critics consensus

The Abominable Dr. Phibes juggles horror and humor, but under the picture's campy façade, there's genuine pathos brought poignantly to life through Price's performance. Read critic reviews

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The Abominable Dr. Phibes Photos

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Movie Info

In a desperate attempt to reach his ill wife, organist Anton Phibes (Vincent Price) is horrifically disfigured in a car accident and presumed dead. When he learns that his wife died during an operation, Phibes blames her surgeons and plots an elaborate revenge to punish them for their incompetence. With the help of a mute assistant (Virginia North), Phibes creates a mask resembling his own face and murders the surgeons one by one using bizarre methods inspired by the biblical plagues.

Rating:

PG-13
Genre:

horror
Original Language:

English
Director:

Robert Fuest
Producer:

Louis M. Heyward, Ronald Dunas
Writer:

James Whiton, William Goldstein
Release Date (Streaming):

Feb 20, 2001
Runtime:

1h 33m
Production Co:

American International Pictures (AIP)
Sound Mix:

Mono
Aspect Ratio:

35mm, Flat (1.85:1)

Cast & Crew

Vincent Price
Dr. Anton Phibes

Joseph Cotten
Dr. Vesalius

Terry-Thomas
Dr. Longstreet

Hugh Griffith
Rabbi

Virginia North
Vulnavia

Aubrey Woods
Goldsmith

Show all Cast & Crew

Critic Reviews for The Abominable Dr. Phibes

All Critics (41) | Top Critics (8) | Fresh (36) | Rotten (5)

Mr. Fuest makes very tolerable use of bis means: added to which he has the overwhelming advantage of Vincent Price as the Abominable Doctor.

May 14, 2020 | Full Review…

David Robinson
Financial Times
It has, incidentally, a really well thought out revenge plot, directed by Robert Fuest with tons more style and assurance than he brought to Wuthering Heights.

May 14, 2020 | Full Review…

Margaret Hinxman
Daily Telegraph (UK)
A former art director, Fuest gives the film a preposterously lush, Ken Russell-ish look. Highly enjoyable.

October 19, 2016 | Full Review…

Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader
High-camp horror with its tongue firmly in its gruesomely deformed cheek, this British oddity features Vincent Price in one of his most memorable roles.

November 14, 2014 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

Wendy Ide
Times (UK)
Fuest plays up the 1930s-by-way-of-the-1970s set design, but any atmosphere gets lost in scene after scene that's lighted like a TV show.

October 22, 2013 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

Keith Phipps
The Dissolve
Anachronistic period horror musical camp fantasy is a fair description, loaded with comedic gore of the type that packs theatres and drives child psychologists up the walls.

March 26, 2009 | Full Review…

Variety Staff
Variety
The climax is so dementedly intriguing, perfectly bringing together all the inventive weirdness before it, that it boldly caps off an unforgettable masterwork of the macabre.

August 27, 2020 | Rating: 9/10 | Full Review…

Mike Massie
Gone With The Twins
One of the best horror-comics for years.

May 14, 2020 | Full Review…

Dilys Powell
Sunday Times (UK)
Dr. Phibes manages the impressive stunt of being a good grotty horror film that succeeds in being genuinely horrifying while also succeeding on the level of super-high camp.

January 10, 2020 | Full Review…

Norman Spinrad
Los Angeles Free Press
The humour is camp, the set decorations are art deco gothic and the editing is ropy, but Price's performance suggests that, underlying the madness, there is a real and damaged human being who deserves your support

October 19, 2016 | Full Review…

Film4
No film can be all bad which opens in a vast Art Deco chamber... with Vincent Price, masked, cloaked and hooded, rising out of the floor at the keyboard of a Wurlitzer organ playing Cole Porter melodies.

October 19, 2016 | Full Review…

Christopher Hudson
The Spectator
A delightfully goofy horror film.

October 19, 2016 | Rating: 3/5 | Full Review…

TV Guide

View All Critic Reviews (41)

Audience Reviews for The Abominable Dr. Phibes

Jan 02, 2016

It's a 70's version of Seven - and all that implies.

Marcus W Super Reviewer
Oct 04, 2013

A wind-up orchestra nicknamed the "Clockwork Wizards", reenactments of biblical curses and a phonograph in order to talk are only the faintly peculiar oddities in this olive-black, droll hybrid of operatic horror and Grand Guignol comedy. Since his face has been corroded away, Price conveys all of his vengeful emotions and homicidal frivolity with his disembodied, alto voice and his expressively mischievous eyes. Phibes' lair is a masterstroke of geisha design with a rich lavender-and-pink color palette. For a film with such an outrageously shlocky premise, the death scenes are underwhelming and tame with the particularly gruesome details held off-screen like the aftermath of a locust attack. An acid-rigged contraption by Phibes is obviously an influence for the elaborate traps for the 'Saw' franchise. The film achieves the requisite spookiness when Phibes is cavorting in his hideout with his mannequin band. To be fair though, the objective is a fiendishly funny and classy hurrah for Price and as a showcase for the erstwhile cult-classic maven, it more than delivers.

Cory T Super Reviewer
Jun 10, 2013

The is from the MGM Midnite Movies Double Feature Collection. These movies are always worth getting and make a fine collection. Sheer terror doesn't get much more frightening than this. Scare-master Vincent Price plays a doctor who loses his voice in a car accident, but can still speak by way of an electronic device. He vows revenge on the nine doctors that were responsible for an unsuccessful surgery attempt on his wife, Victoria. He, along with his fiendish but sexy assistant Vulnavia (Virginia North), murder them one by one in such grotesque ways as draining one guy of all his blood, attacking a nurse with a swarm of locusts, and giving an attendee of a costume party a frog mask that becomes so tight around his neck that it snaps his head off. The sheer audacity of these grisly murders, along with Price's meticulous and methodical planning, make for a one-of a-kind scary experience. 4 stars 6-08-13

Bruce B Super Reviewer
Jan 04, 2013

This film set the scene for many horror movies to come (Saw is one very noteworthy one). I have a rule that any film starring Vincent Price is good, and this film didn't fail that rule. However, this film did fall short of my expectations. Reenacting exodus' plagues was a cool idea, but I think they could have done better with it.

Horrific R Super Reviewer