violent spirit of the first, which sometimes is most uncomfortable viewing. Phibes is a true "antihero" if there ever was one, though if you liked the first, you'll no doubt like this as well.

blackmamba99971 What can I say?, Vincent Price as the abominable Doctor Phibes really packs a punch. Since the first instalment called The Abominable Doctor Phibes a cult following has been reaching new heights. Basically, a story of a man who was once a brilliant Doctor himself, had his wife under go a surgical procedure for some small problem. Instead, she died on the operating table six minutes into the surgery which caused the Doctor to exact revenge on all parties involved with the operation. Except one thing, by happenstance, he was disfigured by an unknown accident which gave his appearance an ugly result which causes him to use makeup to give himself a new face. And a talent for which he uses a speaker through his neck. Besides this new appendage, an assistant named Vulnavia who is his silent partner, helps him on each excursion for his revenge. Where she comes from, nobody knows. Now with a new journey, he goes to Egypt to find the famed and legendary river of life where the pharaoh's of the past used after death to give immortal life. In the middle is a man named Viderbeck, an archaeological scientist who is also seeking the river is now in the way of Phibes and his goal. But what others do not know, is that Viderbeck uses an elixir to give him life for his continued search. Running low, he and his team mates desperately try to find the chamber, except each team mate dies most brutally with Phibe's brand of justice. With Scotland yard back on the scene, Phibe's begins to mount the pressure by kidnapping Viderbeck's would be fiancé only to coax Viderbeck to give Phibe's a key which opens the gates to the river. This film is an ultimate classic. Of music, chaos, murder in the most heinous ways and a beautiful story of true companionship for Phibe's and his wife Victoria. Whether the legends are true or not, this film gives the audience a glimpse of magic in the forms of faith. For Phibes, it was true love all the way. To go beyond the reaches of morality to save his beloved wife is the calling of one's self worth. Excellent movie for all Vincent Price fans.

TheFinalAlias Even though it has some outstanding sequences, great music, great production values, one of Vinnie's greatest performances and one of the most memorably creepy endings in the genre's long history I have to tell the truth: I never cared much for the original Dr. Phibes movie. I don't hate it, but I just didn't find it to have the qualities it is most often praised for, and those I did find certainly were not as effective as they could have been.That said, I was expecting the often lambasted and so-called 'inferior' sequel to be a waste of time. I was dead wrong!I will concede that this film is technically inferior as a film to the original, and the script is so full of holes it is ridiculous, it also features a crass waste of actor Peter Cushing that is simply unforgivable, several 'guest stars' appeared in the previous film and several elements that kept the original film glued together are missing. But that doesn't matter, because the film is FUN FUN FUN!("Theatre of Blood" is still better, though.)All of the elements of humor and horror that the original is often praised for are actually more prominent, and much better handled in this film. Several scenes are truly frightening, and the comedy bits are hilarious without becoming just silly.The story is quite simple; Phibes is restored to life because of movement of the planets, which replaces the embalming fluid he replaced his blood with at the end of the previous film, and(now much more talkative; spouting dialog worthy of Dr. Doom through his phonograph)he summons Vulnavia again(confirming that she was a supernatural figure) and is about to take off on a quest to the river of life, only to discover his former lair ravaged by the greedy, corrupt businessman and archaeologist Darius Biederbeck(Robert Quarry)and his map stolen. Phibes doesn't need the map, and Biederbeck; who is also seeking the river, has no knowledge of his existence; but that's okay, it gives the No-good-nick Doctor a chance to pass the time doing what he does best.....in Egypt no less!! Although hardly 3-dimensional fleshed out characters, all of Biederbeck's allies are given flaws and personalities so that we either like or dislike them and thus get to either fear for them, or laugh to death at their murders. The Egyptian-themed murders range from truly unpleasant(a man gets pecked to death by vultures, another has his flesh sandblasted off)to laugh-out-loud funny(Big Milton Reid; the evil Mulatto from 'Captain Clegg' and a henchman from the James Bond movies ends up 'phoning it in' quite literally after battling robotic cobras, and a horny guy seduced by Vulnavia gets....well, you'll see...) even the lamest of them puts the ones in the original to shame(Never mind that Phibes couldn't possibly have planned or had the materials necessary to carry out a single one of them....).The film is no masterpiece, but it's very entertaining, and the film has a feel reminiscent of both the Indiana Jones movies and the Adam West 'Batman' show if 'Batman' had actually been funny. It features all the qualities the original is praised for a 1000x better; plus, it features the ear-splitting spectacle of Vincent Price 'singing' "Somewhere over the Rainbow" in a grating mechanical voice!!!!!!! How can you hate a movie with THAT in it??? Pull out the weed and enjoy.~