The Abominable Dr Phibes - Lisa's Review

As I saw the title for this movie, is was another case of 'Le sigh'. I'm not a fan of older movies and especially don't tend to like older British movies.  Having watched the movie, do I feel any differently?   Hmmmm Overall no.   Let's see if I can explain why.

This movie is rated in a list of horrors.  How that happened is anyones guess.  Yes, the general plotline of the movie is rather horrific I suppose, but if you watch this expecting to see anything that could be classified as 'Horror' you're going to be mightily disappointed.

I'll start of with a very basic premise.  Dr Phibes has lost his wife to a fatal illness and blames the doctors who were involved in her care.  He fakes his own death by pretending to have died in a crash he was in rushing to his wifes hospital bed.  He plots to murder all the doctors involved inspired by darker parts of the bible.

Rather a lot is made of the fact that Vincent Price is in this movie, but we don't see an awful lot of him, even though he is cast in the title role of the movie.  He is supposed to be horribly disfigured by his car accident and is therefore wearing a mask.  He also cannot speak, eat or drink due to damage from the accident, so rather wierd solutions are encompassed in the movie.

Anyone who knows me at all will know I absolutely despise 'Carry On' movies with a passion.  I also missed the boat for loving Hammer Horrors.  To me, this movie felt like a conglomeration of the two.  Unfunny jokes, bumbling actors, obvious jokes, none of it made me laugh.  The set, scenes and general feel of the movie had a 'Hammer' feel to me.  It just doesn't float my boat.  I find it grossly overrated.

Something that could have been fantastic from reading the plotline, turned out to be something lukewarm with jokes that really weren't well placed and lacked the punch it clearly needed to make it something worth watching.

I won't give it a recommended for reasons I've already stated, but don't feel it was bad enough to warrant an avoid, as most of the negatives were probably down to personal choice.

May appeal to Vincent Price devotees or Hammer fans.  Not for me.