Vincent Price returns for this rather less impressive sequel from AIP. MGM/Fox R1 DVD
The Film
Three
years have passed since the series of brutal murders carried out in
revenge by Dr. Phibes (Vincent Price) and now he has awakened himself
from his state of near-death and is aiming to travel to Egypt to take
advantage of an event that only takes place once every 2000 years.
However he discovers that the parchment telling him how to get there
has been stolen. He tracks it to the house of Darius Biederbeck (Robert
Quarry) and promptly steals it back, heading on to Egypt
with Biederbeck getting passage on the same boat. Meanwhile the
British police discover the murder of one of Biederbeck's servants, and
a man on board the ship, and suspect Phibes is back at work so they
travel to Egypt to try and stop him...
A
two minute introduction brings life back to the character, twisting
various elements of the original film to fit the new storyline and
ultimately from this point on, the sequel fails to live up to the
originality of the first film.While The Abominable Dr. Phibes
(1971) asked for quite a bit of 'suspension of disbelief' to accept the
wonderfully over-the-top murders, this sequel goes rather too far and
the logical holes are obvious to even the most casual viewer - this becomes notable
even in the first few minutes with the fact that Phibes seemed to have
expected his house to remain untouched for 3 years after his 'death'.
The elaborate murders themselves, certainly the highlight of the first
film, are retained here in all their eccentricity but they lack the
connection that made the 'Ten Plagues' killings so enjoyable and it is
rather hard to believe that Phibes could have set-up all of these
elaborate killings in the brief time he has available or even why he goes to the trouble.
When
you can suspend the disbelief as much as is necessary, the film still
does not gel. The Biederbeck character is never particularly likable -
it is clear that the writers had intended to make him seem driven to
get to the site at any costs, but instead he just comes across as
unpleasant and forceful in his attitudes. Egyptian mythology has been
extensively covered in fiction and Hammer had just completed their
fourth Mummy film in 1971 - in contrast, the mythology here seems to
have been made up on the spot. Finally, even the police proceedurals
that enlivened the original film seem tepid here - the characters seem
to have been randomly included to simply pad out the storyline and have
become mere buffoons this time around.
Robert
Fuest returns to the directors chair for this effort but despite his
good work and some impressive set designs, thanks to the far more
elaborate script he cannot disguise
the film's low budget in many sequences. The
editing is rather poor (the death of Ambrose in particular) and aside
from the impressive opening score, even the music is a little generic
(did the Egyptians often go in for Gregorian chants?).
Vincent
Price returns to the lead role and delivers the part with his usual
relish looking very good in the make-up, particularly when in full
Egyptian attire. He goes up against up against his intended sucessor
Robert Quarry - the star of
AIP's Count Yorga, Vampire
(1970) and its sequel - the rather wooden Quarry never really convinces
in the role although he is not helped by the rather inflexible script.
British comedian Terry-Thomas who gave a brief but memorable
performance in the first film is wasted in a bit part while horror
legend Peter Cushing gets an even shorter throw away role. Future
British television star John Thaw (Inspector Morse (1987-2000)) in a rare film role gets a brief appearances as a doomed archeologist.
After the highly enjoyable Abominable Dr. Phibes,
this sequel seems to have been a rushed job with a script that tries to
shoehorn the Dr. Phibes character into an Egyptian adventure film (and
not a particularly good one either) and a production budget that was
certainly not up to fulfilling the script's ambitious settings. The
fact that horror icon Peter Cushing, and comic legend Terry-Thomas are
utterly wasted in tiny and throw-away cameos does nothing to help. With
very few merits, this film is not recommended and even fans of Vincent
Price can find a lot more interesting films to see first.
In
Brief
Anyone
famous in it?
Vincent Price - a horror icon who really made his name in the AIP horrors starting with House of Usher (1960) Peter Cushing - one of the great horror stars best known for his Hammer films including The Mummy (1959) Terry-Thomas - a British comedian who appeared in a number of cult films including Mario Bava's Diabolik (1968)
Directed by anyone
interesting?
Robert Fuest - a lesser known British director who also directed the original Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) and the Timothy Dalton starring Wuthering Heights (1970).
Is it scary?
It never really tries to be.
Any
violence/gore?
Some quite bloody shots although brief.
Any sex?
None.
Who is it for?
Not recommended
The
DVD
Visuals
Original
Aspect Ratio - 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen. Colour. The
print is generally good quality, with the only occasional hint of
damage and generally quite mild grain. A couple of brief scenes are
noticably lower quality - as if taken from a VHS source.
Audio
English mono - sounds fine. French and Spanish dub tracks.
Subtitles
French and Spanish. An English subtitle track is present that translates a single line of dialogue in Egyptian.
Extras
The disc includes:
Original theatrical trailer
Availability
Available as a single disc, as a double-disc set with Abominable Dr. Phibes and in the Vincent Price Scream Legends Collection boxset.
Region
Region 1 (USA, North America) - NTSC
Other regions?
Also available in Europe with additional German and Italian audio tracks
Cuts?
Fully uncut. English language print.
Summary
Certainly not as good as the first film and generally not a very good film in its own right, this is not recommended.
A good if not perfect print and fine audio track, only a pity that no real extras are present.
