Dr. Phibes Rises Again! Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.5

Dr. Phibes Rises Again! Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 18, 2014

Note: This film is available in the bundle The Vincent Price Collection II.

Vincent Price’s career spanned everything from classic noir ( Laura) to somewhat questionable biographies (he played a rather unlikely Joseph Smith in Brigham Young in a film which always delighted this non-Mormon Utah native), but Price’s lasting legacy will probably always be the horror films he started making in the 1950s with the now iconic House of Wax 3D. Scream Factory, the horror themed imprint of Shout! Factory, gave Price fans a great Halloween present last year when they released The Vincent Price Collection, which included a gaggle of Price’s American International Pictures releases, often made in collaboration with Roger Corman. Scream is back now with a second volume just in time for this year’s Halloween festivities, casting a somewhat wider net that features some of Price’s horror themed outings for other production entities (as well as some AIP features). Once again generally strong technical merits and some fun supplements make this an enjoyable “treat” for horror fans.

A lot of curmudgeons have wondered if the estimable Dr. Phibes (Vincent Price) was a time traveler of sorts, given his “stirring” rendition of 1939’s “Over the Rainbow” during the closing moments of Dr. Phibes Rises Again, a film which supposedly takes place in the 1920s. Maybe those curmudgeons aren’t quite at the level of music geekdom that this particular reviewer is, for long before Dorothy’s paean to paradise shows up in this goofily enjoyable romp, the good (?) doctor is dancing to another song that is temporally out of place, the wonderful 1940 Nacio Herb Brown — Gus Kahn standard “You Stepped Out of a Dream.” These disconcerting (sorry) intrusions aside, Dr. Phibes Rises Again picks up more or less where the first film left off, with the horribly disfigured and still vengeful doctor reanimating himself courtesy of a mystical alignment of the moon and “eternal planets” (as Gary Owens' portentous voiceover proclaims). He then is off on a quest to attain immortality and, hopefully, a similar resurrection for his beloved wife.

Unfortunately for the doctor, his three years in suspended animation have given an opening for his nemesis Darrus Beiderbeck (Robert Quarry), who, much like Phibes himself, wants immortality for both him and his main squeeze, Diana (Fiona Lewis). The bulk of the film plays out as a sort of cat and mouse game between these two seekers, while dunderheaded cops Trout (Peter Jeffrey) and Waverley (John Cater) typically bring up the rear, attempting to figure out what exactly is going on.

Dr. Phibes Rises Again! may not have the visceral lunacy that infused the first film (The Abominable Dr. Phibes), part of which may simply be due to the fact that audiences were already up to speed with Phibes’ dilemma and his penchant for cleverly annihilating his enemies. That said, the film has a number of enjoyably wacky murders, and once again Price does amazingly good work without benefit of much in the way of facial mannerisms and of course sans on screen speaking (as with the first film, Price’s “dialogue” is delivered via voiceover, courtesy of one of the debilitating injuries Phibes has suffered).

As with the first film, part of Dr. Phibes Rises Again!’s allure is its outré production design, a kind of opulent Victorian Era grandeur combined with a highly theatrical performance style. It’s obvious from the film’s open ended wrap up that future Dr. Phibes outings were planned, but indeed Phibes and his wife did travel “over the rainbow” never to be seen again.

Dr. Phibes Rises Again! Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Dr. Phibes Rises Again! is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Scream Factory, an imprint of Shout! Factory, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.84:1. This is probably overall the most satisfying presentation of the color films included on this second Price set, and perhaps would be worthy of a 4.25 video score if that were possible. While occasionally slightly soft looking, Dr. Phibes Rises Again! benefits from a lush palette which is appealingly reproduced here. Purples, burgundies and peach tones are especially vivid in this presentation, though the general color space typically looks accurate and well saturated. Detail is also excellent, so much so that in close-ups Price's make-up powder can be clearly spotted in various shots. Grain is naturally rendered and the image has no stability issues or even any untoward damage to report.

Dr. Phibes Rises Again! Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Dr. Phibes Rises Again!'s lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track delivers fine support for the film's ubiquitous use of music, while also nicely prioritizing dialogue. There's an obvious (and intentional) difference in ambience between the normal dialogue sequences and those delivered via voiceover by Phibes. The slightly boxy sound of Phibes' "voice" is probably attributable to equalizing measures taken to make it sound more mechanical. Fidelity is excellent and there are no issues with distortion, dropouts or other problems.

Dr. Phibes Rises Again! Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 2:08)


• Still Gallery (1080p; 6:23)

Dr. Phibes Rises Again! Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There's a bit of an unavoidable feeling of having been there and seen that in Dr. Phibes Rises Again!, but the film manages to sustain a reasonable amount of whimsy as Price once again is somehow able to chew the scenery without ever really opening his mouth. With an engaging production design supporting this frankly bizarre tale, Dr. Phibes Rises Again! offers more fun than scares. Technical merits are very strong and even without much in the way of supplements Dr. Phibes Rises Again! comes Recommended.