Weirdhouse Cinema: Dr. Phibes Rises Again

In this episode of Weirdhouse Cinema, Rob and Joe dive back into the weird, wild world of Dr. Phibes with 1972’s “Dr. Phibes Rises Again,” starring the legendary Vincent Price.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. My name is Rob.

Speaker 3 (00:15):
Lamb and I am Joe McCormick.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
So we had a lot of fun last year discussing
nineteen seventy one's The Abominable Doctor Fibes, a deliriously fun
and weird horror camp fest, so I figured it was
time to come back around and enjoy the continuing adventures
of everyone's favorite music and theology doctor turned murderous mastermind,

(00:38):
Doctor Fibes.

Speaker 3 (00:39):
So this is the sequel, the nineteen seventy two film
Doctor Fibes rises again, once again starring Vincent Price.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yeah. Pretty quick turnaround too. Yeah. From seventy one to
seventy two, Fibes got right back in the fight. And
as we'll discuss, like, there wasn't a a lot of
time left for five for five sequel to happen. You know,
this is the tail end of the of the public's
consumption of kind of more gothic horror fare, and so

(01:10):
it looks like there were higher hopes for where the
franchise could have gone. But at least we got one
more picture and it's it is quite a lie.

Speaker 3 (01:18):
So looking online, I have seen a lot of reviewers
commenting that this one's okay, but it's not nearly as
good as the original, or in general unfavorably comparing it
to the original. And I'm maybe I'm an outlier here,
but I got to say, I think I enjoyed this
at least as much as the first movie. It's I

(01:38):
can see where the flaws would come in. There are
some repetitive elements to it, Like you know, when Fibes
starts monologuing, he's usually just saying the same thing he's
already said before, but still, like, I never wanted it
to stop. It's just it's just like a great vibe.
It's almost like a music video, you know, It's more
of an experience. If you're really hooked on every detail

(02:00):
the plot, you might well be kind of disappointed, be like, yeah,
we already know this information, or I don't know why
this character is doing this. You put all that aside.
If you're in the mood for vibes, vibes, it will
bring them, and it will bring them in a delicious way.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
Yeah, I mean, is this Vincent Price's finest performance? You know?
But in many ways, no, Like, you can look at
something like Mask of the Red Death, which we discussed
in the show, and like, that's a superb Vincent Price
villain performance. That is, you know, it's very grounded and
believable and you can see the wheels moving and so forth.

(02:36):
This is still a great Vincent Price performance. It is
tremendously entertaining every time you hear him, every time he's
on the screen, but it is a far different sort
of performance. It is an unbelievable character in an unbelievable film.

Speaker 3 (02:51):
Yeah, this is the opposite end of the Price spectrum.
I mean, Vincent Price is often thought of as a
ham which he absolutely was and could ham it up
the greatest of all time at hamming really, But with
Mask of the Red Death it revealed his other side,
which is he can actually be a quite subtle actor
when he wants to be, and he had a lot

(03:11):
of subtlety to his character there. There was a powerful
understatedness to the way he realized evil in Mask of
the Red Death. In this movie, yeahs he is trying
to be funny, and he is extremely funny, especially because
of all the actors you could cast as a character
who doesn't move his mouth when he talks. Vincent Price

(03:34):
is like the weirdest choice there. So this is a
character that has to essentially speak through an external mechanism.
We'll describe this later when we get into the plot.
But so like every time Vincent Price talks in this movie,
he's just making faces with his mouth closed while like
a voiceover narration plays in your ears.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
Yeah, he's moving his throat a bit, and at times
I wondered, and I should have looked at into this.
I'm sure the answer is out there to see whether
he was actually like mouthing or sort of internally using
the dialogue, because while perhaps unnecessary for this this sort
of movie, Vincent Price also has that kind of that
professional air to him that I would not be surprised

(04:17):
at all if he was doing that. Like he as
we discussed in the last picture, you know, he knew
not only his lines, but the lines of all the
other characters he was interacting with. So he was a
consonant pro. But yeah, it is. It is always interesting
how the Fibes character disconnects him from his own voice
and yet at the same time, especially in this film,

(04:38):
and I guess in the first one too, allows all
of his lines to be introduction or you know, the
spoken word part of thriller level of campiness, Like he
just gets to really get in there and grind it out.

Speaker 3 (04:51):
That's right. And I so it's been a while since
I've seen the original Vibes. I didn't like rewatch it
before we watched this movie, but I think it would
be interesting to compare the performances in the two movies
to see if he really changed his approach to the
character at all. I feel like he may be leaning
a bit more into the overt comedy in this one

(05:13):
though the first movie, don't get me wrong, is it
is quite intentionally funny. The first movie isn't like taking
itself real seriously or anything. But I think in this
one he seems to be going even deeper into the
ham territory.

Speaker 2 (05:25):
I think that might well be the case. And I
also feel like in the first Fibes movie there were
more genuine moments of terror, or at least one key
sequence of terror, in particular towards the end where you're like, Oh,
I don't know what's gonna happen. Less so in this picture.
But yeah, but not in a way that detracts from it.
It doubles down on the absurdity on the like the

(05:50):
celebration of doctor Fibes the amazing murders as the movie
itself describes them. So that's what we get in this picture.

Speaker 3 (05:59):
But there's a another way in which I think this
sequel works quite well, and in some ways you could
argue even steps up the game of the original. In
the original movie, I don't recall Fibes really having an
antagonist worthy of him at all, and this movie does
give him that, and he sort of has a structural antagonist.

(06:22):
It's arguable whether you would call either one of them
the hero or the villain of the story. But this
movie introduces a character named Darius bider Beck, who is
a great foil to Vincent Price because they bring in
an actor who can also ham it up in a way.

Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yeah, and the character is capable enough to take on
Doctor Fibes, you know, in a way that threatens the
plans of doctor Fibes in a way that we didn't
see in the first film, and also has expertise that
seems to at least rival that of Fibes in their
their given area. That becomes the central to plot, which

(06:57):
is of course ancient Egyptian secret.

Speaker 3 (07:00):
Oh yeah, so more to come on that now.

Speaker 2 (07:03):
Quick note, this is the first time in Weird House
Cinema that we have covered a direct sequel to a
movie we've already covered. I think the closest we've come
before concerned the Friday the Thirteenth franchise, where we watched
Jason Takes Manhattan and then later we covered Jason X.
But those are not sequential films by any stretch.

Speaker 3 (07:23):
Oh no, there is, unfortunately a Jason Goes to Hell
in between them, and I would not say that it's
like you need to see Jason Takes Manhattan to understand
all the nuances of Jason X. In fact, I would
not say that about the Fibes movies either. I think
you could watch these in either order. It really wouldn't matter.

(07:44):
But yeah, this is kind of interesting that we've covered
a lot of two's without covering the one. This is
the first time we've ever done the one and the two.

Speaker 2 (07:54):
Yeah. Yeah, And so it's always interesting to think about sequals. Well,
we've talked about this plenty of times, like why are
you making a sequel? Like what are you trying to do?
In addition to, of course, make money. You know, are
you looking to deliver more of what worked? Are you
expanding the world, are you digging deeper into the characters,
are you turning some concept on its head, or you know,
recreating something for a different audience. I mean that there's

(08:16):
all of these are valid, and there are many more
ways that sequels are carried out. This one really does
feel like, hey, last year we had a party called
the Abominable Doctor Fibes. Let's throw that party again. Let's
stick with what works, and hey, everyone's invited, and yeah,
I think along those lines they pulled it off. Like

(08:38):
is it gonna feel as fresh as the first film?
Maybe not, but it's still going to pack some surprises.
It's still fun. It sticks to the tone, it sticks
with what works, and there's not a lot else out
there that compares to it. So it's not like you
making a you know, a mundane sequel to an already
mundane horror movie. Like it was already a party.

Speaker 3 (08:57):
I would agree with all that, though, I would say
it's kind of like if the party you had last
year was like a related to a one time event,
like it was a graduation party, and then the next
year you're not graduating anything, But you're like, let's have
that party again, because plot wise, the first movie is
about doctor Fibes putting together these ludicrous, over the top

(09:21):
revenge murders, and they were all about getting revenge against
I believe it was the doctors who let his wife,
who he believed were responsible for his wife dying after
an accident, like the doctors were unable to save her,
So he's getting revenge on all of them. In other words,
there's a reason for the occasion. This movie reproduces the

(09:44):
elaborate murders, except there is no motive of revenge in them.
I think basically all of the victims in Fibes Rises
Again have done nothing that could even really be construed
as offending Fibes or his wife Victoria. They're just like
random people who happen to be around.

Speaker 2 (10:02):
Yeah, and he has just elaborate death contraptions lined up
for people to get in his way because that's the
kind of artist that he is.

Speaker 3 (10:12):
So yes, it is like revisiting a graduation party when
nobody's graduating, but like, I don't know, if it was
a really great party, why not do it again? And
so that's how I feel about this movie.

Speaker 2 (10:22):
Now to your point too, In the first film, all
of the not all the movies, all the murders were
patterned after the different plagues of Egypt. Oh, yes, so
there was a theological theme to each one. This time,
I don't think there's a theological theme. There's kind of
an animal theme to them, I guess. And I do
have one potential question, like one conspiracy theory if you will,

(10:47):
about the plot. We'll get into that later.

Speaker 3 (10:49):
Well, I've seen the murders in this movie described as quote,
desert themed. I I don't know if that applies to
all of them, but I guess maybe some of them.

Speaker 2 (11:01):
Yeah. Now, originally there were plans for more parties of
this nature. American International Pictures initially intended this to be
the first of many fib sequels, including a Bride's of
Doctor FIBs movie and possible crossover films within the American
International Pictures horror universe, namely a Fibes Versus count Yorga

(11:24):
movie more on this in a bit, But none of
that happened. Again, there were shifts in what the public
wanted from horror. There were shifts at American International Pictures,
and so this was the last Fibes picture that we
actually got those I'll discussed there are some novels out there.
So if you want to really dig in your heels

(11:45):
and enjoy more Anton fibes, well, there are ways to
do it.

Speaker 3 (11:49):
So we have some trailer audio to hit.

Speaker 2 (11:51):
Yeah, we have the old radio spot for Doctor Fibes
Rises again. Let's hear it.

Speaker 4 (11:59):
Flesh calls, blood curdles, the coffin hasn't been built that
can hold him. Doctor fives Rises again, five way. Doctor
Five's Rises again in an even more startling motion picture
with a whole new gallery of gruesome gimmicks.

Speaker 2 (12:19):
Of torture and murder.

Speaker 4 (12:21):
See the scorpions Embrace, the Eagle's caress the sausage Machine.
See Doctor Five's I'll duel his enemies with the most
diabolical devices ever created. See Doctor Five's Rises Again, starring
Vincent Price as the menacing Fives and Robert Quarry as
the evil bider Becker. Doctor Five's Rises Again, All new

(12:45):
from American International Pictures, rated FIGI.

Speaker 3 (12:48):
Parental guiding suggested.

Speaker 4 (12:50):
Doctor Fives Rises Again.

Speaker 2 (13:00):
All right, does that make you want to drive to
your local cinema?

Speaker 3 (13:03):
Yeah, you can smell the popcorn listening to that.

Speaker 2 (13:07):
Certainly, if you get the chance to see it at
the cinema, I'd absolutely go for it. But let's talk
availability in general. Yeah, as with the first film, the
sequel is widely available for digital rental or streaming, as
well as part of an excellent KL Studio Classics double
feature Blu ray Doctor Fives double features what it's called.

(13:28):
It has some fun extras on it. They have it
at Video Drum here in Atlanta, and you can pick
it up for like twenty odd box if you just
buy it from most retailers, which I think is a
steal for both movies, and again you get to own
it as physical media at that point. I watched it
on the KL release rented from the Drum.

Speaker 3 (13:44):
Yeah, I streamed it. It's available in multiple places.

Speaker 2 (13:47):
Yeah. I think I started watching it several weeks back
on a flight. I like downloaded to my phone before
I had a flight because I was like, this is
exactly the kind of popcorn. This is the kind of
candy I need when I'm flying something like Doctor Fhibes.

Speaker 3 (14:08):
Okay, let's do those connections.

Speaker 2 (14:10):
All right, Starting at the top. The director and writer
on this one is Robert Fwest nineteen twenty seven through
twenty twelve, a British director noted for his unique genre style,
returning here to direct a sequel to nineteen seventy one's
The Abominable Doctor Fibes. It should come as no surprise
that he came up through the Avengers TV show before
making such features as nineteen Seventies and Soon The Darkness,

(14:33):
a thriller, a nineteen seventy adaptation of Wuthering Heights with
Timothy Dalton as Heathcliff, followed by the two Doctor Phibes films,
nineteen seventy three's The Final Program, based on a Michael
Moorcock novel starring John Finch, and then nineteen seventy five's
The Devil's Rain, which we previously covered on Weird House
Cinema as well, and after that mostly TV.

Speaker 3 (14:55):
Oh I forgot that he did The Devil's Reign.

Speaker 2 (14:58):
Yeah Yeah, which is a different type of feel, but
also one that just really goes all out, at least
in certain sequences when it comes to like just the
visual flare and just the absurd weirdness of everything.

Speaker 3 (15:11):
All three of these are texture based movies. I would
say they're not strongly story driven. They are driven by
contriving interesting set pieces and scenarios and letting you look
at them and enjoy the music and the costumes and
the sets and all that. Absolutely, however, I will say
I think his two Fibes movies are without a doubt,

(15:34):
much better than The Devil's Rain.

Speaker 2 (15:36):
Yeah. Yeah, The Devil's Rain is irresistible as a satanic
desert melt movie, but I think Fibes the Fibes films
have broader appeal.

Speaker 3 (15:48):
Yeah. So the way I would put it is The
Devil's Rain I think needs to be seen as like
an artifact, like you should experience it for your edification
and education. But the Fibes movies are just great.

Speaker 2 (16:00):
Yeah. Now the other writer on this, the other credited
writer is Robert Bleeze, who lived nineteen eighteen through twenty fifteen.
American writer and producer with screenplay credits going back to
the early forties, including the fifty seven monster film, The
Black Scorpion, fifty Eights from Earth to the Moon, Oh
in nineteen seventy two's Frogs, which we watched on Weird

(16:20):
House a while back.

Speaker 3 (16:21):
Hmmmm, this guy, I think I know his mo This
guy really likes animal attacks.

Speaker 2 (16:28):
He's all about it. Apparently. His TV credits include episodes
of such shows as Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Peter Gunn Colombo,
Project UFO, and Airwolf.

Speaker 3 (16:36):
I wonder if his episodes of those shows had animals
attacking people.

Speaker 2 (16:40):
I wonder, Yeah, especially ad Alfred Hitchcock Presents seems like
an ideal place to have some animal related murder. It's
always a nice twist.

Speaker 3 (16:48):
Yeah. His episode of Airwolf is like, oh no, there's
a killer centipede in the cockpit.

Speaker 2 (16:53):
Yeah. Now, there's also based on characters created by credit
for William Goldstein and James Witten. They were the writers
on the original Doctor Fibes film, and I should point
out that Goldstein apparently wrote a screenplay off his own

(17:14):
for the sequel with the working title Fibus Resurrectus, which
would have been amazing, but that was not the direction
they went in.

Speaker 3 (17:23):
I'm glad you said it that way, Rob, because I could.

Speaker 2 (17:25):
So.

Speaker 3 (17:26):
The name is pronounced in the movie Fibes, but like,
you can't call it Fibes resurrect us and pronounce it fibes, right,
It would have to be like fibus or Phoebus resurrectus.

Speaker 2 (17:37):
Yeah. So, while this sequel didn't see the light of day.
Goldstein wrote the novelization of Doctor Fibes Rises again, just
as he written as he's written the novelization for the
first film. And what's more, while we didn't get any
more Doctor Fhibes movies, he also wrote three additional Doctor
Fibes novels which are out there and available. So, like

(17:58):
I say, if you really want to go all in
on the Fibes franchise, you have to continue doing so
with the written word.

Speaker 3 (18:04):
It is difficult for me to imagine that the Fibes
concept would work as well as a novel. Yeah, it
seems really to rely on the magic of cinema.

Speaker 2 (18:14):
Yeah, I mean, unless say, the texture of the writing
would have to be just right, all right. As we mentioned, yes,
Vincent Price returns as Doctor Anton Fibes. We're not going
to go deep into Vincent Price because we've covered Vincent
Price films multiple times already. But he lived nineteen eleven
through nineteen ninety three. This is early seventies Price, so

(18:35):
this is a time period when he's hitting some really
iconic roles. But he's also this is all also happening
just as the public's taste in horror films is shifting
away from the traditional and the Gothic and everything that
came before. So he really only had a handful of
full blown Vincent Price starring horror films left in the
tank at this point. But he'd also already cemented himself

(18:58):
as a horror legend and a mainstream icons, so there
was no shortage of work from here on out. The
main films of note horror wise were Theater of Blood,
to follow in seventy three, Matt Howson seventy four. Oh,
Theater of Blood, Yes, you're a f I haven't seen
that one.

Speaker 3 (19:14):
Oh yeah, it's in fact, it's much like Doctor Fibes.
It is a campy, theatrical horror comedy that has elaborate
revenge murders. It extremely similar to Fibes actually, all.

Speaker 2 (19:27):
Right, and then there's a House of Long Shadows in
eighty three, and that's not counting some anthology hosting roles,
and so yeah, from this point out, he's just he's
doing a lot of TV appearances, he's doing a lot
of appearances as himself, and of course he's doing a
lot of those endorsements, right.

Speaker 3 (19:46):
Oh yeah, the the no Jelly sandwiches. Yeah. Man.

Speaker 2 (19:53):
When we've covered about the show, we often discuss some
of these particular things, yeah, like the no jelly that
he endorsed. And I want to point out one that
recently captivated me is that in what is This nineteen
seventy two, the Anglestora Bitters Company ran an ad in
The New York Times with a cutout coupon that you

(20:16):
could send through the mail to receive a free Angostar
of Bitters cookbook written and or hosted by Vincent Price
What Yeah Yeah. And elsewhere they ran ads featuring Vincent
prize and maybe a recipe right up or two. It's
worth noting that he also wrote at least a couple
of cookbooks with his wife, Mary Cooking price Wise. A

(20:39):
Culinary Legacy is still in print, and it features some
real nineteen seventies food photography. I mean, if you were
a child of the seventies at all, or hav any
nostalgia for like the seventies vibe, these are worth looking at.
Lots of green with the food, maybe a little less
green and maybe a little more on the brown side
of things.

Speaker 3 (20:58):
Just a big old like ornate chafing dish full of
cocktail oenies, and it's still kind of some fifties style flair,
and do I see jello molds?

Speaker 2 (21:09):
Yeah, I think so. I'm at tempted to pick up
a copy. I imagine a lot of it's way to
meat heavy for me given the time period. But I
did try out a version of the pink gin drink
that he mentions in one of these full page spreads,
and it was quite good, And so I was kind
of imagining myself as Vincent Price sitting on one.

Speaker 3 (21:28):
Of these I love this. I've got to get one
of these books. But I think you're exactly right when
you mentioned the thing earlier about like this is sort
of the only time when a movie like this would
have made sense this early seventies period with Vincent Price,
because it seems to be that he's like he's playing
on a parody of the kinds of roles he played

(21:52):
more seriously in decades past, like in you know, the
more serious gothic horror of the earlier years, and as
that's sort of fading out, you could look backwards with
the memory of the enthusiasm for that genre and make
a comedy movie like this playing on the same kind
of flare but with a different tone.

Speaker 2 (22:13):
Yeah. Yeah. And at the same time, it's also interesting
to think that the Fibes character is also either a
definite influence or a possible influence on some of the
horror icons that were about to emerge in the subsequent decades,
you know, characters like Freddy Krueger, Chucky and ultimately the

(22:38):
Jigsaw Murder of the Saw movies. That one feels like
a direct influence, Like, let's take everything that Fibes is doing,
and but we're gonna, you know, make it fit sort
of like the grittier genre trappings of the day. And yeah,
you have like a multi I can't even keep up
with how many Saw movies are at this point, but

(22:58):
it's a very similar basic concept it.

Speaker 3 (23:03):
I don't want to spoil your fun if you're a
fan of the Saw franchise, So you know, we're all
you know, we're all entitled to our own movie fun.
But oh man, I could not imagine more different feelings created.
But so they're both movies about a weird guy who
sets up elaborate, sort of mechanized trap murders for people.
But whereas the Saw movies I find just so grim

(23:27):
and depressing and unpleasant. The Fibes movies are exactly the opposite,
just kind of freedom and lightness and playfulness.

Speaker 2 (23:36):
Yeah, whether planning the next murder or planning his overall schemes,
some song or dance may just break out spontaneously. Yeah,
And that's where Fibes is a beautiful assistant and or
muse enters the picture. This is Vulnavia, returning from the

(23:56):
first film, this time played by Valley Kemp.

Speaker 3 (23:59):
I love Volnavia. So it is a different actress playing
the role than in the first film, and I loved
the Volnavia of the original. I love the Volnavia here too.
Valley Camp is great and it's kind of hard to describe,
but I feel like she she brings so much spice
to the movie despite being a very like languid and

(24:22):
unspeaking performance. So this is a character who is what
is she is? She arguably a robot or like a
clockwork being of some kind in neither in both movies,
she doesn't speak, and she just and she in fact
doesn't act super expressive in terms of like like she
never moves very quickly or makes very broad expressions with

(24:43):
her face, and yet she she enlivens every scene she's in.
There's just something inherently funny and joyful about Volnavia. The
way she just kind of like will placidly like pick
up one of the instruments of one of these murder
traps and kind of like give it a rattle and
check it out or something. And the way she's like,

(25:04):
you know, like wandering through one of the scenes where
Fibes is playing the organ just like lazily lifting her
arms in like a halfway dancing mode. Vulnavia is so great.

Speaker 2 (25:16):
Yeah, Like, there's there's a much later scene where they're
decorating the set for their upcoming victory, but it's like
some insights like, yeah, they they have to put in
the work, Like there's a lot of work that goes
into meticulously creating your art deco subterranean layer.

Speaker 3 (25:35):
In an Egyptian temple under a mountain.

Speaker 2 (25:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (25:40):
Yeah, it is like they're decorating for Christmas. But Vulnavia
is she is fun in every scene she's in. She
makes everything funnier and more whimsical.

Speaker 2 (25:50):
Yeah. So, Kemp was a Kenyan born Australian model and
this was her biggest acting role she had very she
had I think very small background roles in seventy five's
Rollerball and also nineteen eighty one's The Great Muppet Caper,
So another Muppet connection because of course Vincent Brice gets
started in The Muppet Show.

Speaker 3 (26:09):
Now, we should be clear that the character of Volnavia,
who was played by Virginia North in the first movie,
she dies at the end of Oh, yes movie, right,
she clearly dies. Ye, She's like, I don't know about
dies is I don't call that TX she did. Yeah,
It's like she's a robot of some kind or some
kind of clockwork organism, and she is destroyed by acid.

Speaker 2 (26:32):
Right, yeah, she is destroyed by acid. And I was
reading that. Originally they were like, well, we're going to
bring in a new character to be the assistant, and
the studio was like, no, it's gotta be Vulnavia. We
love Volnavia. And they're like, okay, fine, it's Vibes too.
This is not a rocket science. We can bring her back.

Speaker 3 (26:50):
Yeah, give the people what they want. I'm glad she's back.

Speaker 2 (26:53):
All right. Now you mentioned the antagonist. The credits describe
both Vibes in this character as the protagonist, so you
know you can make of that way you will, but you.

Speaker 3 (27:03):
Choose your own side, pick which one you want to
be allied with.

Speaker 2 (27:06):
Yes, though of course it would be unwise to side
with anyone other than Doctor Fibes in a Doctor Fibes movie,
but still a formidable adversary in the Forum of Darius
bider Beck, played here by Robert Quory who lived nineteen
twenty five through two thousand and nine.

Speaker 3 (27:22):
Now, I think the character's name in the movie, I
think the other characters pronounce it Darius, but in multiple
sources online I've seen it spelled dare Us like da
r r Us other times Darius. I think Darius is right,
but I'm not one hundred percent there.

Speaker 2 (27:38):
Yeah, we will call him bider Beck as most people
call him in the film. Okay, But Corey was an
American actor with mainstream TV and film credits going back
through the nineteen fifties, but the nineteen seventies saw him
thrust into an increasing number of first science fiction and
then horror films, many for American international pictures. He appeared
in the nineteen seventy universal sci fi film called Losses

(28:00):
The Foreben Project, and starred as the titular vampire. The
same year in aipis count Yorga Vampire, which spawned a
nineteen seventy one sequel, The Return of count Yorga. Publicity
materials for the Yorga films called the character the death Master,
and then in nineteen seventy two they made there was
a vampire film titled Deathmaster with Corey in the lead role,

(28:25):
but it's apparently unrelated. He plays a hippie vampire in
that called Corda.

Speaker 3 (28:31):
I want to see this guy as a hippie vampire.

Speaker 2 (28:35):
So more Yorga films were apparently planned, including one in
which he lives in the sewers of Los Angeles, and
there was indeed talk of a Fibes Versus Yorga film,
but that didn't happen either, again seemingly due to changes
in the public's appetite for horror and business changes at AIP.

Speaker 3 (28:51):
Wider Beck in this movie is, as I said earlier,
I think a great addition to the film. It's nice
to give Fibes a foil, like somebody who you really
feel like could stand up to him potentially yea. And
the way that Corey plays bider Beck is is a
little bit part Dracula, a little bit part Elvis. This

(29:14):
is gonna sound weird, but stay with me here, part Shatner,
but also just all smooth Transatlantic money bags and a
smoking jacket.

Speaker 2 (29:24):
Yeah, and all of these things make him mostly unafraid
of Fibes, Like he respects Fibes at least eventually as
an adversary, but he's never completely afraid of him, or
at least afraid of anything that could happen to him personally.

Speaker 3 (29:38):
Yeah, there's a strange duality to this character, which is
that on one hand, he's really defined by fear, Like
his character's entire motivation is driven by a sort of
sense of panic about his own impending personal catastrophe. That
the reason he's going to Egypt is to avert it.
And we'll get into that when we talk about the plot.
But apart from that one centrol fear that drives everything

(30:01):
he does, he seems to be basically fear less, like nothing,
no obstacle or person or event really troubles him.

Speaker 2 (30:10):
Yeah. Yeah, so it's a fun performance. I really liked
him in this. Now, there are various accounts that say
that Price and Corey didn't get along and may have,
you know, sort of argued with each other and or
insults at each other. I don't know who can say.
It's all hears saying they'd worked on some of the
same TV shows over time, though I'm not sure ever

(30:31):
in the same episode, you know, especially when it came
to anthology type affair and more to the point, they'd
work with each other again after this in nineteen seventy
four's Madhouse. Corey worked in various genre pictures and TV
shows throughout the seventies, including the nineteen seventy four blaxploitation
film sugar Hill, which has some very creepy voodoo zombies
in it. But Corey was apparently in a bad auto

(30:53):
accident in nineteen eighty, and he came back in the
late eighties and acted in a number of B movies,
frequently working for director at Olin Ray up through about
nineteen ninety nine.

Speaker 3 (31:03):
Oh, I briefly had to look and see, like, wait,
what do I know by fred Olin Ray? And I'm
just like, oh, I recognize his name from like picking
up the boxes of movies and looking at them and
then not renting them.

Speaker 2 (31:15):
Yeah, yeah, there may be some fred Olin Ray that
would be a good fit for Weird House. But I
cannot point to one off the top of my head.

Speaker 3 (31:25):
He did one I've I've looked at kind of seriously
called Alienator. That seems to be a fight, a quite
clever combination of the Alien and Terminator themes.

Speaker 2 (31:36):
Yeah, Robert Correy's in that one.

Speaker 3 (31:38):
Oh okay, well, maybe maybe that means it's worth looking
at them.

Speaker 2 (31:42):
I mean, Jan Michael Vincent, John Philip.

Speaker 3 (31:44):
Law, John Phill Oh my god, diabolics in it. Yeah, okay, well,
maybe we do need to see Alienator. Then I'll at
least check it out see if it's if it's worthy
of Weird House.

Speaker 2 (31:56):
All right, now, Bider becks romantic interest. They're not yet married,
is this character Diana? And Diana is played by Fiona
Lewis born nineteen forty six, British actress whose credits include
sixty sevens The Fearless Vampire Killers, seventy three's Blue Blood

(32:16):
with Oliver Reed, the nineteen seventy four Dracula movie that
stars Jack Palance as Dracula. That's Interesting, seventy fives list, Domania,
seventy seven's Tintorera Killer Shark, seventy eight's The Fury, eighty
three Strange Invaders, in nineteen eighty seven's Inner Space.

Speaker 3 (32:36):
Tinterera is one of those I can't believe I sat
through this memories. That was a very unpleasant bad movie.
From what I recall, and I've watched a lot of
Jaws ripoffs.

Speaker 2 (32:46):
That's a Cardona Junior picture.

Speaker 3 (32:48):
I think, yeah, I recalled that one. Well, it's been
a long time, so I don't want to say too
much detail about it because I can't recall for sure,
but it was it was not a fun time for me. However,
I think Fiona Lewis is great in this movie. She's
sort of the main actually sympathetic character, so she is
of the non Fibes aligned side of the film. She's

(33:13):
the person you actually identify with. She's basically innocent of
the of the avarice and hubris and violence that drives
the other characters, and she just loves she loves her
fiance bider Beck, and she wants to understand what it
is that's driving him to go to these extreme measures
and force her to travel to Egypt with him and
all this stuff, and so when she's in peril at

(33:36):
the end, I was really feeling it. I was like no, no,
I like Diana I don't want her to be impaled
by snake toungue spikes in a flooded room that's being
filled with the waters of the nile. It's a whole setup. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (33:49):
Yeah, the same cannot be said for pretty much any
other victims. Yeah, it's like generally it's like, oh, Fibes
is going to kill this guy next, all right, I
see what he's got.

Speaker 3 (33:57):
Yeah, So they succeed in making Diana actually quite sympathetic
and likable, and that when she's in peril in the end,
it is true suspense.

Speaker 2 (34:07):
Yeah, all right. Now, this next character actor, I want
to mention it's a smaller part, but a very memorable part.
He will be the first victim of doctor Phibes. But
this is the character Manservant Cheng, played by Milton Reid
who lived nineteen seventeen through possibly nineteen eighty seven. So

(34:30):
this is an Indian born British character actor and at
least one time professional wrestler. His father was apparently of
Scottish descent and his mother was Indian. He began his
career as a pro wrestler on the British scene, performing
as Mighty Chang. According to Howard Maxford, in the book
Hammer Complete. He began a long career playing strongmen, hnchmen

(34:52):
and bodyguards in nineteen forty four's The Way Ahead, but
then went onto a mass a forty plus movie filmography.
Highlights in c Rolls in fifty eight, Blood of the
Vampire nineteen sixty, Swiss Family Robinson seventy one, Blood on
Satan's Claws seventy five is the Return of the Pink
Panther nineteen seventy seven's The Spy Who Loved Me. In

(35:13):
that one, he is the number two henchman under Richard
Keel's Jaws. Reid here was also uncredited in Doctor No
as a henchman, And indeed I look had to look
up some stills and yeah, you see him in the background.
He's unmistakable. It's a very distinct look, very rugged face,
often with it like a shaved head, and he's this
kind of a fierce grin.

Speaker 3 (35:34):
He has an incredibly thick, dense physique. He looks like
somebody who would just like crush pumpkins with his hands
as a party trick.

Speaker 2 (35:42):
Yeah, I was looking up about his biography here. Apparently
he moved back to India late in his career to
be with his mother and his sister, but apparently made
a go at acting in Hindi language films there. He
appeared in three of them in small parts, but one
of them is the nineteen eighty five Ramsey Brothers film Telephone.

(36:05):
So interesting connection here to director, directors and filmmakers that
we've talked about on the show before. And then Reid
apparently died of a heart attack sometime after this in
eighty six or eighty seven, but exact death the exact
death date has been disputed.

Speaker 3 (36:22):
The Ramsey Brothers were the creators of Kurana mon Deer.

Speaker 2 (36:25):
Yes, yeah, so, and you know, certainly they they liked
actors with interesting looks to play their heavies and their monsters.
But it seems like it was maybe, you know, ultimately
just too late in his life and in his career
to really like make a go of it in Indian cinema.
But you know, we can imagine what could have been

(36:47):
had he lived longer. Again, not a huge role in
this picture, but he has a great look, great hinching,
and it makes for a memorable first death, which we'll
get to here in a bed agreed, all right. This
movie also has a number of cameos, and I'm not
gonna spend a lot of time on these, but we
have several cameos and continuing roles that are carrying over

(37:08):
from the first Fibes movie. I'm going to run through
them real quick. Caroline Monroe is back playing the deceased
Victoria Regina Fibes. She is not alive in the previous picture.
She's not alive in this movie, but the actor is
still alive. She was born in nineteen forty nine and
she reprises the role here.

Speaker 3 (37:29):
Yeah, we've talked about Carolyne Monroe before, but it's an
interesting role that she plays basically a barbie in a
box like she's like she's just in suspended animation the
entire film.

Speaker 2 (37:41):
Yeah, but yeah, it's our Inspector Harry Trout is back,
played by Peter Jeffrey who lived nineteen twenty nine through
nineteen ninety. Also, his boss, Superintendent Waverley played by John Catter,
who lived thirty two through two thousand and nine, is
also back on the case. So local Britain law enforcement
is in place to go after Fibes in this international caper.

Speaker 3 (38:05):
For some reason, the London cops chase Fibes to Egypt.

Speaker 2 (38:09):
Yes, all right. Peter Cushing is in this in a
very small role. He plays the captain of a ship
that the characters are briefly on.

Speaker 3 (38:18):
I don't know if this role was written for Cushing,
because if it was, I feel like they might have
given it a little bit more flair. It's just sort
of a momentary walk on, which he does quite well with.
But it's not a role that demands a lot.

Speaker 2 (38:31):
No. No, Apparently Cushing was considered for the Joseph Cotton
roll in the first film, and yeah, it's basically just
a cameo here. So I don't know. They're just like, hey, Cushing,
you want to come in and hang out on set
for a few days, and he's like, Tusher.

Speaker 3 (38:46):
Hey, remember how in the previous Fibes movie Terry Thomas
was in it and he was definitely murdered.

Speaker 2 (38:52):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, well he's back, but as a different character.
In the first one he was this Let's see, what
what's the Is he a rake or is he a fop?
I can't remember what the British terminology is there.

Speaker 3 (39:07):
Yeah, he's both. He's a he's a bounder. I don't know,
he's a he's like a rich British guy who is
he really enjoys drinking and watching dirty movies on a
film projector. And while he's enjoying his two favorite activities,
somehow they they come and get him. Do they do?
They kill him with a snake? Is this an animal

(39:28):
attack from the first movie?

Speaker 2 (39:29):
It may it may be. I think you're right, yeah,
but they definitely definitely get him because he's one of
the doctors in the first film that Fibes is after
Terry Thomas. That's Terry hyphen Thomas. He's popped up in
a at least a couple of different movies we've talked
about in the show before. This was exactly the kind
of character that he excelled at, playing a bounder, a
fop or a rake, some sort of British man of

(39:56):
low character, you know, untrustworthy, up to know good, a
bit of a creeper, and then it's generally a delight
when this character is either embarrassed or outright murdered.

Speaker 3 (40:08):
He played characters of high social class and low moral character.

Speaker 2 (40:12):
There you go, Yeah, that's that's that's that's that's that's
his character work to a t right there. So he's
back in this film, not playing the same character. It's
just a brief little cameo, but it's still a lot
of fun, stammering, eyes, darting, all the usual Terry Thomas stuff.

Speaker 3 (40:30):
Yeah, well, yeah, he's just like a guy who gives
a couple of clues to the police, and he doesn't
get murdered or anything. It's just a brief scene, but
they do manage to work in that he is lecherous, yes,
all right.

Speaker 2 (40:42):
And then we also have Hugh Griffith. This is a
rare case where I think his role in this film
is more substantial than his role in the last film.
He played a rabbi in the first movie that was
brought in to uh to advise and consult on something,
and in this he is one of these bider becks

(41:03):
right hand man. So yeah, Hugh Griffith, who lived nineteen
twelve through nineteen eighty.

Speaker 3 (41:08):
Now, I already mentioned earlier that a big part of
the appeal of this movie is the sets. The Abominable
Doctor Five's really thrives on creating weird, beautiful sets and
just having the character's waltz around within them.

Speaker 2 (41:21):
That's right, And so the same set designer worked on
this film as well. This is Brian Eatwell returning live
nineteen thirty nine through two thousand and seven. Yeah, absolutely
ideal that you have the same guy working on this film,
because the look is absolutely important. Now the music is different.
The first film scores by Basil Kirchen, who had experience

(41:42):
with both big bands and experimental music, and I think
that was really telling in that particular score. This time around,
it's John Gail, who lived nineteen thirty two through twenty fifteen,
who only composed two scores, this one in the score
for nineteen seventy nine's Mister Selke. His compositions and arrangements, however,
pop up in various other films, such as seventy five

(42:04):
Shivers and the nineteen ninety six film Emma. This score
seems to lean toward heightened religious numbers and a little
jazziness thrown in from time to time. I think it
absolutely works. It's over the top, imperfectly befitting this film.

Speaker 3 (42:20):
Agreed. I like the music.

Speaker 2 (42:29):
All right, it's signed for Doctor Fibes to Rise again.
Let's jump into that plot.

Speaker 3 (42:33):
All right. Well, we talked about how I don't think
you really need to watch these movies in order, especially
because at the beginning of this movie they give a
recap of the previous one.

Speaker 2 (42:41):
Yeah, they're just like previously on Doctor Fibes, and you
get a full recap.

Speaker 3 (42:45):
That's right. So we get this narration by a man
with a deep serious voice saying, the incredible legends of
the abominable Doctor Fibes began a few short years ago,
all of them unfortunately. True narrator here, by the way,
is the late voice actor and announcer Gary Owens, who
was apparently also the original voice of Hannah Barbera's Space Ghost.

(43:10):
Among his many narrator and announcer credits going back to
the early sixties, if you look at his at his
like IMDb credits, you know he played like a radio
announcer or announcer of some kind in like all the
TV show McHale's Navy and stuff. But one of his
earliest credits I found was the Texas Duke of Schlock
Larry Buchanan's nineteen sixty one film The Naked Witch. You

(43:34):
will never guess what this movie is about, but the
film is notable to me because despite the rather bold
pitch of the title, literally the first ten minutes of
the film are just Gary Owens talking about witchcraft while
we pan over Hieronymous Bosh paintings. So like and Owen.
The movie is less than an hour long in total,

(43:56):
so like a full fifteen percent of it right at
the beginning is just Gary Owens going on about you
know they would gather at midnight for orgies of filth
and depravity. But anyway, yeah, shows you you can start
with Larry Buchanan and work your way up to an
American international picture. Yeah, recapping the deeds of Vincent Price.

(44:18):
But anyway, here's what we learned from the recap, and
it is spoken with tremendous authority by g. Gary Owens.
So we learned that doctor Anton Fibes did amazing murders
that is a quote, amazing murders of diabolical revenge in London,
revenge against whom and for what, against those responsible for
the death of his beloved wife Victoria, and for the

(44:40):
destruction of his own face, which is revealed right at
the beginning of this movie. I don't remember how long
they made you wait to see it in the movie before,
but this time you get it right at the top.
It's basically a groady skull face without lips with kind
of zipper teeth, but he wears a mask that makes
him look like Vincent Price with pale, purplish makeup on.

Speaker 2 (45:02):
Yeah, I think he has a little bit there's a
little bit of like clockwork as well, you know, like
some gadgets, you know, because he's been his voice has
been reconstructed and so forth.

Speaker 3 (45:11):
We see him eat and drink through a hole in
the back of his neck. He like reaches back. There's
a joke in this movie where at one point Vulnavia
cooks a fish for him and he gets a fork
full of the fish and sticks it in the hole
in the back of his neck and then looks distressed
and then pulls a bone out of his neck.

Speaker 2 (45:29):
Yeah. I would describe the look of unmasked Vibes as
kind of like steampunk Google.

Speaker 3 (45:34):
Yeah, yeah, there you go. And speaking of the steampunk
or the mechanisms, we are reminded that the only way
Fibes can speak is through quote an ingenious mechanism in
his neck. So basically, it's a hose jack that goes
into the side of his neck. He screws the hose
into it and it allows him to talk through machines
of various kinds. So he'll hook it up to a

(45:55):
phonograph and he can speak through a phonograph or to
an organ, or to like a tuba or a suzophone. Yeah,
though I recall I feel like in the first movie
he didn't talk as much as he does in this one.

Speaker 2 (46:07):
I think so. I think he was more mute in
the first film and would pick and choose the times
when he spoke. And this he's just constantly going on
and on like it's you know, it's the funk of
forty thousand years. Yes, every fifteen minutes or.

Speaker 3 (46:21):
So, my be levied Victoria, we will live for eternity
to gather.

Speaker 2 (46:27):
Yes.

Speaker 3 (46:28):
So we're told in the narration that the most brilliant
minds of Scotland Yard were baffled by the amazing murders,
each more fiendish than the last. And in the sound
proved basement of his mansion, no one could hear his
flambuoyant songs of triumph and revenge played on his organ
and by his ingenious clockwork musicians. This is another thing

(46:49):
from the first movie. He has a robot band.

Speaker 2 (46:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (46:52):
The name of the band is on the kick drum.
They're called the Clockwork Wizards.

Speaker 2 (46:56):
Oh wow, I forgot about that. Yeah, the Clockwork Wizards.

Speaker 3 (47:00):
Yeah, kind of electric Wizard. Yeah. So anyway, at the
end of the last movie, what happened is the police
are closing in and doctor Phibes put himself into suspended
life next to Victoria, his wife, who's also in suspended life.
He does a kind of self embalming procedure where he
replaces his blood with embalming fluid.

Speaker 2 (47:19):
Yeah. Yeah, and this is all pretty groovy, and I
have to stress the recap here makes it clear that
we are not abandoning the tone of the first film, right,
you know, we're not doing a soft relaunch of the brand.
We're not you know, going into some sort of a gritty,
you know, exploration of the topic, you know, praise of Cyrus,
because we're sticking to what were right.

Speaker 3 (47:40):
So we come in three years later and what was
it Vincent Price is waiting for before he resurrects himself.
It's something about the heavens.

Speaker 2 (47:48):
Yeah, so we basically were quickly told that he did
not join his wife and death at the end of
the last film after all, but rather entered to the
state of suspended animation until like astronomical or astrological conditions
are such that it befits his grander scheme, which of
course concerns resurrection and internal life.

Speaker 3 (48:09):
And Vincent Price really hams it up on his resurrection
and what he does when he first comes awake.

Speaker 2 (48:16):
Oh yeah, glorious resurrection music again that has that just
heightened over the top religious air. That the wafting of incense,
and once more to that amazing electric organ that he
plays with like the red neon lights. It's covered in
dust now, but you know, he sets down and he
begins to play.

Speaker 3 (48:35):
Yeah, we see him dusting off the keys, like cracking
his knuckles dramatically. He hooks up his neckos and tells
us that he timed his resurrection to a position of
the moon that last occurred two thousand years ago. And
then we're gonna learn about his plot. He says, we
shall embark to the land of Egypt, where years ago,

(48:55):
in a mountain overlooking the valley of Pharaoh's I did
prepare for us a wonder shrine unknown by any living
man there might be loved. Awaits the key to resurrection
for you and eternal life for both of us.

Speaker 2 (49:11):
So there you have it.

Speaker 3 (49:11):
There's the mission, right, and a lot of what Vincent
Price says for the rest of the film is just
variations on that over and over again. Yeah, like you
will be resurrected. I possess the secret key. I know
how Egypt will save us. But fortunately Fibes is not
going to have to accomplish this mission alone.

Speaker 2 (49:31):
Yep, because here it comes vull Nava and she basically
just appears. She kind of just comes drifting out of
this crystal hallway. Again, it's kind of an ambiguous whether
she is now an angel or a muse, a robot,
or some supernatural being that aids Vibes in his quest.

(49:51):
But I guess she has corporeal form because she helps
him book travel arrangements with later on. So she has
a physical reality, But we don't know exactly what she is,
and I guess we don't have to in a film
of this tone.

Speaker 3 (50:04):
Yeah, yeah, you don't know, and you don't need to know.
She basically he says her name, She materializes from thin air,
She pushes through some bead curtains and like vamps her
way up to the organ throne and it just works.

Speaker 2 (50:18):
Yeah. I like to think she's a muse. In the
Greek mythological tradition though.

Speaker 3 (50:23):
Okay, yeah, oh, And he further explains his plot to her.
He says, thank you my idea for answering my call.
Upstairs in my safe is a most precious map of papyrus,
a way to a FAO's tomb, under which flows once
every two thousand years, the river of life. We must
make haste and find the river at its flood? Should

(50:45):
we do a sidebar here on what exactly is going
on between Fibes and Volnavia. So, Rachel and I watched
this movie together, and we both had questions about this
because while the goal is for Fibes to resurrect his
beloved wife and they can live together again, it almost

(51:05):
seems like he and Volnavia are an item. I don't
know if, like if Victoria is gonna wake up and
be like, now you will be my second wife. Like
Vulnavia and him, they dance around, they seem to go
on dates sort of. I don't know exactly what the
nature of their relationship is, but it seems they're more
than just friends. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (51:27):
I guess that's another reason I kind of land on
the meuse identification because it seems like there is a
closeness there, but maybe there is just something inherently preventing
them from being an item, Like she is a Greek
ancient Greek supernatural being that just wants to see him
be his best self and achieve his artistic dreams. But

(51:50):
you know they can never actually be together or I mean,
I don't know. Don't we know that he really loves
his wife and he wants her back, and maybe, I
don't know, maybe they have more of a a libertine
arrangement when it comes to these things.

Speaker 3 (52:06):
Yeah, I don't. I mean, to be clear, we never
see them like kissing or anything like that. It's never
that over. It's just ambiguous what's going on with the
two of them anyway. Oh, but we get a wonderful
set piece here because Vulnavia joins Vincent Price at the
organ and he's like playing the music, and then what
happens We get the elevator organ.

Speaker 2 (52:26):
Yeah, yeah, it rises up into what should be the
Fibes mansion that I guess is held in some sort
of a trust or something or has robots looking after it.
But much to Fibes' irritation, Uh oh, they've ascended not
into this mansion, but into its ruins. Everything is just
initially it's like a post apocalyptic ruined hellscape, and you're.

Speaker 3 (52:48):
Like, what happened They like pop up in the prologue
of Terminator two. Yeah, that's it's just this gray world
of dust and skulls, I mean not quite skulls, but
the house is completely ruined and it's like a wasteland.
And and Fibes demonstrates his disappointment by playing a dissonant

(53:08):
chord on the organ. Also, I should know that somehow,
I think they have like magically they've like changed clothes
by coming up, because now Volnava is wearing the tall
furry hat that she wears in part one, and I'm
glad to see that's back.

Speaker 2 (53:21):
Excellent.

Speaker 3 (53:22):
But so they go searching for his safe among the
rebel to get the papyrus, and Fibes finds it empty,
and he's furious. Who could have stolen his precious papyrus
map Only someone who seeks eternal life as he does,
and does he immediately know who? Does he? Just at
this point say bide Beck, I think he does.

Speaker 2 (53:43):
Ah, Because right after this we cut to bite her
back and we get to meet him, and we instantly
see this is a man that is very determined, a
man obsessed with the pursuit of eternal life via ancient
Egyptian sorcery. And we meet him in his study attended
by Hugh Griffith from the first film here playing his

(54:03):
archaeologist Buddy Ambrose.

Speaker 3 (54:05):
Now we've talked about the sets in the movie, and
a lot of the sets are doctor Fib's mansion with
the beautiful organ and the clockwork band and the weird
lights and all that, and the layer he sets up
inside the temple. But another one is just at bider
becks house, his wreck room. Here. It is glorious. It's
got a snooker table, roaring fireplace, priceless stolen art from

(54:27):
ancient Egypt on the walls, and this brigade of like
six identical forest green pendant lamps that hang down to
like like chest height.

Speaker 2 (54:36):
What. Yeah, it's a stunning shot when we first see him,
because we see the lamps and then a reflection of
the lamps and then bider Becks figure in the background.
Like it's a great case of just initially introducing a
character with enough visual flare that you don't know who
this guy is, but you can tell that he's important.

Speaker 3 (54:54):
Yes, and he is important. Bider Beck and Ambrose are
adventuring archaeologists who have been scouting out locations in Egypt
looking for a particular temple where the pharaohs of old
would access the secrets of eternal life. And bider Beck
reveals he's got the papyrus. He was contacted by a
dealer who discovered this papyrus in the ruins of a
demolished mansion in Maldi and Square because of his interest

(55:18):
in the document. Well because so like it was known
among the world of antiques dealers that he wanted this papyrus,
and so they found it and they brought it to him.
And I guess this is also how Fibes knew that
bider Beck would have wanted it like that. He it
was just known that this guy was looking for it.
And then later we see Fibes spying on the wreck

(55:38):
room through the window, so he's here, he knows what's up.

Speaker 2 (55:41):
Yeah, So bider Beck explains to Ambrose that astronomy is
the key to understanding the secrets hidden in the ancient
Egyptian papyrus they obtained from the ruins. And then this
is actually at least a casual nod to the importance
the ancient Egyptians placed on the movement of the heavens.
Though this, of course, is not the sort of film
to get serious in its egyptomania.

Speaker 3 (56:02):
No, it's it's not engaging very deeply, like they make
references to the Book of the Dead and stuff, but
I think it is a very loose relationship to actual
Egyptian mythology. Yeah, anyway, Ambrose is like bider Beck, you
are a respected intellectual. You are acclaimed as one of
he says, one of the most brilliant minds in the
Western Hemisphere. He says, yet you seem obsessed with the spiritual,

(56:27):
the mythical aspect of life, and bider Beck responds, of course,
I'm obsessed with life. Like that's not quite what he said.
But anyway, he says, and somewhere in Egypt that obsession
will be answered. So we learned that they are headed
to Egypt to find the temple, and bider Beck promises
Ambrose that he can keep whatever gold they find, because
bider Beck is not interested in gold he has he

(56:50):
has his sight set on a different prize. Now Here
are the film kind of toys with some of the
some of that lost ancient knowledge lore because Darius spider
Beck knows the location of the temple is called the
Temple of Ibysis because of maps from thousands of years
ago containing information that was not thought to have been

(57:11):
discovered until after the Renaissance, things like the existence of
rings around Saturn, and so these maps contain, you know,
information that we didn't think the ancient Egyptians could have known,
and these maps somehow also point out the location of
the temple. Anyway, time to meet our non Fibes aligned
heroine Diana. Bider Beck is Diana's fiance, and she barges

(57:34):
into the snooker room dressed to the nine. She's got
like a beautiful dress and furs, and she's like, oh,
didn't you remember, darling, we are having dinner with the princess.
So Darius goes up to change for dinner, and speaking
to Ambrose, Diana reveals that she is not excited about
going to Egypt. She explains that that Darius has been

(57:55):
so preoccupied with something lately and this trip seems to
be all he can think about. So she is an
unsatisfied woman whose fiance has she knows he's hiding something.
He has some kind of secret and she can't get
it out of him anyway. On the way out of
the house, we meet Bider becks Manservant Chang here, who
we talked about earlier. They leave, and Chang by himself

(58:16):
at the house, plays snooker, and outside we see Volnavia
like with a car unloading a giant wicker basket from
the trunk, and she gives the basket a shake, which
is funny. And here we get to amazing murder number one.

Speaker 2 (58:31):
Yeah, so this is your classic clockwork viper slash, real
viper fake out into a death by pneumatic golden spike
shape like a snake hidden in the telephone that goes
through your brain. The victim, of course, is Manservant Chang.

Speaker 3 (58:45):
This is so good. So yeah, he's playing snooker, he
hears snakes, he sees snakes, He kills one of the
snakes with his pool cue. Then he realized. He picks
up the body and realizes it was not a real snake.
It was a clockwork snake. Then he sees another snake
and he's like, ah, it's just a clockwork snake. So

(59:07):
he picks it up and then realizes that there's like
a wind up clockwork piece of it, but it's not
actually part of the snake. It's just taped to a
real snake. And then the real snake bites him, and
then he realizes the bite is venomous, and he like
cuts it and tries to suck out the poison and
then runs to the telephone I guess, to call for help,
and then the telephone is booby trapped and sends a

(59:30):
spike through his brain.

Speaker 2 (59:31):
Yeah, the spike is a gut is made of gold,
or at least colored gold, and shape like a snake.
It's wonderful.

Speaker 3 (59:38):
Now, I don't want to spoil the fun, but my
question is, did Fibes in Vulnavia need the snakes? Couldn't
they have hear me out here, called the telephone and
spiked him when he answered, well.

Speaker 2 (59:51):
Where's the fun in that? It is absolutely essential. The
snakes are key here.

Speaker 3 (59:55):
Okay, yeah, but so yeah, they spike him, and then
they go to the safe and they get bider Beck's papyrus.
They get vibes of papyrus back. It was rightfully his.
That's right.

Speaker 2 (01:00:07):
So we're off to a really great start with just
an overly elaborate kill here.

Speaker 3 (01:00:13):
So later we see the police investigating and it's Inspector
Trout again. So the main thrust of the scene is
bider Beck being like, look, I don't care that this
man is dead. I want my stolen papyrus back at once.
Their conversation is pretty funny. Bider Beck insists that the
culprit is a common thief because he says that no
one who knew of the value of the papyrus would

(01:00:36):
have stolen it, would have stolen it or done a murder.
And Trout is like, wait, you're saying a common thief
killed your man servant with live snakes and clockwork snakes
and a booby trapped murder telephone, And bider Beck is like,
what are you implying. I think the idea is this
was a known assailant, This was a premeditated in some way.

(01:01:08):
So yeah, we're about to head off to Egypt, but first.

Speaker 2 (01:01:11):
We get another organ monologue here from Fibes, and he
lets us know that he's already been to Egypt and
he's built a palace beneath the stone to await this
key moment, So you know, don't spend a lot of
time trying to construct the timeline here of when Vibes
had the time to make this earlier. You know, maybe

(01:01:32):
it was, you know, earlier in his career and as
a doctorate of theology. But just trust us. He's been there,
he scoped it out, he's created a layer, and now
it's time to go back and get the job done.

Speaker 3 (01:01:45):
That's right. And they're going to travel by steamship.

Speaker 2 (01:01:47):
Mm hmm, oh man. And do they ever travel?

Speaker 3 (01:01:50):
This is great. Fibes in Volnavia are not traveling light.
So first of all, they take along Carolyn Monroe in
this giant barbie box. It's like a human sized, sealed
display case with a glass front. It's got purple curtains,
carnival lights all around it, sometimes a microphone inside, like
she's about to sing a jazz number, but unfortunately she

(01:02:11):
never does. And then they also take the clockwork wizards
with them, so the robot band comes along on the trip,
and this will continue to play a role in the plot.

Speaker 2 (01:02:21):
See Vulnavia accepts and supports doctor Fibes utterly. She's not saying,
do we really need to bring a robot band? In
twenty seven elaborate death elaborate death traps on our voyage. No, no,
she just makes it happen because she knows that this
is who he needs to be.

Speaker 3 (01:02:37):
Yeah, she has faith in his vision. So on the ship. Oh,
also we see like Vincent Price and Vlnavia just like
waltzing on the deck. You know, they're they're really they're
excited about their trip. Fibes is monologuing with his neck
plug plugged into a phonograph about how Victoria will rise
again and he will hold her in his arms. And
then we go to bider Beck's cabin, where we got

(01:03:00):
a plot reveal. Bider Beck is writing in his diary.
He says, I am taking three drops of my elixir
of life. The vials are almost empty. If I fail
in Egypt, I am doomed. Then we see him dole
out a few drops into a tiny spoon and swallow them.

Speaker 2 (01:03:17):
Yeah, and so this is our first realization that bider
Beck really isn't a normal person. He's not just an
an exceptional human, but there is something unnatural about him,
because he's maintaining this appearance of being like, you know,
a well maintained middle aged man kind of. But how
old is he really? How long has he been taking

(01:03:39):
this magical elixir to sustain his life?

Speaker 3 (01:03:43):
Right, So we have this idea now of why bider
Beck is so desperate to get to Egypt and get
to the temple. He's using this elixir to stay alive
and he's almost out of it. This is his last
chance to survive. After he takes the drops, he like
goes and examines his skin in the mirror as if
he worried, like is it working? And we also see

(01:04:03):
that he keeps this secret closely guarded, so he goes
to hide the elixir when somebody comes near, and then
we see bider Beck and Ambrose discuss how the mountain
temple holds a great secret. He's not going to reveal
it just yet. And Diana is like listening at the door,
hoping to discover the root of her fiance's obsession, but
no dice. So Ambrose leaves the cabin, giving way to

(01:04:26):
Amazing murder number two.

Speaker 2 (01:04:28):
Yeah, so basically Ambrose goes into the ship's hold here
to get something like research materials or something. I forget
exactly what he's down there for.

Speaker 3 (01:04:35):
Yeah, he's looking for something, and the like the captain
and not the cabin somebody's showing him around, but he
gets distracted when he comes across some large set pieces.

Speaker 2 (01:04:45):
Yeah, there's a giant Miller's gin bottle. Now I'm unsure
if doctor Phibes brought this or if this is like
some sort of a promotional thing for Miller's Gin that
they're about to do, like either in Egypt or some
their port of call.

Speaker 3 (01:05:00):
It's like a giant advertisement. So it's a giant Miller's
brand gin bottle with cardboard cutouts of chorus dancers. I
don't know. But then he stumbles across Fibes's cargo, including
Victoria in her original packaging and the clockwork wizards, and
he starts like fiddling around with the controls on them,

(01:05:22):
and he shouldn't have done that, because then he is
ambushed by Fibes, and we don't see in exactly what form,
but we see Fibes at the edge of the ship
clearly throwing something overboard. And then later bider Beck is
visited in his cabin by Peter Cushing, playing the captain
of the ship, and he explains that he's been circling
the area for hours and he pledges to use every power,

(01:05:44):
his every power to find Ambrose in the hope of
rescuing him, and bider Beck is like, nah, this has
taken too long. Put us back on the original course
at once.

Speaker 2 (01:05:52):
Yep, But then we then we're gonna find out, Okay,
how did he kill Ambrose? Why did we see that
giant gin bottle? How are these two things gonna possibly
be connected? While Ambrose washes up on shore inside dead
inside the giant.

Speaker 3 (01:06:08):
Gin bottle, one of the police that's recovering him from
the water is like, how do you get in there
in the first place? And the other one says, blighter
must have drunk his way in.

Speaker 2 (01:06:19):
Yeah, So we have no idea, there's no there's no
explanation for how he got Ambrose into the bottle.

Speaker 3 (01:06:25):
So the murder of Ambrose leads to the police inquery.
Here where we start, we meet our main two police characters.
I guess we've already met Inspector Trout, but we also
meet his boss, Superintendent Waverley, and they have a sort
of vaudeville comedy duo. Dynamic Trout is I think the
way I put it is that Trout is like simple

(01:06:46):
literal and not too bright, but he's usually correct, whereas
Waverley is uptight and irritable and usually wrong. We learn
from their interaction that Ambrose's body has been recovered from
the sea, and for some reason, Trout is involved in
this investigation. I'm not quite sure why, yeah, but so

(01:07:07):
they through them, we meet several other characters who are
not going to come back. We just like get some
clues from them. So they get a visit from Beryl Reed,
playing a relative of Ambrose. This is only one year
before her role in Psychomania, as I think she is
the witchcraft, the witchcraft practicing mother of our sort of

(01:07:28):
Nigel Toughnell youth.

Speaker 2 (01:07:29):
Yeah, yes, you're right on that. Yes, she was the
witch She had like second billion in that yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:07:33):
Yeah yeah. And then we also get a visit from
Terry Thomas, who plays a sniveling, lecherous booking agent of
the steamship that all of our characters took to Egypt,
and by gathering details from him, I think this is
how the cops put together that the murderer must be Fibes.
What exactly were the deciding factors here? I think the

(01:07:54):
elaborateness of the murders and the fact that he's traveling
with clockwork musicians.

Speaker 2 (01:07:59):
I think that'll do it. That's enough evidence that you
can get any any court in the land to agree
with you. It's all right, this is probably Fibes.

Speaker 3 (01:08:07):
So the parties all arrive in Egypt. We get the scene.
It's a great scene where Fibes in Vulnavia are like,
I don't know, they're having like a lunch date in
this tent on top of a sand dune, and Volnavia
has cooked a fish. And this is the bone scene.
The bone and the next scene, and then they enter
the temple under the mountain where Fibes has established a

(01:08:29):
jazzy layer I think with electricity maybe.

Speaker 2 (01:08:32):
Yeah, yeah, it's it's a it's like a full Art
deco kind of thing. They're still working on it a
little bit. We see scenes later where they're they're painting
and so forth. So it's a full production, but clearly
a lot of work has been done. Right.

Speaker 3 (01:08:46):
So bider Beeck, we learn, has hired a team of
archaeologists and workers to help him unearth the secrets of
the temple. And of course these guys are just you know,
meat for Fibes traps, and this is really what most
of the rest of the movie consists of maybe we'll
kind of zoom out and talk more loosely about the
plot from here on out, because what it is for

(01:09:08):
the rest of the movie is is Fibes and bider
Beck competing for control of the mechanism that will allow
them to access eternal life underneath this temple. And the
mechanism is there's like a sarcophagus, there's a big box,
and then it also has a mechanism underneath it that
releases a key, and with the box and the key,

(01:09:32):
you can access this area underneath the temple where when
the moon reaches a certain height and the waters drained
away from the nile, you can go into this passageway
with the gates opened by the key, and that will
grant you eternal life. Is that how you understood it?

Speaker 2 (01:09:50):
Yeah, Base, It becomes increasingly mythic towards the end of
this obviously that this is going to be a magical
river to eternal life somewhere in the underworld this temple.

Speaker 3 (01:10:01):
Right, But along the way, Fibes has to do a
bunch more amazing murders.

Speaker 2 (01:10:05):
Yeah, and so amazing murder number three is probably the
least creative of the murders. This one is just a
hawk attack. We've we've already seen this trained hawk hanging
out with fibes, so it's not a surprise that he
has one and it kills. I think the victim is
this guy Shavers. He gets, you know, his face scraped
up by the bird and then you know, some of

(01:10:26):
his throat torn out or something, and there's some blood.
I mean, it's it's telling that this is the laziest
fibes murder and it involved him probably like training this
bird from birth or something.

Speaker 3 (01:10:40):
Yeah, it's like it's some kind of eagle or something,
and yeah, it just tears up his face and then
we see it eating little bits of his flesh. Yeah,
it's one of the archaeologists that works for bider Beck.
I think it's understandable that this is the least elaborate
murder because they just got in from long travel. I mean,
you can imagine they're jet lagged and so he doesn't

(01:11:00):
have time to like put together a bunch of equipment.

Speaker 2 (01:11:03):
Yeah, but all man does he make up for it
with the next one, because amazing Murder Number four is
your classic scorpion death chair with the key dropped inside
a plastered dog in his master's voice tableau. But the
plaster dog is full of live scorpions.

Speaker 3 (01:11:20):
Right, So this is one of the workers at Biderbecks camp.
He had been like ogling Diana, like, you know, staring
at her silhouette as she undresses in her tent, and
so he's he's established as the lecherous assistant. And then
of course Volnavia is like, oh hi, I'm just a
random beautiful woman walking out of the desert. Come with me.

(01:11:42):
And he's like okay, And so he goes to her
tent and then she locks him in a metal like
a gold scorpion that stabs his arms with spikes.

Speaker 2 (01:11:53):
Yeah, the claws, the claws.

Speaker 3 (01:11:54):
Of the scorpion. Yeah. And then you think maybe the
stinger of the scorpion statue is going to stab him,
but it doesn't. Instead, it's implied that the key to
releasing him from this contraption is inside this plaster dog
you mentioned. So he breaks the dog and is full
of scorpions, and the scorpions crawl all over him, including
like crawling crawling under his shirt and crawling down his pants,

(01:12:17):
and I guess stinging him to death.

Speaker 2 (01:12:19):
That's right, yeah, And it and it is tremendous. It's
a tremendous kill. I still have no idea what the
whole his master's voice thing with the dog and the
record player man like the RCA Victor dog motif. But
it's part of it. It's part of the his plan,
it's part of his design, so it must be important somehow.

Speaker 3 (01:12:41):
Now throughout this whole process, Diana is becoming increasingly wary
because she uncovers the body of the of the guy
who gets eaten by the eagle, that's like somehow buried
under her tent. I don't know how that was arranged.
She like digs him up, and she's like, something is
not right here. We really need to get out of here.

(01:13:02):
Why won't you reveal your secrets to me? And Bider
becks Still he's keeping the secrets. He doesn't let her know,
all right.

Speaker 2 (01:13:08):
So the next amazing murder, Amazing murder number five. This
is the one that the trailer you heard earlier refers
to as the sausage machine. It's not really a sausage machine.
It's not really that gross, but what it is is
death by solow compression in a giant vertical screw driven
press while a giant fan outside generates enough wind, howling wind,

(01:13:29):
to cover the sounds of the victim screams. And we
should also note that just prior to this, before the
victim drifted off to sleep, what was he reading. He
was reading The Turn of the Screw.

Speaker 3 (01:13:42):
Perfect. It's like it's like Evil Dead two with the
Farewell to Arms. Yeah, yeah, so this one is this
one is one of the silliest because it ends up
with him like he gets squeezed into a hole in
a little box and then his head pops out the
other side. The other characters come and look at it
later and uh again, this is like this. So we

(01:14:05):
were talking about how earlier there's not even really a
very uh clear uh motive of revenge. But at least,
like say, with the previous guy, you could say, well,
like he was being a creep ogling Diana. So like
when you see him get killed there, it's like, okay,
at least he was being a creep directly before this.
But this guy, I don't recall that this guy was

(01:14:27):
doing anything.

Speaker 2 (01:14:28):
Now, this was the likable of the two. Yeah, he
gets this this Grizzly novel death as well.

Speaker 4 (01:14:33):
Oh.

Speaker 3 (01:14:33):
Also, we should mention that somehow the police from London
make their way to Biderbacks camp and they're like they're
sleeping in the back of their truck and while the
scene is going on, having like goofy conversations about the wind.

Speaker 2 (01:14:45):
Yes, yeah, it's unclear of why they have jurisdiction in Egypt,
but they're here. So basically at this point in the film, uh,
bier Back and Vibes still after the key, you know,
back and forth there they've been in. The other people
in bider Becks camp have convinced him, you know, this
is really dangerous. Maybe you should send your girlfriend back.

(01:15:08):
Maybe well actually they say you should leave too, but
he's like, no, I'm staying. I'll send her back. And
so there's a scene where Hackett, one of the other
guys working for bider Back, is like, Okay, I'll take
her back in the truck, back to the port or whatever. Yeah,
and this is where we get amazing murder number six.
This is death by Patriotic Music and flag distraction utilizing
clockwork humanoid musicians. These are the clockwork wizards transitioning into

(01:15:32):
a lethal in vehicle sand blasting booby trap where the
sand blasts all the skin off of the victim and
reduces him to a sand covered skeleton.

Speaker 3 (01:15:41):
Yes, So as they're driving away, Hackett sees the British
flag flying on the other side of a sand dune,
and then they hear bagpipes and he goes, look, it's
the Scottish fusiliers. Ah, now we're saved from whoever's doing
all these elaborate murders because we'll just go get their help.
I think they actually know it's Vibes at this point,
they're like, the Vibes can't stand against the British military.

(01:16:03):
So Hackett leaves Diana in the car and he runs
over the sand dune. Yeah, and he just finds the
clockwork musicians there and so he's disappointed, runs back to
the car. Diana is missing, she's been taken and when
he gets in the car he gets sand blasted to death.

Speaker 2 (01:16:16):
So at this point where we lead into the final setting,
So basically Fibes has Diana and he has put her
in Amazing murder Machine number seven. This is intended to
be death by slowly lowering snake themed ceiling spikes into
all inside a custom flooded pyramid of doom. So Diana

(01:16:40):
is strapped in there and basically like it comes down
to this confrontation between Fibes and bider Beck. Look, you
have the key, bider Beck. You've got to give it
to me, otherwise your girlfriend's going to die in this
pyramid of doom I built. And this is the final confrontation.

Speaker 3 (01:16:56):
That's right. And you know, there's an interesting turn at
the end because while we've seen bider Beck mostly being
selfish and uncaring about the deaths of his friends and
associates as he pursues this way of escaping his doom
and getting eternal life, at the very end of bider
Beck is actually, I guess shown to be kind of
sympathetic because he tries to argue his way out of

(01:17:17):
it with Fibes. He tries to find a way to
get the better of this, but in the end he
is convinced that the only way he can save Diana
is to give Fibes the key, and he does, and
so he gives up the key, goes to rescue Diana,
and then when he sees that she's gonna be all right,
he runs back and he tries to gain access to

(01:17:38):
the gates to get into the river of eternal life,
but he just misses his window. Fibes takes Victoria on
like a bull barge, little little boat, going down into
this tunnel, and we're left with bider Becks there at
the gates, like rattling them, shaking, shouting, fib.

Speaker 2 (01:17:57):
And then he rapidly ages, and I guess it's uncertain
whether he dies or not or if he's just like
super old, right.

Speaker 3 (01:18:05):
Yeah, it's never made clear. We see him rapidly aging.
It's like, you know, it's like at the end of
the Last CRUs Indian Jones and the Last Crusade, like
his hair gets long and white and he gets all wrinkly.
But then we never see him crumble to dust or anything,
and his fate after that is not shown, so we're
left wondering does he die or is he just greatly aged.

(01:18:25):
So Diana in the end is okay, and so that's good.

Speaker 2 (01:18:28):
Yeah, And so we end seeing doctor Fibbes and Victoria
on their boat sailing down this tunnel into the darkness,
into the underworld and presumably eternal life. And while this
is taking place, doctor Fibbes begins to sing the lyrics
to Somewhere Over the Rainbow, the song that also capped

(01:18:49):
off the first film, only this time Doctor Phibbs is
actually singing it. So what a treat, right, Yeah, a
strong choice. I think I like it, So I guess
happy ending. Really, we didn't get any more Fibes films.
I don't know what happens in the novels, but as
far as just the cinematic universe of doctor Fibes, this
is victory for him. He will now live forever. Victoria

(01:19:12):
will live again and live forever beside him, and who
knows what kind of adventures they'll get into.

Speaker 3 (01:19:18):
Then we will see them together plotting elaborate revenge murders
against like people who have wronged them in incredibly petty ways.

Speaker 2 (01:19:26):
Well, you know, there's always the possibility. I don't think
he ever realized that Joseph Cotton's character from the first
film got away. I think he assumed he died, but
he didn't, So there's always that. Finally, one little thing
I was wondering about. Okay, we have all these animal deaths,
and you know what, we have snake, and then we
have like a jar essentially we have hawk scorpion, some
sort of press sand snake. I was wondering if these

(01:19:50):
are supposed to be interpreted as hieroglyphics, because there are
hieroglyphics that contain these basic elements. But I have no
idea how to build upon that as to like what
it would mean, like maybe the hiergovics just spell out
fibes or something.

Speaker 3 (01:20:02):
I don't know. Vibes was here. I can't comment. Yeah,
I like it though, So.

Speaker 2 (01:20:09):
There you have it. Doctor Fibes Rises again from nineteen
seventy two. This one's a real treat. If you enjoyed
the first film, highly recommend you check out the sequel
here again you can. You can find it pretty much
anywhere you get your movies. Just a reminder that Stuff
to Blow your Mind is primarily a science podcast with
core episodes and the podcast feed on Tuesdays and Thursdays,

(01:20:30):
short form episode on Wednesdays, listener mail on Mondays, and
on Fridays. We set aside most serious concerns to just
talk about a weird movie here on Weird House Cinema.
And if you want a full list of all those
movies that we've covered over the years, and sometimes a
peek ahead at what comes next, go over to letterbox
dot com is l E T t E r box
d dot com Our username is weird House. You'll find
the list there.

Speaker 3 (01:20:50):
Huge thanks, as always to our excellent audio producer JJ Posway.
If you would like to get in touch with us
with feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest
a topic for the future, or just to say hello,
you can email us at contact at stufft Blow your
Mind dot com.

Speaker 1 (01:21:11):
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