Let's be realistic.

Charming and brutal

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

At the end of the first film, The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971), the titular genius laid himself to rest in suspended animation after laying his vengeance upon the ones he blamed for the death of his wife, Victoria. Three years later, when the moon aligns itself with the planets in a way not seen for a thousand years, Phibes (Vincent Price) rises again, and this time he is in search of the elusive River of Life, which promises resurrection for Victoria and immortality for the two of them. Discovering that a sacred scroll containing the map to the River of Life has been stolen by the equally demented Darrus Biederbeck (Robert Quarry), Phibes, along with his beautiful assistant Vulnavia (Valli Kemp), heads to Egypt where the tomb is hidden, murdering anyone who dares stand in his way.With director Robert Fuest returning for the sequel, there's a real sense of continuity to the film, especially when a few actors - their characters slain in the first - occasionally pop up as for cameos that play out like small comic vignettes. Yet while, plot- wise, the first film was a relatively straight-forward albeit utterly bonkers tale of revenge, Rises Again is almost like a heist film, as two rival men, both mad geniuses (with one clearly madder than the other), scrap it out to uncover the most rewarding of prizes. The change of approach is certainly commendable, but it also means there's less fun to be had. Watching Price gleefully butcher a group of hapless doctors in a variety of inventive and preposterous ways in the first instalment was an absolute delight, but Phibes's battle-of-wits with his nemesis here doesn't offer quite the same amount of opportunities for inventive set-pieces.Anyone searching for a bit of tongue-in-cheek horror will certainly get a bit of relief though, as Biederback's team find themselves the poor saps to be routinely offed, this time inspired by Egyptian mythology such a scorpions and a hawk. Sadly, there just isn't quite enough of it. With the blood-letting turned down, Rises Again increases the insanity factors. Sets adorned with psychedelic decoration and Phibes's numerous outrageous costumes means the film is also beautiful to look at. Price looks he is genuinely having a ball and no matter how sadistic his character gets as he demolishes anyone who crosses his path, you'll be rooting for him all the way. At the end, it feels like the story of Dr. Phibes is not quite finished, with American International Pictures' planned sequel unfortunately never coming to fruition.

Dr. Phibes is back after 3 years of being in a state of suspended animation. He awakens from his 3 year slumber to find his home has been wrecked and the papyrus that contained the information he needed to bring his dead wife back to life has been stolen. Needless to say, Dr. Phibes is out for revenge once again. Those that have ruined his chances to resurrect his wife will be destroyed in a cleaver way that only Dr. Phibes can dream up.Good follow-up flick. Almost as good as the first film. Like the first film, the sets and costuming are elaborate, the deaths are bizarre, the humor is quirky and Vincent Price is great.Worth watching... it's best if you watch the first film The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) then watch "Rises Again" but it's not necessary.8/10

The musical master of the macabre is back from the dead, and boy, is he loving it! After entering stage one of the underworld in the first of two films, Dr. Philbes loaded himself up with formaldehyde and went off into a deep sleep, prepared to be woken up by his silent assistant and head off to the next part of his big adventure. In the process, more people have violent and painful deaths, all the more head-turning and difficult to watch than the very first one. While death may not exactly happen on the Nile, it is near the land of the Pharaohs, and if you think Joan Collins had a nervous breakdown when she found herself being enclosed in that 1955 camp epic, wait until you see what happens to modern intruders on Philbes' efforts to find life eternal here.A rather rough looking Mr. Clean wanna-be gets amusement by computerized snakes which interrupt him playing pool. But of course, one of them is real. Yet, this isn't enough to stop the macho muscle man from cutting out the venom, but there's another surprise in store. Hugh Griffith, who had a cameo in the first film as a rabbi, comes across Philbes' musical dummies on the Egyptian bound cruiser, and literally ends up meeting the bottle in one of the funnier (if still macabre) moments, taking the phrase "stuff it!" to extremes. Another one of the explorers intruding in on Philbes' plans ends up with a truly painful demise involving a key he desperately needs in the middle of the most gruesome form of living animals. I had to turn my head throughout this entire sequence but even with that was laughing, half in disgust, half at myself for being such a coward in not being able to watch it. Another goes down "Days of Our Lives" territory where he finds the danger of the sands through the hour glass. Cameos from Peter Cushing, Terry-Thomas (playing a different character who doesn't meet a grizzly end) and Beryl Reid seem pointless.As an artistic looking horror film with much art deco, a wonderful period feel and some brilliant comedy, this succeeds. But as a film and especially as a sequel, it truly feels unnecessary, since the previous movie had wrapped everything up neatly and didn't warrant continuation. There's also a major blunder concerning the silent character of Vulnavia, Philbes' obvious mistress, who was brutally covered in acid at the end of the first film. The recast of the role is supposed to make you assume that the character had some sort of plastic surgery, but certainly, Dr. Philbes' accomplice, even with medical attention needed, would have been incarcerated for life after all the hideous things she helped him accomplish in the first film. The film is obviously a matter of taste, and while the squeamish not need bother, neither should those who look for consistency and pretty much demand that even the worst of horrific films like this have a point. The first one did; The only point this one had for me was the fast-forward button on the remote control.

Vincent Price returns as Dr. Anton Phibes, who is awakened from his three-year slumber by a carefully planned alignment of the stars that brings him back to life, only to be angered that his house was demolished, and the sacred scrolls of life he needs to resurrect his dead wife were stolen. With his assistant Vulnavia, Phibes tracks the thieves to Egypt, where he exacts a terrible revenge against them before retrieving the scrolls, though his arch rival(played by Robert Quarry) does battle with him for their possession.More-of-the-same sequel is made in the same grisly and violent spirit of the first, which sometimes is most uncomfortable viewing. Phibes is a true "antihero" if there ever was one, though if you liked the first, you'll no doubt like this as well.