Review: 'Dr. Phibes Double Feature' Showcases Vincent Price at His Best

When you ask people what their favorite Vincent Price movie is, you're bound to get wildly different answers. The horror genre legend had over 200 acting roles to his credit before he passed away, but that sheer amount doesn't speak to the innate screen talent that Price had. No matter where the camera moved, how fast it zoomed or panned, Price dominated every minute of screentime with a playfulness that could turn into sheer terror within a moment's notice. And to this writer, one of his finest roles was in Robert Fuest's lavish, hammy, elegiac 1971 film "The Abominable Dr. Phibes."

Kino Lorber Studio Classics brings "The Abominable Dr. Phibes" and its sequel, 1972's "Dr. Phibes Rises Again," to Blu-ray with the "Dr. Phibes Double Feature." Both films boast clean transfers, and, from what I can ascertain, the transfers are the same that were used in Scream Factory's "The Vincent Price Collection." With that said, Kino Lorber gives each film its own Blu-ray and has maxed out the bitrate on both discs. This results in a release that builds wonderfully off of previous editions to provide the best treatment for both "The Abominable Dr. Phibes" and "Dr. Phibes Rises Again."

As for special features, there are two audio commentaries for each film. For the first, there's a commentary with director Robert Fuest and another with Justin Humphreys, the author who literally wrote the book on the "Dr. Phibes" films. For the second film, there's a commentary with film historian Tim Lucas and a brand-new commentary with Justin Humphreys. Although there's a scant collection of supplements, I can't recommend the new commentary on "Dr. Phibes Rises Again" highly enough. Humphreys is a noted expert on the films, and he talks breathlessly about everything from production facts to critical receptions.

"The Abominable Dr. Phibes" starts off with a slew of Biblical plague-inspired murders being mysteriously carried out by a demented organ player. But what Inspector Harry Trout (Peter Jeffrey) discovers after investigating the cases is something much more terrifying. Could the titular Dr. Phibes (Vincent Price) be dead, or is he silently getting revenge on the doctors who unsuccessfully performed an operation on his now-dead wife years earlier?

"Dr. Phibes Rises Again" picks up Dr. Phibes' travails a few years following the conclusion of the first film. In this, Dr. Phibes travels to Egypt with his mute assistant Vulnavia (Valli Kemp) and the corpse of his dead wife to hunt down the River of Life and perform a resurrection. But with Dr. Phibes' arch nemesis, the scholarly Darius Biederbeck (Robert Quarry), on the hunt as well, finding the River of Life becomes a battle of wits and terror.

While "The Abominable Dr. Phibes" remains the classic of the two – with its lush production design that looks ripped out of a Ken Russell film – I found "Dr. Phibes Rises Again" to be rather entertaining, even though it gives in even more to Price's hammy, unhinged performance at the center of it all. Robert Fuest was, and still is, one of the great underrated horror filmmakers, with pictures like 1975's "The Devil's Rain" and 1970's "And Soon the Darkness" in his oeuvre. If you're a fan of horror, you'll find plenty to enjoy here. Thanks to Kino Lorber Studio Classics for giving these two films a terrific release.

Other special features include:

� Theatrical trailers
� Radio spots for "Dr. Phibes Rises Again"

The "Dr. Phibes Double Feature" is now available on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics.