Films involving Disfigurement

Disfigurement: Minor Films

Title	Abominable Dr. Phibes, The (1971)
Alternative/Original Title	1. The Curse of Dr. Phibes 2. Dr. Phibes
Disability	Facial disfigurement
Country	UK
Length	94
Genre	Horror
Rating	1
Director	Robert Fuest
Cast	Vincent Price Joseph Cotton Hugh Griffith Terry-Thomas Virginia North
Notes	Horror film in which Price is disfigured in car crash and sets out to revenge his dead wife. First-off I'm not a horror fan, nor a fan of Vincent Price except on Michael Jackson's Thriller album. And for me this is a trashy film. Yet there are some good actors in it and there appear to be biblical and other references which for some give the film foundation. Dr. Phibes' wife has died as the result of blunders made by nine surgeons and he himself has become disfigured following a car crash. He can speak only through a machine. His mission is to revenge his 'murdered' wife. The film works hard at being bizarre destroying any number of orange crates to create its flamboyant sets and has emptied charity shops in search of outlandish costumes. But the greatest amount of thought and effort has been put into the way each surgeon will die. I wasn't impressed whether it was bees, or bats, or frogs. And the final scenes when the good Doctor is operating on the son of one surgeon behind locked doors make little sense when your average person could have broken down the door. Like so many horror films this one exploits disability. See also: Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972)

Back to Home Page