The cabinet of horrors of Dr. Phibes

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Movie
German title The horror cabinet of DR. PHIBES
Original title The Abominable Dr. Phibes
Country of production Great Britain
original language English
Publishing year 1971
length 94 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Robert Fuest
script James Whiton
William Goldstein
production Samuel Z. Arkoff
James H. Nicholson
music Basil Kirchin
camera Norman Warwick
cut Tristam Cones
occupation

The cabinet of horrors of Dr. Phibes (spelling according to the film poster and opening credits in Germany: Das Schreckens-Cabinett des DR. PHIBES ) is a horror film from 1971 by director Robert Fuest . The title role is played by Vincent Price .

action

A stranger with a pale, rigid face shakes London with a bizarre series of murders. Several medical doctors have already been murdered in bizarre ways by him and his enchantingly beautiful assistant: Dr. Thornton was stung to death by bees, Dr. Dunwoody bitten to death by bats and Dr. Hargreaves' neck was broken by a mechanical frog mask. Most recently, the prominent doctor Dr. Longstreet found completely bled. His blood was properly drawn off and filled into eight bottles.

Scotland Yard's Inspector Trout is the only one who thinks there is a connection between these very different methods. He fears that whoever hates this irrepressible hatred of doctors, he also hates the renowned surgeon Dr. Vesalius could have targeted. He has also found out with the help of a rabbi that the murders relate to the plagues of the Old Testament . Trout is now going with Dr. Vesalius, who was well acquainted with some of the victims, went through the files of medical cases in which several of them had collaborated. Meanwhile, two more doctors are murdered by the stranger: Dr. Hedgepath is frozen with a machine that produces hail and cold air, and Dr. Kitaj is put to death by rats.

In fact, Trout and Dr. Vesalius found what he was looking for in the documents: The Victoria Phibes case. She was the wife of the world-famous organist Anton Phibes, doctor of musicology and theology , and suffered from an incurable disease to which she eventually succumbed on the operating table . Dr. However, Phibes did not want to believe this and blamed the treating doctors for her death. But on the way to the hospital he had a fatal accident with his car. Trout now suspects that Phibes could only have faked his death and is now taking revenge. In fact, Phibes survived the accident, but his face was badly disfigured. He therefore usually wears a mask. An artificial opening in the neck enables him to take in food, and he can speak through a microphone attached to the side of the neck and connected amplifier and loudspeaker.

While Trout is gradually putting the picture together, Dr. Phibes committed two more murders: Dr. Whitcombe was staked from the horn of a bronze unicorn, and the nurse Allen was gnawed off to the skeleton of locusts. Vesalius' son Lem was also kidnapped. Phibes calls Vesalius and tells him to come and see him alone in his villa. Vesalius knocks Trout, who insists on going with him, unconscious. When he arrives at the house, Phibes forces him into a cruel race against time: Vesalius has six minutes to surgically remove a key from his son's body and thus release the operating table's locking mechanism. Six minutes: exactly the time Victoria Phibes lay on Vesalius' operating table before she died in his hands. After this period has expired, acid will pour onto the table through a device on the ceiling and burn Lem beyond recognition.

At the last second Vesalius can save his son. In the meantime, Inspector Trout has also arrived with some police officers to arrest the mad Phibes. Vulnavia, Phibe's assistant, comes to an end under the acid rain as she backs away from the police.
Dr. Phibes himself commits suicide in a spectacular way. While he is lying in a kind of double coffin, which also contains the preserved body of his wife Victoria, an automatic mechanism draws all the blood from his body and replaces it with liquid embalming. The lid closes and the coffin sinks under a base plate. When the police enter the chamber, Dr. Anton Phibes has already disappeared without a trace.

background

Phibes Villa: Caldecote Towers, Bushey
  • The title character of Dr. Phibes, played by Vincent Price , doesn't say a word directly in the film, but only through a microphone and speakers. Whenever Phibes had something to say, his mouth remained closed, but Vincent Price pretended to speak by moving his neck muscles. Phibe's assistant, Vulnavia, remains completely silent, with the exception of her death scream.
  • The plot of the film, although not directly mentioned, takes place in 1925. This is due to the fact that Dr. Phibes is said to have died four years ago and 1921 is given as the year of his death on his sarcophagus.
  • In the original draft of the script, the character of Dr. Phibes depicted much more cruel. He should force Vulnavia to smash furniture and the like. Ä. What makes a sinister and angry character. Ultimately, however, it was decided to portray the character in a more personable way.
  • Vincent Price wore a special make-up consisting of several layers of collodion during filming , giving the impression that his face was a rigid mask.
  • The make-up that Price wore in the film had to be touched up regularly, as he damaged it several times with fits of laughter while working on punchy scenes.
  • The film was shot at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire . Outdoor shots took place mainly in the vicinity. The Caldecote Towers in Bushey , now a private school, can be seen as the Phibes Villa and the Tykes Water Lake in Elstree . The graveyard shown is Highgate Cemetery in east London.

Reviews

  • Lexicon of international film : “ Horror film of remarkable visual appeal and with the not quite fulfilled claim to“ black poetry ”. "
  • Cinema : “ Horror film with a bad joke. "

Sequels

1972: The return of Dr. Phibes

There were several attempts to shoot a third part, but all of them failed. According to a script with the working title "The Bride of Phibes" or "Phibes Resurrectus", Dr. Phibes meet a group of Nazis who are trying to wrest the secret of eternal life from him. In the end, Phibes should be able to bring his beloved wife back to life.

In an interview, Vincent Price spoke of a script called “Dr. Phibes in the Holy Land ”, which he found very successful. American International Pictures showed no interest in a film adaptation.

Another script written by the authors of the first Dr. Phibes Films, was supposed to make the Doctor run into a group of Satanists led by Dr. Vesalius' now grown up son Lem.

Another, never-realized idea for a sequel entitled "The Seven Fates of Dr. Phibes “should Phibes resurrect his wife and lead her together with her assistant Vulnavia to Athens in search of seven magical statuettes . There it should turn out that Vulnavia is actually the ancient goddess Athena . In gratitude that Phibes and his wife free them from their mortal shell, she restores Phibes' disfigured face and allows both of them to enjoy eternal peace in Elysion .

DVD release

  • The cabinet of horrors of Dr. Phibes / October 6, 2003 / MGM Home Entertainment
  • The cabinet of horrors of Dr. Phibes (+ Munchkin card game) / September 12, 2007 / MGM Home Entertainment

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The cabinet of horrors of Dr. Phibes. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used