I Bet You Didn't See... Dr Phibes Rises Again!

Some sequels are better than their original. Some are worse. It has long been a debate as to how film series are producing varying quality of sequel. They bounce from being absolutely dreadful (Curse of the Cat People) through to being an outright public favourite (Shrek 2, Frozen 2). Official sequels have been around since Cinema began, with 1905’s The Little Train Robbery. Enoch Arden: Part 2, released a few days after Part 1 in 1911, is considered the first direct continuation sequel.

By the 1970’s sequels were a staple of Cinema, but not on the level as they are today. It was rare for two films to be written with the intention of being filmed back-to-back. I can’t find anywhere that says that The Abominable Dr. Phibes and Dr Phibes Rises Again! were written with that intent, but it certainly feels like that. They were release within a year of each other and the films run into each other perfectly.

Often sequels rehash the same premise but just change some characters. Dr Phibes Rises Again! does it properly. This has taken the next step from the original story. Yes, there are elaborate murders, but it isn't out of context to the story. There is a different drive. Some just keep revisiting the same film and replay it (take the Scream or Saw franchises). Dr Phibes (Vincent Price) has had his revenge and now, several years later, he rises to search of the elixir of eternal life to bring his beloved wife Victoria (Caroline Munro) and himself back together. Along his way his is battling an immortal, Darius Biederbeck (Robert Quarry), who has had the elixir of life for centuries but is running out. Investigating ongoing crimes and suspicious activities is Inspector Trout (Peter Jeffrey). At least this time, he doesn’t leave not knowing the final outcome as he did in the first film.

If you weren't aware there would be deaths, you haven't been paying attention!

In true Phibes fashion, the murders are elaborate and eccentric, and Phibes is relentless in his search. There are a few grey areas in the plot, e.g. it isn’t exactly clear all the way through how Phibes and Biederbeck know each other, or if Phibes is another immortal or not as it appears he has built himself a lair in Egypt, although that could have been something going on alongside his original murders. It’s left ambiguous enough not to be a huge hole in the story or to affect the plot.

Vulnavia (Kemp) and Phibes (Price) in the Egyptian Desert (Ibiza)

Amusingly, Vulnavia is resurrected in this sequel, despite having been clearly killed by acid in the first film. However, it is not the same actress. Valli Kemp replaced Virginia Noth, who was pregnant at the time. Given the Phibes wears a prosthetic face, it is theoretically plausible that Vulnavia survived and used his same prosthetic process.

Terry-Thomas returns briefly, having been killed in the original film. He returns as a different character. I’m not sure why. The same goes for Hugh Griffith, although I missed that he was a different character. I assumed that he was the same one just in different situations. Apparently not!

Cushing and Quarry in their extremely small scene together.

The acting is hammed up as we would expect, the sets and locations are rather limited, which comes from a limited budget. It’s a good fun watch. Price is a real king in his performance as we would expect and he has a great supporting cast (it’s a shame Peter Cushing is only in it for about 2 minutes!). Richard Quarry as Darius Biederbeck was wonderfully patronising of everyone else, focussing on his goal and not caring about anyone else, and Caroline Munro lies still very well.

Whether it is better or worse that its predecessor, I shall leave that up to you.

There is nothing I can caption this with that explains it. Just watch the film!

Directed by: Robert Fuest

Starring: Vincent Price, Robert Quarry, Peter Jeffry, Valli Kemp, Fiona Lewis

Release Date: July 1972

Rating: 5/10