The Abominable Dr. Phibes: Robert Fuest

There's something to be said about a beautiful death scene.  Whether by illness or accident, we are fascinated by the idea of death.  Even more so, we bare a macabre interest in murders: their techniques, their perpetrators, their victims.  Horror and pulp films turned scenes of carnage and murder into works of art.  In all of pulp cinema, few films have had such beautiful and bizarre death scenes as The Abominable Dr. Phibes.  Anton Phibes was an accomplished doctor and organist before his wife was killed in a car accident.  Twisted, both mentally and physically, by the same accident, Phibes believes that the surgeons and doctors who tried to save her life on the operating table murdered her.  So he goes about killing nine doctors, nurses, and surgeons.  His techniques are based off the Ten Plagues of Egypt from the Old Testament.  One is mauled to death by bats, another has his head crushed by a frog mask.  This film is the height of camp with the grand poo-baa of pulp Vincent Price as Dr. Phibes.  Realistically, the murders make no sense.  One nurse is covered with vegetable oil in her sleep and then completely devoured by about 20 locusts in the course of a few minutes.  But it doesn't matter.  This is an exercise in over-the-top spectacle.  Who cares if it isn't possible...it's just so damn fascinating.

8/10