Dir: Robert Fuest
Cruel and unusual classic with Vincent Price in the titular role, a mad/genius doctor hellbent for revenge upon the nine surgeons present when his wife died on the operating table. He holds them responsible and is killing them off, one by one, in the style of Biblical plagues. The tone of the movie is (very) darkly comical with a vicious streak, yet occasionally it achieves a certain sublimity. Price is haunting and eerie as Phibes, the set design is lavish, beautiful and quite unlike any other film. The imaginatively bleak ending is merely the icing on an already thoroughly original cake. An obvious precursor to "Theatre of Blood", "Se7en" and the "Saw" movies, "The Abominable Dr Phibes" is essential viewing for any genre fan. It's also the only film in which you'll hear the wonderful line, "A brass unicorn has been catapulted across a London street and impaled an eminent surgeon. Words fail me, gentlemen." ***1/2
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