This is my favorite time of year, second only to Christmas. Autumn has arrived, the weather is cooling down, and October becomes the month long celebration of scary movies called Shocktober. There are a lot of horror movies out there, but as a genre, horror is still looked down upon by some mainstream critics and moviegoers. It doesn’t help that, admittedly, there are so few quality horror movies made but, like comedy, it’s a very difficult and subjective genre. So, in the days leading up Halloween I’ll be posting some recommendations for scary movies to help you celebrate Shocktober.
Night 11: Vincent Price Night
"A brass unicorn has been catapulted across a London street and impaled an eminent surgeon...words fail me, gentlemen."
The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)
I couldn’t let Shocktober go by without at least one Vincent Price movie on the list, and The
Abominable Dr. Phibes is one of his absolute best. Price plays the titular
Dr. Phibes, who is exacting revenge on the doctors he holds responsible for the
death of his wife. He goes about this by murdering them in ways inspired by the
10 plagues of Egypt, making him quite abominable indeed. Each murder is a more
and more elaborate and macabre tableau as the methods of murder become more and
more outlandish. The Abominable Dr.
Phibes is an undeniably campy film, but it is also excellent entertainment for
anyone, even someone skittish of horror movies, looking for spooky fun
viewing on Halloween night.
Vincent Price’s performance as Dr. Phibes is silent, mostly.
Phibes was presumed dead in a car accident but actually survived and was
horribly disfigured. He speaks by connecting cable from a gramophone to his
neck. We never see his mouth move and he speaks through this device in only a
few scenes so Price uses body language and facial expressions to bring this
villainous antihero to life. He speaks through the gramophone to a photo of his
deceased beloved wife, Virginia, professing his love and reasserting his vow of
revenge. A large reason this movie works is because of Vincent Price’s serious
performance. He is believable as Phibes because he has fun playing the
character but never winks at the audience. This can also be said of the tone of
the movie. Though it has a dark, off beat, British sense of humor, it is still
more horror than horror comedy. The death scenes are needlessly over the top but
the movie makes sure they are still gruesome. The horror in this movie is
appropriately horrific which makes the scenes of humor really pop. While Phibes
goes about filling a doctor’s bedchamber with bats, Price is dead serious and
sincere about what he is doing. His performance makes Phibes’s revenge a loving
tribute to his lost love.
There is of course no denying the odd and comical nature of
a man being impaled by the head of a brass unicorn statue while under police
protection. But the police take it seriously and Phibes takes it seriously
which lets the audience have all the fun. Scenes of outright comedy and jokes
are left to Scotland Yard as they work on solving the mysterious murders. This
is where the British sense of humor really shines through. In one scene a
detective regains consciousness after being knocked out and takes a drink
before calling for help. The reaction of the detectives to the murders always
seems to be understated. “A damn strange business,” one says after discovering
the first murder. Their reactions always seem subdued compared to the deaths,
or, in other words, they are appropriately British.
Joseph Cotton, one of my favorite actors of the classic
movie era, plays Dr. Vesalius, the chief surgeon of the team that failed to
save Virginia Phibes. He is the ultimate target for Phibes’s final act of
macabre revenge. Cotton gives the movie another serious, unwinking performance.
His character gives the movie urgency and is a good counterbalance to Phibes.
Phibes has a mysterious and beautiful assistant named
Vulnavia, played by Virginia North, who never speaks. She wears lovely flowing
dresses and in one scene she plays the violin while Phibes drains the blood of
one of his victims. In another scene at Phibes’s secret lair she sweeps while
Phibes’s band of automatons, The Clockwork Wizards, play a slow mellow song
like it is closing time at a night club. Yes, Phibes has a band of musical
automatons in his lair.
The Abominable Dr.
Phibes was directed by Robert Fuest, who began his career as a production
designer. This would explain the artistry of the murder scenes and the quality
and attention paid to the stylish sets and costumes. This movie is a period
piece thought the year is never explicitly stated. From the cars I would guess
the time period is the 1910’s or 20’s, so the look of this film is a mixture of the swinging
London of the 1970’s and Edwardian England.
Is
there a more elaborate way to kill someone than by decapitating a brass unicorn
statue and catapulting it across a London street impaling the man? Yes, there
is, and Dr. Phibes has thought of it and planned it out carefully. From
describing this movie, you might think that The
Abominable Dr. Phibes falls into the “so-bad-it’s-good” category, but this
film is intentionally and genuinely entertaining. It seems to know it is an
offbeat horror movie but never aims to be an outright comedy. The Abominable Dr. Phibes is self-aware
enough to have fun with its content, characters, sets, and death scenes without
drawing attention to itself. Directly or indirectly Dr. Phibes influenced the
nascent slasher genre and Phibes himself and his ever increasingly elaborate murders are
reminiscent of Jigsaw from the Saw
film series. The special effects are practical as you might expect and with the
exception of a fake bat or two hold up very well. The first time I saw this
movie was on Halloween night one year ago and I can’t recommend it enough. This
movie was one of Vincent Price’s favorites and it’s not hard to understand why.
The Abominable Dr. Phibes airs on TCM Sunday, October 30th at 5PM CT
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