Director: Robert Fuest
Year: 1971
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Mad Doctor
Plot:
Following a strange rash of deaths, a police inspector realizes that the deaths were all of the men were in the employment of a doctor who let a distinguished professor's wife die in their care and sets out to stop him from continuing his plan of revenge against them.
Review:
This here is a classic by any means of the word, and easily one of Price's best films. Among those reasons is the film's reason for being, as perhaps one of Vincent Price's best-known roles, and for good reason. This is mainly due to the humanity Price brings to the role, as he is a far more human killer, and we feel for him more than we would some faceless killer in other films modeled after this one that it could've degenerated into. With Price known mostly for playing the maniacal villain with a sense of humor, this one takes the past films up a notch with it being over-the-top campy. This is mainly due to Price hamming it up in a more serious performance instead of his usual joke-cracking, but he even gets into it a little with some pretty funny sequences at times, from him directing the band of mechanical objects to him waxing lyrical to the audience of inanimate objects with hilarious lines of dialogue.
There are others, from a ballroom dancing sequence to the interplay with the police officers, which steals the comedy from most of the film. Even without it being campy, there are some pretty genuinely creepy scenes due to the method of death in the film. It is quite original the way the killing is done here, and basing them in the order of the plagues of Ancient Egypt is a brilliant stroke of originality. That allows for some ingenious and flexible deaths, as they aren't restrained to the usual axe and knife deaths, with the rather creative setups throughout here that truly show his genius in full-force. The fact that this is also a very fast-moving film is another great factor, as the film never really seems to be slow or dull, and something is always happening. We happen upon the first murder at the very opening of the film, and the film doesn't really slow down leading into the grand finale that attempts to recreate the exact setup that sent him on the rampage in the first place.
There are only a few relatively unimportant things to bring up here. The first is also one of its greatest strengths in the camp factor. Even though it makes the film more fun if it's camp, the seriousness of some of the events makes it seem a little out-of-place. The deaths are played seriously while the rest of the film is played for laughs, and the different tone is quite apparent in some cases. The other factor is Phibes himself. One of Price's best instruments is his voice, and here he has it modified by a special instrument attached to his throat. Without the fluctuating tones he uses in his other roles, that great instrument isn't as effective here. Otherwise, there isn't much wrong here.
Overview: *****/5
One of Price's best films in his catalog, this has quite a lot of likable factors to be had here as it remains at or near the top of his resume for good reason with only a few minor detriments holding it down. Those with an appreciation for this style of genre fare, who enjoy this era of the scene, or who are fans of the creative crew will have a lot to like here, while there aren't many who won't find much to dislike here.
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