When several doctors die under bizarre circumstances (bee sting-induced boils, flesh-eating bats, blood-drained perverts), Scotland Yard is suitably baffled. The dogged Inspector Trout traces the dead doctors to the team of Dr. Vesalius (Joseph Cotten), who helps him deduce that the murders are the work of Phibes.
Authorities believed Phibes perished in a car accident while racing home after the death of his beloved wife, Victoria (an uncredited Caroline Munro), but they surmise that he faked his death and is naturally using the Ten Plagues of Egypt as inspiration for his crimes. Aided by his silent but deadly sidekick Vulnavia (Virginia North in the last of her five film roles), Phibes continues to elude Scotland Yard, despite their best efforts to protect Vesalius and his team.
Directed by Robert Fuest from a script by James Whiton and William Goldstein, THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES is a wonderfully droll piece of work. There’s no mystery to the story as we know from the outset that Phibes and Vulnavia are behind the murders. Trout and his fellow inspectors bumble about and are spectacularly inept at preventing the murders of Vesalius’ team (one doctor is literally impaled as they’re trying to whisk him away to safety), and you’re never sure if they will solve the case, capture Phibes, or prevent the final murder.
PHIBES features eye-catching cinematography and art deco set design, as well as iconic skull makeup for the unmasked Phibes that must have given early 70s horror-kids nightmares. Produced for American International Pictures, DR. PHIBES earned more than a million dollars at the box office and was followed by 1972’s DR. PHIBES RISES AGAIN, directed by Fuest and starring Price and Robert Quarry. – Dan Taylor
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