Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. My name is Rob.
Speaker 3: Lamb and I am Joe McCormick.
Speaker 2: So we had a lot of fun last year discussing
Speaker 2: nineteen seventy one's The Abominable Doctor Fibes, a deliriously fun
Speaker 2: and weird horror camp fest, so I figured it was
Speaker 2: time to come back around and enjoy the continuing adventures
Speaker 2: of everyone's favorite music and theology doctor turned murderous mastermind,
Speaker 2: Doctor Fibes.
Speaker 3: So this is the sequel, the nineteen seventy two film
Speaker 3: Doctor Fibes rises again, once again starring Vincent Price.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Pretty quick turnaround too. Yeah. From seventy one to
Speaker 2: seventy two, Fibes got right back in the fight. And
Speaker 2: as we'll discuss, like, there wasn't a a lot of
Speaker 2: time left for five for five sequel to happen. You know,
Speaker 2: this is the tail end of the of the public's
Speaker 2: consumption of kind of more gothic horror fare, and so
Speaker 2: it looks like there were higher hopes for where the
Speaker 2: franchise could have gone. But at least we got one
Speaker 2: more picture and it's it is quite a lie.
Speaker 3: So looking online, I have seen a lot of reviewers
Speaker 3: commenting that this one's okay, but it's not nearly as
Speaker 3: good as the original, or in general unfavorably comparing it
Speaker 3: to the original. And I'm maybe I'm an outlier here,
Speaker 3: but I got to say, I think I enjoyed this
Speaker 3: at least as much as the first movie. It's I
Speaker 3: can see where the flaws would come in. There are
Speaker 3: some repetitive elements to it, Like you know, when Fibes
Speaker 3: starts monologuing, he's usually just saying the same thing he's
Speaker 3: already said before, but still, like, I never wanted it
Speaker 3: to stop. It's just it's just like a great vibe.
Speaker 3: It's almost like a music video, you know, It's more
Speaker 3: of an experience. If you're really hooked on every detail
Speaker 3: the plot, you might well be kind of disappointed, be like, yeah,
Speaker 3: we already know this information, or I don't know why
Speaker 3: this character is doing this. You put all that aside.
Speaker 3: If you're in the mood for vibes, vibes, it will
Speaker 3: bring them, and it will bring them in a delicious way.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, is this Vincent Price's finest performance? You know?
Speaker 2: But in many ways, no, Like, you can look at
Speaker 2: something like Mask of the Red Death, which we discussed
Speaker 2: in the show, and like, that's a superb Vincent Price
Speaker 2: villain performance. That is, you know, it's very grounded and
Speaker 2: believable and you can see the wheels moving and so forth.
Speaker 2: This is still a great Vincent Price performance. It is
Speaker 2: tremendously entertaining every time you hear him, every time he's
Speaker 2: on the screen, but it is a far different sort
Speaker 2: of performance. It is an unbelievable character in an unbelievable film.
Speaker 3: Yeah, this is the opposite end of the Price spectrum.
Speaker 3: I mean, Vincent Price is often thought of as a
Speaker 3: ham which he absolutely was and could ham it up
Speaker 3: the greatest of all time at hamming really, But with
Speaker 3: Mask of the Red Death it revealed his other side,
Speaker 3: which is he can actually be a quite subtle actor
Speaker 3: when he wants to be, and he had a lot
Speaker 3: of subtlety to his character there. There was a powerful
Speaker 3: understatedness to the way he realized evil in Mask of
Speaker 3: the Red Death. In this movie, yeahs he is trying
Speaker 3: to be funny, and he is extremely funny, especially because
Speaker 3: of all the actors you could cast as a character
Speaker 3: who doesn't move his mouth when he talks. Vincent Price
Speaker 3: is like the weirdest choice there. So this is a
Speaker 3: character that has to essentially speak through an external mechanism.
Speaker 3: We'll describe this later when we get into the plot.
Speaker 3: But so like every time Vincent Price talks in this movie,
Speaker 3: he's just making faces with his mouth closed while like
Speaker 3: a voiceover narration plays in your ears.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's moving his throat a bit, and at times
Speaker 2: I wondered, and I should have looked at into this.
Speaker 2: I'm sure the answer is out there to see whether
Speaker 2: he was actually like mouthing or sort of internally using
Speaker 2: the dialogue, because while perhaps unnecessary for this this sort
Speaker 2: of movie, Vincent Price also has that kind of that
Speaker 2: professional air to him that I would not be surprised
Speaker 2: at all if he was doing that. Like he as
Speaker 2: we discussed in the last picture, you know, he knew
Speaker 2: not only his lines, but the lines of all the
Speaker 2: other characters he was interacting with. So he was a
Speaker 2: consonant pro. But yeah, it is. It is always interesting
Speaker 2: how the Fibes character disconnects him from his own voice
Speaker 2: and yet at the same time, especially in this film,
Speaker 2: and I guess in the first one too, allows all
Speaker 2: of his lines to be introduction or you know, the
Speaker 2: spoken word part of thriller level of campiness, Like he
Speaker 2: just gets to really get in there and grind it out.
Speaker 3: That's right. And I so it's been a while since
Speaker 3: I've seen the original Vibes. I didn't like rewatch it
Speaker 3: before we watched this movie, but I think it would
Speaker 3: be interesting to compare the performances in the two movies
Speaker 3: to see if he really changed his approach to the
Speaker 3: character at all. I feel like he may be leaning
Speaker 3: a bit more into the overt comedy in this one
Speaker 3: though the first movie, don't get me wrong, is it
Speaker 3: is quite intentionally funny. The first movie isn't like taking
Speaker 3: itself real seriously or anything. But I think in this
Speaker 3: one he seems to be going even deeper into the
Speaker 3: ham territory.
Speaker 2: I think that might well be the case. And I
Speaker 2: also feel like in the first Fibes movie there were
Speaker 2: more genuine moments of terror, or at least one key
Speaker 2: sequence of terror, in particular towards the end where you're like, Oh,
Speaker 2: I don't know what's gonna happen. Less so in this picture.
Speaker 2: But yeah, but not in a way that detracts from it.
Speaker 2: It doubles down on the absurdity on the like the
Speaker 2: celebration of doctor Fibes the amazing murders as the movie
Speaker 2: itself describes them. So that's what we get in this picture.
Speaker 3: But there's a another way in which I think this
Speaker 3: sequel works quite well, and in some ways you could
Speaker 3: argue even steps up the game of the original. In
Speaker 3: the original movie, I don't recall Fibes really having an
Speaker 3: antagonist worthy of him at all, and this movie does
Speaker 3: give him that, and he sort of has a structural antagonist.
Speaker 3: It's arguable whether you would call either one of them
Speaker 3: the hero or the villain of the story. But this
Speaker 3: movie introduces a character named Darius bider Beck, who is
Speaker 3: a great foil to Vincent Price because they bring in
Speaker 3: an actor who can also ham it up in a way.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and the character is capable enough to take on
Speaker 2: Doctor Fibes, you know, in a way that threatens the
Speaker 2: plans of doctor Fibes in a way that we didn't
Speaker 2: see in the first film, and also has expertise that
Speaker 2: seems to at least rival that of Fibes in their
Speaker 2: their given area. That becomes the central to plot, which
Speaker 2: is of course ancient Egyptian secret.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, so more to come on that now.
Speaker 2: Quick note, this is the first time in Weird House
Speaker 2: Cinema that we have covered a direct sequel to a
Speaker 2: movie we've already covered. I think the closest we've come
Speaker 2: before concerned the Friday the Thirteenth franchise, where we watched
Speaker 2: Jason Takes Manhattan and then later we covered Jason X.
Speaker 2: But those are not sequential films by any stretch.
Speaker 3: Oh no, there is, unfortunately a Jason Goes to Hell
Speaker 3: in between them, and I would not say that it's
Speaker 3: like you need to see Jason Takes Manhattan to understand
Speaker 3: all the nuances of Jason X. In fact, I would
Speaker 3: not say that about the Fibes movies either. I think
Speaker 3: you could watch these in either order. It really wouldn't matter.
Speaker 3: But yeah, this is kind of interesting that we've covered
Speaker 3: a lot of two's without covering the one. This is
Speaker 3: the first time we've ever done the one and the two.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, And so it's always interesting to think about sequals. Well,
Speaker 2: we've talked about this plenty of times, like why are
Speaker 2: you making a sequel? Like what are you trying to do?
Speaker 2: In addition to, of course, make money. You know, are
Speaker 2: you looking to deliver more of what worked? Are you
Speaker 2: expanding the world, are you digging deeper into the characters,
Speaker 2: are you turning some concept on its head, or you know,
Speaker 2: recreating something for a different audience. I mean that there's
Speaker 2: all of these are valid, and there are many more
Speaker 2: ways that sequels are carried out. This one really does
Speaker 2: feel like, hey, last year we had a party called
Speaker 2: the Abominable Doctor Fibes. Let's throw that party again. Let's
Speaker 2: stick with what works, and hey, everyone's invited, and yeah,
Speaker 2: I think along those lines they pulled it off. Like
Speaker 2: is it gonna feel as fresh as the first film?
Speaker 2: Maybe not, but it's still going to pack some surprises.
Speaker 2: It's still fun. It sticks to the tone, it sticks
Speaker 2: with what works, and there's not a lot else out
Speaker 2: there that compares to it. So it's not like you
Speaker 2: making a you know, a mundane sequel to an already
Speaker 2: mundane horror movie. Like it was already a party.
Speaker 3: I would agree with all that, though, I would say
Speaker 3: it's kind of like if the party you had last
Speaker 3: year was like a related to a one time event,
Speaker 3: like it was a graduation party, and then the next
Speaker 3: year you're not graduating anything, But you're like, let's have
Speaker 3: that party again, because plot wise, the first movie is
Speaker 3: about doctor Fibes putting together these ludicrous, over the top
Speaker 3: revenge murders, and they were all about getting revenge against
Speaker 3: I believe it was the doctors who let his wife,
Speaker 3: who he believed were responsible for his wife dying after
Speaker 3: an accident, like the doctors were unable to save her,
Speaker 3: So he's getting revenge on all of them. In other words,
Speaker 3: there's a reason for the occasion. This movie reproduces the
Speaker 3: elaborate murders, except there is no motive of revenge in them.
Speaker 3: I think basically all of the victims in Fibes Rises
Speaker 3: Again have done nothing that could even really be construed
Speaker 3: as offending Fibes or his wife Victoria. They're just like
Speaker 3: random people who happen to be around.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and he has just elaborate death contraptions lined up
Speaker 2: for people to get in his way because that's the
Speaker 2: kind of artist that he is.
Speaker 3: So yes, it is like revisiting a graduation party when
Speaker 3: nobody's graduating, but like, I don't know, if it was
Speaker 3: a really great party, why not do it again? And
Speaker 3: so that's how I feel about this movie.
Speaker 2: Now to your point too, In the first film, all
Speaker 2: of the not all the movies, all the murders were
Speaker 2: patterned after the different plagues of Egypt. Oh, yes, so
Speaker 2: there was a theological theme to each one. This time,
Speaker 2: I don't think there's a theological theme. There's kind of
Speaker 2: an animal theme to them, I guess. And I do
Speaker 2: have one potential question, like one conspiracy theory if you will,
Speaker 2: about the plot. We'll get into that later.
Speaker 3: Well, I've seen the murders in this movie described as quote,
Speaker 3: desert themed. I I don't know if that applies to
Speaker 3: all of them, but I guess maybe some of them.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Now, originally there were plans for more parties of
Speaker 2: this nature. American International Pictures initially intended this to be
Speaker 2: the first of many fib sequels, including a Bride's of
Speaker 2: Doctor FIBs movie and possible crossover films within the American
Speaker 2: International Pictures horror universe, namely a Fibes Versus count Yorga
Speaker 2: movie more on this in a bit, But none of
Speaker 2: that happened. Again, there were shifts in what the public
Speaker 2: wanted from horror. There were shifts at American International Pictures,
Speaker 2: and so this was the last Fibes picture that we
Speaker 2: actually got those I'll discussed there are some novels out there.
Speaker 2: So if you want to really dig in your heels
Speaker 2: and enjoy more Anton fibes, well, there are ways to
Speaker 2: do it.
Speaker 3: So we have some trailer audio to hit.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we have the old radio spot for Doctor Fibes
Speaker 2: Rises again. Let's hear it.
Speaker 4: Flesh calls, blood curdles, the coffin hasn't been built that
Speaker 4: can hold him. Doctor fives Rises again, five way. Doctor
Speaker 4: Five's Rises again in an even more startling motion picture
Speaker 4: with a whole new gallery of gruesome gimmicks.
Speaker 2: Of torture and murder.
Speaker 4: See the scorpions Embrace, the Eagle's caress the sausage Machine.
Speaker 4: See Doctor Five's I'll duel his enemies with the most
Speaker 4: diabolical devices ever created. See Doctor Five's Rises Again, starring
Speaker 4: Vincent Price as the menacing Fives and Robert Quarry as
Speaker 4: the evil bider Becker. Doctor Five's Rises Again, All new
Speaker 4: from American International Pictures, rated FIGI.
Speaker 3: Parental guiding suggested.
Speaker 4: Doctor Fives Rises Again.
Speaker 2: All right, does that make you want to drive to
Speaker 2: your local cinema?
Speaker 3: Yeah, you can smell the popcorn listening to that.
Speaker 2: Certainly, if you get the chance to see it at
Speaker 2: the cinema, I'd absolutely go for it. But let's talk
Speaker 2: availability in general. Yeah, as with the first film, the
Speaker 2: sequel is widely available for digital rental or streaming, as
Speaker 2: well as part of an excellent KL Studio Classics double
Speaker 2: feature Blu ray Doctor Fives double features what it's called.
Speaker 2: It has some fun extras on it. They have it
Speaker 2: at Video Drum here in Atlanta, and you can pick
Speaker 2: it up for like twenty odd box if you just
Speaker 2: buy it from most retailers, which I think is a
Speaker 2: steal for both movies, and again you get to own
Speaker 2: it as physical media at that point. I watched it
Speaker 2: on the KL release rented from the Drum.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I streamed it. It's available in multiple places.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think I started watching it several weeks back
Speaker 2: on a flight. I like downloaded to my phone before
Speaker 2: I had a flight because I was like, this is
Speaker 2: exactly the kind of popcorn. This is the kind of
Speaker 2: candy I need when I'm flying something like Doctor Fhibes.
Speaker 3: Okay, let's do those connections.
Speaker 2: All right, Starting at the top. The director and writer
Speaker 2: on this one is Robert Fwest nineteen twenty seven through
Speaker 2: twenty twelve, a British director noted for his unique genre style,
Speaker 2: returning here to direct a sequel to nineteen seventy one's
Speaker 2: The Abominable Doctor Fibes. It should come as no surprise
Speaker 2: that he came up through the Avengers TV show before
Speaker 2: making such features as nineteen Seventies and Soon The Darkness,
Speaker 2: a thriller, a nineteen seventy adaptation of Wuthering Heights with
Speaker 2: Timothy Dalton as Heathcliff, followed by the two Doctor Phibes films,
Speaker 2: nineteen seventy three's The Final Program, based on a Michael
Speaker 2: Moorcock novel starring John Finch, and then nineteen seventy five's
Speaker 2: The Devil's Rain, which we previously covered on Weird House
Speaker 2: Cinema as well, and after that mostly TV.
Speaker 3: Oh I forgot that he did The Devil's Reign.
Speaker 2: Yeah Yeah, which is a different type of feel, but
Speaker 2: also one that just really goes all out, at least
Speaker 2: in certain sequences when it comes to like just the
Speaker 2: visual flare and just the absurd weirdness of everything.
Speaker 3: All three of these are texture based movies. I would
Speaker 3: say they're not strongly story driven. They are driven by
Speaker 3: contriving interesting set pieces and scenarios and letting you look
Speaker 3: at them and enjoy the music and the costumes and
Speaker 3: the sets and all that. Absolutely, however, I will say
Speaker 3: I think his two Fibes movies are without a doubt,
Speaker 3: much better than The Devil's Rain.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, The Devil's Rain is irresistible as a satanic
Speaker 2: desert melt movie, but I think Fibes the Fibes films
Speaker 2: have broader appeal.
Speaker 3: Yeah. So the way I would put it is The
Speaker 3: Devil's Rain I think needs to be seen as like
Speaker 3: an artifact, like you should experience it for your edification
Speaker 3: and education. But the Fibes movies are just great.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Now the other writer on this, the other credited
Speaker 2: writer is Robert Bleeze, who lived nineteen eighteen through twenty fifteen.
Speaker 2: American writer and producer with screenplay credits going back to
Speaker 2: the early forties, including the fifty seven monster film, The
Speaker 2: Black Scorpion, fifty Eights from Earth to the Moon, Oh
Speaker 2: in nineteen seventy two's Frogs, which we watched on Weird
Speaker 2: House a while back.
Speaker 3: Hmmmm, this guy, I think I know his mo This
Speaker 3: guy really likes animal attacks.
Speaker 2: He's all about it. Apparently. His TV credits include episodes
Speaker 2: of such shows as Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Peter Gunn Colombo,
Speaker 2: Project UFO, and Airwolf.
Speaker 3: I wonder if his episodes of those shows had animals
Speaker 3: attacking people.
Speaker 2: I wonder, Yeah, especially ad Alfred Hitchcock Presents seems like
Speaker 2: an ideal place to have some animal related murder. It's
Speaker 2: always a nice twist.
Speaker 3: Yeah. His episode of Airwolf is like, oh no, there's
Speaker 3: a killer centipede in the cockpit.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Now, there's also based on characters created by credit
Speaker 2: for William Goldstein and James Witten. They were the writers
Speaker 2: on the original Doctor Fibes film, and I should point
Speaker 2: out that Goldstein apparently wrote a screenplay off his own
Speaker 2: for the sequel with the working title Fibus Resurrectus, which
Speaker 2: would have been amazing, but that was not the direction
Speaker 2: they went in.
Speaker 3: I'm glad you said it that way, Rob, because I could.
Speaker 2: So.
Speaker 3: The name is pronounced in the movie Fibes, but like,
Speaker 3: you can't call it Fibes resurrect us and pronounce it fibes, right,
Speaker 3: It would have to be like fibus or Phoebus resurrectus.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So, while this sequel didn't see the light of day.
Speaker 2: Goldstein wrote the novelization of Doctor Fibes Rises again, just
Speaker 2: as he written as he's written the novelization for the
Speaker 2: first film. And what's more, while we didn't get any
Speaker 2: more Doctor Fhibes movies, he also wrote three additional Doctor
Speaker 2: Fibes novels which are out there and available. So, like
Speaker 2: I say, if you really want to go all in
Speaker 2: on the Fibes franchise, you have to continue doing so
Speaker 2: with the written word.
Speaker 3: It is difficult for me to imagine that the Fibes
Speaker 3: concept would work as well as a novel. Yeah, it
Speaker 3: seems really to rely on the magic of cinema.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, unless say, the texture of the writing
Speaker 2: would have to be just right, all right. As we mentioned, yes,
Speaker 2: Vincent Price returns as Doctor Anton Fibes. We're not going
Speaker 2: to go deep into Vincent Price because we've covered Vincent
Speaker 2: Price films multiple times already. But he lived nineteen eleven
Speaker 2: through nineteen ninety three. This is early seventies Price, so
Speaker 2: this is a time period when he's hitting some really
Speaker 2: iconic roles. But he's also this is all also happening
Speaker 2: just as the public's taste in horror films is shifting
Speaker 2: away from the traditional and the Gothic and everything that
Speaker 2: came before. So he really only had a handful of
Speaker 2: full blown Vincent Price starring horror films left in the
Speaker 2: tank at this point. But he'd also already cemented himself
Speaker 2: as a horror legend and a mainstream icons, so there
Speaker 2: was no shortage of work from here on out. The
Speaker 2: main films of note horror wise were Theater of Blood,
Speaker 2: to follow in seventy three, Matt Howson seventy four. Oh,
Speaker 2: Theater of Blood, Yes, you're a f I haven't seen
Speaker 2: that one.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, it's in fact, it's much like Doctor Fibes.
Speaker 3: It is a campy, theatrical horror comedy that has elaborate
Speaker 3: revenge murders. It extremely similar to Fibes actually, all.
Speaker 2: Right, and then there's a House of Long Shadows in
Speaker 2: eighty three, and that's not counting some anthology hosting roles,
Speaker 2: and so yeah, from this point out, he's just he's
Speaker 2: doing a lot of TV appearances, he's doing a lot
Speaker 2: of appearances as himself, and of course he's doing a
Speaker 2: lot of those endorsements, right.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, the the no Jelly sandwiches. Yeah. Man.
Speaker 2: When we've covered about the show, we often discuss some
Speaker 2: of these particular things, yeah, like the no jelly that
Speaker 2: he endorsed. And I want to point out one that
Speaker 2: recently captivated me is that in what is This nineteen
Speaker 2: seventy two, the Anglestora Bitters Company ran an ad in
Speaker 2: The New York Times with a cutout coupon that you
Speaker 2: could send through the mail to receive a free Angostar
Speaker 2: of Bitters cookbook written and or hosted by Vincent Price
Speaker 2: What Yeah Yeah. And elsewhere they ran ads featuring Vincent
Speaker 2: prize and maybe a recipe right up or two. It's
Speaker 2: worth noting that he also wrote at least a couple
Speaker 2: of cookbooks with his wife, Mary Cooking price Wise. A
Speaker 2: Culinary Legacy is still in print, and it features some
Speaker 2: real nineteen seventies food photography. I mean, if you were
Speaker 2: a child of the seventies at all, or hav any
Speaker 2: nostalgia for like the seventies vibe, these are worth looking at.
Speaker 2: Lots of green with the food, maybe a little less
Speaker 2: green and maybe a little more on the brown side
Speaker 2: of things.
Speaker 3: Just a big old like ornate chafing dish full of
Speaker 3: cocktail oenies, and it's still kind of some fifties style flair,
Speaker 3: and do I see jello molds?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so. I'm at tempted to pick up
Speaker 2: a copy. I imagine a lot of it's way to
Speaker 2: meat heavy for me given the time period. But I
Speaker 2: did try out a version of the pink gin drink
Speaker 2: that he mentions in one of these full page spreads,
Speaker 2: and it was quite good, And so I was kind
Speaker 2: of imagining myself as Vincent Price sitting on one.
Speaker 3: Of these I love this. I've got to get one
Speaker 3: of these books. But I think you're exactly right when
Speaker 3: you mentioned the thing earlier about like this is sort
Speaker 3: of the only time when a movie like this would
Speaker 3: have made sense this early seventies period with Vincent Price,
Speaker 3: because it seems to be that he's like he's playing
Speaker 3: on a parody of the kinds of roles he played
Speaker 3: more seriously in decades past, like in you know, the
Speaker 3: more serious gothic horror of the earlier years, and as
Speaker 3: that's sort of fading out, you could look backwards with
Speaker 3: the memory of the enthusiasm for that genre and make
Speaker 3: a comedy movie like this playing on the same kind
Speaker 3: of flare but with a different tone.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. And at the same time, it's also interesting
Speaker 2: to think that the Fibes character is also either a
Speaker 2: definite influence or a possible influence on some of the
Speaker 2: horror icons that were about to emerge in the subsequent decades,
Speaker 2: you know, characters like Freddy Krueger, Chucky and ultimately the
Speaker 2: Jigsaw Murder of the Saw movies. That one feels like
Speaker 2: a direct influence, Like, let's take everything that Fibes is doing,
Speaker 2: and but we're gonna, you know, make it fit sort
Speaker 2: of like the grittier genre trappings of the day. And yeah,
Speaker 2: you have like a multi I can't even keep up
Speaker 2: with how many Saw movies are at this point, but
Speaker 2: it's a very similar basic concept it.
Speaker 3: I don't want to spoil your fun if you're a
Speaker 3: fan of the Saw franchise, So you know, we're all
Speaker 3: you know, we're all entitled to our own movie fun.
Speaker 3: But oh man, I could not imagine more different feelings created.
Speaker 3: But so they're both movies about a weird guy who
Speaker 3: sets up elaborate, sort of mechanized trap murders for people.
Speaker 3: But whereas the Saw movies I find just so grim
Speaker 3: and depressing and unpleasant. The Fibes movies are exactly the opposite,
Speaker 3: just kind of freedom and lightness and playfulness.
Speaker 2: Yeah, whether planning the next murder or planning his overall schemes,
Speaker 2: some song or dance may just break out spontaneously. Yeah,
Speaker 2: And that's where Fibes is a beautiful assistant and or
Speaker 2: muse enters the picture. This is Vulnavia, returning from the
Speaker 2: first film, this time played by Valley Kemp.
Speaker 3: I love Volnavia. So it is a different actress playing
Speaker 3: the role than in the first film, and I loved
Speaker 3: the Volnavia of the original. I love the Volnavia here too.
Speaker 3: Valley Camp is great and it's kind of hard to describe,
Speaker 3: but I feel like she she brings so much spice
Speaker 3: to the movie despite being a very like languid and
Speaker 3: unspeaking performance. So this is a character who is what
Speaker 3: is she is? She arguably a robot or like a
Speaker 3: clockwork being of some kind in neither in both movies,
Speaker 3: she doesn't speak, and she just and she in fact
Speaker 3: doesn't act super expressive in terms of like like she
Speaker 3: never moves very quickly or makes very broad expressions with
Speaker 3: her face, and yet she she enlivens every scene she's in.
Speaker 3: There's just something inherently funny and joyful about Volnavia. The
Speaker 3: way she just kind of like will placidly like pick
Speaker 3: up one of the instruments of one of these murder
Speaker 3: traps and kind of like give it a rattle and
Speaker 3: check it out or something. And the way she's like,
Speaker 3: you know, like wandering through one of the scenes where
Speaker 3: Fibes is playing the organ just like lazily lifting her
Speaker 3: arms in like a halfway dancing mode. Vulnavia is so great.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like, there's there's a much later scene where they're
Speaker 2: decorating the set for their upcoming victory, but it's like
Speaker 2: some insights like, yeah, they they have to put in
Speaker 2: the work, Like there's a lot of work that goes
Speaker 2: into meticulously creating your art deco subterranean layer.
Speaker 3: In an Egyptian temple under a mountain.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it is like they're decorating for Christmas. But Vulnavia
Speaker 3: is she is fun in every scene she's in. She
Speaker 3: makes everything funnier and more whimsical.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So, Kemp was a Kenyan born Australian model and
Speaker 2: this was her biggest acting role she had very she
Speaker 2: had I think very small background roles in seventy five's
Speaker 2: Rollerball and also nineteen eighty one's The Great Muppet Caper,
Speaker 2: So another Muppet connection because of course Vincent Brice gets
Speaker 2: started in The Muppet Show.
Speaker 3: Now, we should be clear that the character of Volnavia,
Speaker 3: who was played by Virginia North in the first movie,
Speaker 3: she dies at the end of Oh, yes movie, right,
Speaker 3: she clearly dies. Ye, She's like, I don't know about
Speaker 3: dies is I don't call that TX she did. Yeah,
Speaker 3: It's like she's a robot of some kind or some
Speaker 3: kind of clockwork organism, and she is destroyed by acid.
Speaker 2: Right, yeah, she is destroyed by acid. And I was
Speaker 2: reading that. Originally they were like, well, we're going to
Speaker 2: bring in a new character to be the assistant, and
Speaker 2: the studio was like, no, it's gotta be Vulnavia. We
Speaker 2: love Volnavia. And they're like, okay, fine, it's Vibes too.
Speaker 2: This is not a rocket science. We can bring her back.
Speaker 3: Yeah, give the people what they want. I'm glad she's back.
Speaker 2: All right. Now you mentioned the antagonist. The credits describe
Speaker 2: both Vibes in this character as the protagonist, so you
Speaker 2: know you can make of that way you will, but you.
Speaker 3: Choose your own side, pick which one you want to
Speaker 3: be allied with.
Speaker 2: Yes, though of course it would be unwise to side
Speaker 2: with anyone other than Doctor Fibes in a Doctor Fibes movie,
Speaker 2: but still a formidable adversary in the Forum of Darius
Speaker 2: bider Beck, played here by Robert Quory who lived nineteen
Speaker 2: twenty five through two thousand and nine.
Speaker 3: Now, I think the character's name in the movie, I
Speaker 3: think the other characters pronounce it Darius, but in multiple
Speaker 3: sources online I've seen it spelled dare Us like da
Speaker 3: r r Us other times Darius. I think Darius is right,
Speaker 3: but I'm not one hundred percent there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we will call him bider Beck as most people
Speaker 2: call him in the film. Okay, But Corey was an
Speaker 2: American actor with mainstream TV and film credits going back
Speaker 2: through the nineteen fifties, but the nineteen seventies saw him
Speaker 2: thrust into an increasing number of first science fiction and
Speaker 2: then horror films, many for American international pictures. He appeared
Speaker 2: in the nineteen seventy universal sci fi film called Losses
Speaker 2: The Foreben Project, and starred as the titular vampire. The
Speaker 2: same year in aipis count Yorga Vampire, which spawned a
Speaker 2: nineteen seventy one sequel, The Return of count Yorga. Publicity
Speaker 2: materials for the Yorga films called the character the death Master,
Speaker 2: and then in nineteen seventy two they made there was
Speaker 2: a vampire film titled Deathmaster with Corey in the lead role,
Speaker 2: but it's apparently unrelated. He plays a hippie vampire in
Speaker 2: that called Corda.
Speaker 3: I want to see this guy as a hippie vampire.
Speaker 2: So more Yorga films were apparently planned, including one in
Speaker 2: which he lives in the sewers of Los Angeles, and
Speaker 2: there was indeed talk of a Fibes Versus Yorga film,
Speaker 2: but that didn't happen either, again seemingly due to changes
Speaker 2: in the public's appetite for horror and business changes at AIP.
Speaker 3: Wider Beck in this movie is, as I said earlier,
Speaker 3: I think a great addition to the film. It's nice
Speaker 3: to give Fibes a foil, like somebody who you really
Speaker 3: feel like could stand up to him potentially yea. And
Speaker 3: the way that Corey plays bider Beck is is a
Speaker 3: little bit part Dracula, a little bit part Elvis. This
Speaker 3: is gonna sound weird, but stay with me here, part Shatner,
Speaker 3: but also just all smooth Transatlantic money bags and a
Speaker 3: smoking jacket.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and all of these things make him mostly unafraid
Speaker 2: of Fibes, Like he respects Fibes at least eventually as
Speaker 2: an adversary, but he's never completely afraid of him, or
Speaker 2: at least afraid of anything that could happen to him personally.
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's a strange duality to this character, which is
Speaker 3: that on one hand, he's really defined by fear, Like
Speaker 3: his character's entire motivation is driven by a sort of
Speaker 3: sense of panic about his own impending personal catastrophe. That
Speaker 3: the reason he's going to Egypt is to avert it.
Speaker 3: And we'll get into that when we talk about the plot.
Speaker 3: But apart from that one centrol fear that drives everything
Speaker 3: he does, he seems to be basically fear less, like nothing,
Speaker 3: no obstacle or person or event really troubles him.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, so it's a fun performance. I really liked
Speaker 2: him in this. Now, there are various accounts that say
Speaker 2: that Price and Corey didn't get along and may have,
Speaker 2: you know, sort of argued with each other and or
Speaker 2: insults at each other. I don't know who can say.
Speaker 2: It's all hears saying they'd worked on some of the
Speaker 2: same TV shows over time, though I'm not sure ever
Speaker 2: in the same episode, you know, especially when it came
Speaker 2: to anthology type affair and more to the point, they'd
Speaker 2: work with each other again after this in nineteen seventy
Speaker 2: four's Madhouse. Corey worked in various genre pictures and TV
Speaker 2: shows throughout the seventies, including the nineteen seventy four blaxploitation
Speaker 2: film sugar Hill, which has some very creepy voodoo zombies
Speaker 2: in it. But Corey was apparently in a bad auto
Speaker 2: accident in nineteen eighty, and he came back in the
Speaker 2: late eighties and acted in a number of B movies,
Speaker 2: frequently working for director at Olin Ray up through about
Speaker 2: nineteen ninety nine.
Speaker 3: Oh, I briefly had to look and see, like, wait,
Speaker 3: what do I know by fred Olin Ray? And I'm
Speaker 3: just like, oh, I recognize his name from like picking
Speaker 3: up the boxes of movies and looking at them and
Speaker 3: then not renting them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, there may be some fred Olin Ray that
Speaker 2: would be a good fit for Weird House. But I
Speaker 2: cannot point to one off the top of my head.
Speaker 3: He did one I've I've looked at kind of seriously
Speaker 3: called Alienator. That seems to be a fight, a quite
Speaker 3: clever combination of the Alien and Terminator themes.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Robert Correy's in that one.
Speaker 3: Oh okay, well, maybe maybe that means it's worth looking
Speaker 3: at them.
Speaker 2: I mean, Jan Michael Vincent, John Philip.
Speaker 3: Law, John Phill Oh my god, diabolics in it. Yeah, okay, well,
Speaker 3: maybe we do need to see Alienator. Then I'll at
Speaker 3: least check it out see if it's if it's worthy
Speaker 3: of Weird House.
Speaker 2: All right, now, Bider becks romantic interest. They're not yet married,
Speaker 2: is this character Diana? And Diana is played by Fiona
Speaker 2: Lewis born nineteen forty six, British actress whose credits include
Speaker 2: sixty sevens The Fearless Vampire Killers, seventy three's Blue Blood
Speaker 2: with Oliver Reed, the nineteen seventy four Dracula movie that
Speaker 2: stars Jack Palance as Dracula. That's Interesting, seventy fives list, Domania,
Speaker 2: seventy seven's Tintorera Killer Shark, seventy eight's The Fury, eighty
Speaker 2: three Strange Invaders, in nineteen eighty seven's Inner Space.
Speaker 3: Tinterera is one of those I can't believe I sat
Speaker 3: through this memories. That was a very unpleasant bad movie.
Speaker 3: From what I recall, and I've watched a lot of
Speaker 3: Jaws ripoffs.
Speaker 2: That's a Cardona Junior picture.
Speaker 3: I think, yeah, I recalled that one. Well, it's been
Speaker 3: a long time, so I don't want to say too
Speaker 3: much detail about it because I can't recall for sure,
Speaker 3: but it was it was not a fun time for me. However,
Speaker 3: I think Fiona Lewis is great in this movie. She's
Speaker 3: sort of the main actually sympathetic character, so she is
Speaker 3: of the non Fibes aligned side of the film. She's
Speaker 3: the person you actually identify with. She's basically innocent of
Speaker 3: the of the avarice and hubris and violence that drives
Speaker 3: the other characters, and she just loves she loves her
Speaker 3: fiance bider Beck, and she wants to understand what it
Speaker 3: is that's driving him to go to these extreme measures
Speaker 3: and force her to travel to Egypt with him and
Speaker 3: all this stuff, and so when she's in peril at
Speaker 3: the end, I was really feeling it. I was like no, no,
Speaker 3: I like Diana I don't want her to be impaled
Speaker 3: by snake toungue spikes in a flooded room that's being
Speaker 3: filled with the waters of the nile. It's a whole setup. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the same cannot be said for pretty much any
Speaker 2: other victims. Yeah, it's like generally it's like, oh, Fibes
Speaker 2: is going to kill this guy next, all right, I
Speaker 2: see what he's got.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So they succeed in making Diana actually quite sympathetic
Speaker 3: and likable, and that when she's in peril in the end,
Speaker 3: it is true suspense.
Speaker 2: Yeah, all right. Now, this next character actor, I want
Speaker 2: to mention it's a smaller part, but a very memorable part.
Speaker 2: He will be the first victim of doctor Phibes. But
Speaker 2: this is the character Manservant Cheng, played by Milton Reid
Speaker 2: who lived nineteen seventeen through possibly nineteen eighty seven. So
Speaker 2: this is an Indian born British character actor and at
Speaker 2: least one time professional wrestler. His father was apparently of
Speaker 2: Scottish descent and his mother was Indian. He began his
Speaker 2: career as a pro wrestler on the British scene, performing
Speaker 2: as Mighty Chang. According to Howard Maxford, in the book
Speaker 2: Hammer Complete. He began a long career playing strongmen, hnchmen
Speaker 2: and bodyguards in nineteen forty four's The Way Ahead, but
Speaker 2: then went onto a mass a forty plus movie filmography.
Speaker 2: Highlights in c Rolls in fifty eight, Blood of the
Speaker 2: Vampire nineteen sixty, Swiss Family Robinson seventy one, Blood on
Speaker 2: Satan's Claws seventy five is the Return of the Pink
Speaker 2: Panther nineteen seventy seven's The Spy Who Loved Me. In
Speaker 2: that one, he is the number two henchman under Richard
Speaker 2: Keel's Jaws. Reid here was also uncredited in Doctor No
Speaker 2: as a henchman, And indeed I look had to look
Speaker 2: up some stills and yeah, you see him in the background.
Speaker 2: He's unmistakable. It's a very distinct look, very rugged face,
Speaker 2: often with it like a shaved head, and he's this
Speaker 2: kind of a fierce grin.
Speaker 3: He has an incredibly thick, dense physique. He looks like
Speaker 3: somebody who would just like crush pumpkins with his hands
Speaker 3: as a party trick.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was looking up about his biography here. Apparently
Speaker 2: he moved back to India late in his career to
Speaker 2: be with his mother and his sister, but apparently made
Speaker 2: a go at acting in Hindi language films there. He
Speaker 2: appeared in three of them in small parts, but one
Speaker 2: of them is the nineteen eighty five Ramsey Brothers film Telephone.
Speaker 2: So interesting connection here to director, directors and filmmakers that
Speaker 2: we've talked about on the show before. And then Reid
Speaker 2: apparently died of a heart attack sometime after this in
Speaker 2: eighty six or eighty seven, but exact death the exact
Speaker 2: death date has been disputed.
Speaker 3: The Ramsey Brothers were the creators of Kurana mon Deer.
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, so, and you know, certainly they they liked
Speaker 2: actors with interesting looks to play their heavies and their monsters.
Speaker 2: But it seems like it was maybe, you know, ultimately
Speaker 2: just too late in his life and in his career
Speaker 2: to really like make a go of it in Indian cinema.
Speaker 2: But you know, we can imagine what could have been
Speaker 2: had he lived longer. Again, not a huge role in
Speaker 2: this picture, but he has a great look, great hinching,
Speaker 2: and it makes for a memorable first death, which we'll
Speaker 2: get to here in a bed agreed, all right. This
Speaker 2: movie also has a number of cameos, and I'm not
Speaker 2: gonna spend a lot of time on these, but we
Speaker 2: have several cameos and continuing roles that are carrying over
Speaker 2: from the first Fibes movie. I'm going to run through
Speaker 2: them real quick. Caroline Monroe is back playing the deceased
Speaker 2: Victoria Regina Fibes. She is not alive in the previous picture.
Speaker 2: She's not alive in this movie, but the actor is
Speaker 2: still alive. She was born in nineteen forty nine and
Speaker 2: she reprises the role here.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we've talked about Carolyne Monroe before, but it's an
Speaker 3: interesting role that she plays basically a barbie in a
Speaker 3: box like she's like she's just in suspended animation the
Speaker 3: entire film.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but yeah, it's our Inspector Harry Trout is back,
Speaker 2: played by Peter Jeffrey who lived nineteen twenty nine through
Speaker 2: nineteen ninety. Also, his boss, Superintendent Waverley played by John Catter,
Speaker 2: who lived thirty two through two thousand and nine, is
Speaker 2: also back on the case. So local Britain law enforcement
Speaker 2: is in place to go after Fibes in this international caper.
Speaker 3: For some reason, the London cops chase Fibes to Egypt.
Speaker 2: Yes, all right. Peter Cushing is in this in a
Speaker 2: very small role. He plays the captain of a ship
Speaker 2: that the characters are briefly on.
Speaker 3: I don't know if this role was written for Cushing,
Speaker 3: because if it was, I feel like they might have
Speaker 3: given it a little bit more flair. It's just sort
Speaker 3: of a momentary walk on, which he does quite well with.
Speaker 3: But it's not a role that demands a lot.
Speaker 2: No. No, Apparently Cushing was considered for the Joseph Cotton
Speaker 2: roll in the first film, and yeah, it's basically just
Speaker 2: a cameo here. So I don't know. They're just like, hey, Cushing,
Speaker 2: you want to come in and hang out on set
Speaker 2: for a few days, and he's like, Tusher.
Speaker 3: Hey, remember how in the previous Fibes movie Terry Thomas
Speaker 3: was in it and he was definitely murdered.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, well he's back, but as a different character.
Speaker 2: In the first one he was this Let's see, what
Speaker 2: what's the Is he a rake or is he a fop?
Speaker 2: I can't remember what the British terminology is there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's both. He's a he's a bounder. I don't know,
Speaker 3: he's a he's like a rich British guy who is
Speaker 3: he really enjoys drinking and watching dirty movies on a
Speaker 3: film projector. And while he's enjoying his two favorite activities,
Speaker 3: somehow they they come and get him. Do they do?
Speaker 3: They kill him with a snake? Is this an animal
Speaker 3: attack from the first movie?
Speaker 2: It may it may be. I think you're right, yeah,
Speaker 2: but they definitely definitely get him because he's one of
Speaker 2: the doctors in the first film that Fibes is after
Speaker 2: Terry Thomas. That's Terry hyphen Thomas. He's popped up in
Speaker 2: a at least a couple of different movies we've talked
Speaker 2: about in the show before. This was exactly the kind
Speaker 2: of character that he excelled at, playing a bounder, a
Speaker 2: fop or a rake, some sort of British man of
Speaker 2: low character, you know, untrustworthy, up to know good, a
Speaker 2: bit of a creeper, and then it's generally a delight
Speaker 2: when this character is either embarrassed or outright murdered.
Speaker 3: He played characters of high social class and low moral character.
Speaker 2: There you go, Yeah, that's that's that's that's that's that's
Speaker 2: his character work to a t right there. So he's
Speaker 2: back in this film, not playing the same character. It's
Speaker 2: just a brief little cameo, but it's still a lot
Speaker 2: of fun, stammering, eyes, darting, all the usual Terry Thomas stuff.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, yeah, he's just like a guy who gives
Speaker 3: a couple of clues to the police, and he doesn't
Speaker 3: get murdered or anything. It's just a brief scene, but
Speaker 3: they do manage to work in that he is lecherous, yes,
Speaker 3: all right.
Speaker 2: And then we also have Hugh Griffith. This is a
Speaker 2: rare case where I think his role in this film
Speaker 2: is more substantial than his role in the last film.
Speaker 2: He played a rabbi in the first movie that was
Speaker 2: brought in to uh to advise and consult on something,
Speaker 2: and in this he is one of these bider becks
Speaker 2: right hand man. So yeah, Hugh Griffith, who lived nineteen
Speaker 2: twelve through nineteen eighty.
Speaker 3: Now, I already mentioned earlier that a big part of
Speaker 3: the appeal of this movie is the sets. The Abominable
Speaker 3: Doctor Five's really thrives on creating weird, beautiful sets and
Speaker 3: just having the character's waltz around within them.
Speaker 2: That's right, And so the same set designer worked on
Speaker 2: this film as well. This is Brian Eatwell returning live
Speaker 2: nineteen thirty nine through two thousand and seven. Yeah, absolutely
Speaker 2: ideal that you have the same guy working on this film,
Speaker 2: because the look is absolutely important. Now the music is different.
Speaker 2: The first film scores by Basil Kirchen, who had experience
Speaker 2: with both big bands and experimental music, and I think
Speaker 2: that was really telling in that particular score. This time around,
Speaker 2: it's John Gail, who lived nineteen thirty two through twenty fifteen,
Speaker 2: who only composed two scores, this one in the score
Speaker 2: for nineteen seventy nine's Mister Selke. His compositions and arrangements, however,
Speaker 2: pop up in various other films, such as seventy five
Speaker 2: Shivers and the nineteen ninety six film Emma. This score
Speaker 2: seems to lean toward heightened religious numbers and a little
Speaker 2: jazziness thrown in from time to time. I think it
Speaker 2: absolutely works. It's over the top, imperfectly befitting this film.
Speaker 3: Agreed. I like the music.
Speaker 2: All right, it's signed for Doctor Fibes to Rise again.
Speaker 2: Let's jump into that plot.
Speaker 3: All right. Well, we talked about how I don't think
Speaker 3: you really need to watch these movies in order, especially
Speaker 3: because at the beginning of this movie they give a
Speaker 3: recap of the previous one.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're just like previously on Doctor Fibes, and you
Speaker 2: get a full recap.
Speaker 3: That's right. So we get this narration by a man
Speaker 3: with a deep serious voice saying, the incredible legends of
Speaker 3: the abominable Doctor Fibes began a few short years ago,
Speaker 3: all of them unfortunately. True narrator here, by the way,
Speaker 3: is the late voice actor and announcer Gary Owens, who
Speaker 3: was apparently also the original voice of Hannah Barbera's Space Ghost.
Speaker 3: Among his many narrator and announcer credits going back to
Speaker 3: the early sixties, if you look at his at his
Speaker 3: like IMDb credits, you know he played like a radio
Speaker 3: announcer or announcer of some kind in like all the
Speaker 3: TV show McHale's Navy and stuff. But one of his
Speaker 3: earliest credits I found was the Texas Duke of Schlock
Speaker 3: Larry Buchanan's nineteen sixty one film The Naked Witch. You
Speaker 3: will never guess what this movie is about, but the
Speaker 3: film is notable to me because despite the rather bold
Speaker 3: pitch of the title, literally the first ten minutes of
Speaker 3: the film are just Gary Owens talking about witchcraft while
Speaker 3: we pan over Hieronymous Bosh paintings. So like and Owen.
Speaker 3: The movie is less than an hour long in total,
Speaker 3: so like a full fifteen percent of it right at
Speaker 3: the beginning is just Gary Owens going on about you
Speaker 3: know they would gather at midnight for orgies of filth
Speaker 3: and depravity. But anyway, yeah, shows you you can start
Speaker 3: with Larry Buchanan and work your way up to an
Speaker 3: American international picture. Yeah, recapping the deeds of Vincent Price.
Speaker 3: But anyway, here's what we learned from the recap, and
Speaker 3: it is spoken with tremendous authority by g. Gary Owens.
Speaker 3: So we learned that doctor Anton Fibes did amazing murders
Speaker 3: that is a quote, amazing murders of diabolical revenge in London,
Speaker 3: revenge against whom and for what, against those responsible for
Speaker 3: the death of his beloved wife Victoria, and for the
Speaker 3: destruction of his own face, which is revealed right at
Speaker 3: the beginning of this movie. I don't remember how long
Speaker 3: they made you wait to see it in the movie before,
Speaker 3: but this time you get it right at the top.
Speaker 3: It's basically a groady skull face without lips with kind
Speaker 3: of zipper teeth, but he wears a mask that makes
Speaker 3: him look like Vincent Price with pale, purplish makeup on.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think he has a little bit there's a
Speaker 2: little bit of like clockwork as well, you know, like
Speaker 2: some gadgets, you know, because he's been his voice has
Speaker 2: been reconstructed and so forth.
Speaker 3: We see him eat and drink through a hole in
Speaker 3: the back of his neck. He like reaches back. There's
Speaker 3: a joke in this movie where at one point Vulnavia
Speaker 3: cooks a fish for him and he gets a fork
Speaker 3: full of the fish and sticks it in the hole
Speaker 3: in the back of his neck and then looks distressed
Speaker 3: and then pulls a bone out of his neck.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I would describe the look of unmasked Vibes as
Speaker 2: kind of like steampunk Google.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, there you go. And speaking of the steampunk
Speaker 3: or the mechanisms, we are reminded that the only way
Speaker 3: Fibes can speak is through quote an ingenious mechanism in
Speaker 3: his neck. So basically, it's a hose jack that goes
Speaker 3: into the side of his neck. He screws the hose
Speaker 3: into it and it allows him to talk through machines
Speaker 3: of various kinds. So he'll hook it up to a
Speaker 3: phonograph and he can speak through a phonograph or to
Speaker 3: an organ, or to like a tuba or a suzophone. Yeah,
Speaker 3: though I recall I feel like in the first movie
Speaker 3: he didn't talk as much as he does in this one.
Speaker 2: I think so. I think he was more mute in
Speaker 2: the first film and would pick and choose the times
Speaker 2: when he spoke. And this he's just constantly going on
Speaker 2: and on like it's you know, it's the funk of
Speaker 2: forty thousand years. Yes, every fifteen minutes or.
Speaker 3: So, my be levied Victoria, we will live for eternity
Speaker 3: to gather.
Speaker 2: Yes.
Speaker 3: So we're told in the narration that the most brilliant
Speaker 3: minds of Scotland Yard were baffled by the amazing murders,
Speaker 3: each more fiendish than the last. And in the sound
Speaker 3: proved basement of his mansion, no one could hear his
Speaker 3: flambuoyant songs of triumph and revenge played on his organ
Speaker 3: and by his ingenious clockwork musicians. This is another thing
Speaker 3: from the first movie. He has a robot band.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: The name of the band is on the kick drum.
Speaker 3: They're called the Clockwork Wizards.
Speaker 2: Oh wow, I forgot about that. Yeah, the Clockwork Wizards.
Speaker 3: Yeah, kind of electric Wizard. Yeah. So anyway, at the
Speaker 3: end of the last movie, what happened is the police
Speaker 3: are closing in and doctor Phibes put himself into suspended
Speaker 3: life next to Victoria, his wife, who's also in suspended life.
Speaker 3: He does a kind of self embalming procedure where he
Speaker 3: replaces his blood with embalming fluid.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, and this is all pretty groovy, and I
Speaker 2: have to stress the recap here makes it clear that
Speaker 2: we are not abandoning the tone of the first film, right,
Speaker 2: you know, we're not doing a soft relaunch of the brand.
Speaker 2: We're not you know, going into some sort of a gritty,
Speaker 2: you know, exploration of the topic, you know, praise of Cyrus,
Speaker 2: because we're sticking to what were right.
Speaker 3: So we come in three years later and what was
Speaker 3: it Vincent Price is waiting for before he resurrects himself.
Speaker 3: It's something about the heavens.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so we basically were quickly told that he did
Speaker 2: not join his wife and death at the end of
Speaker 2: the last film after all, but rather entered to the
Speaker 2: state of suspended animation until like astronomical or astrological conditions
Speaker 2: are such that it befits his grander scheme, which of
Speaker 2: course concerns resurrection and internal life.
Speaker 3: And Vincent Price really hams it up on his resurrection
Speaker 3: and what he does when he first comes awake.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, glorious resurrection music again that has that just
Speaker 2: heightened over the top religious air. That the wafting of incense,
Speaker 2: and once more to that amazing electric organ that he
Speaker 2: plays with like the red neon lights. It's covered in
Speaker 2: dust now, but you know, he sets down and he
Speaker 2: begins to play.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we see him dusting off the keys, like cracking
Speaker 3: his knuckles dramatically. He hooks up his neckos and tells
Speaker 3: us that he timed his resurrection to a position of
Speaker 3: the moon that last occurred two thousand years ago. And
Speaker 3: then we're gonna learn about his plot. He says, we
Speaker 3: shall embark to the land of Egypt, where years ago,
Speaker 3: in a mountain overlooking the valley of Pharaoh's I did
Speaker 3: prepare for us a wonder shrine unknown by any living
Speaker 3: man there might be loved. Awaits the key to resurrection
Speaker 3: for you and eternal life for both of us.
Speaker 2: So there you have it.
Speaker 3: There's the mission, right, and a lot of what Vincent
Speaker 3: Price says for the rest of the film is just
Speaker 3: variations on that over and over again. Yeah, like you
Speaker 3: will be resurrected. I possess the secret key. I know
Speaker 3: how Egypt will save us. But fortunately Fibes is not
Speaker 3: going to have to accomplish this mission alone.
Speaker 2: Yep, because here it comes vull Nava and she basically
Speaker 2: just appears. She kind of just comes drifting out of
Speaker 2: this crystal hallway. Again, it's kind of an ambiguous whether
Speaker 2: she is now an angel or a muse, a robot,
Speaker 2: or some supernatural being that aids Vibes in his quest.
Speaker 2: But I guess she has corporeal form because she helps
Speaker 2: him book travel arrangements with later on. So she has
Speaker 2: a physical reality, But we don't know exactly what she is,
Speaker 2: and I guess we don't have to in a film
Speaker 2: of this tone.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, you don't know, and you don't need to know.
Speaker 3: She basically he says her name, She materializes from thin air,
Speaker 3: She pushes through some bead curtains and like vamps her
Speaker 3: way up to the organ throne and it just works.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I like to think she's a muse. In the
Speaker 2: Greek mythological tradition though.
Speaker 3: Okay, yeah, oh, And he further explains his plot to her.
Speaker 3: He says, thank you my idea for answering my call.
Speaker 3: Upstairs in my safe is a most precious map of papyrus,
Speaker 3: a way to a FAO's tomb, under which flows once
Speaker 3: every two thousand years, the river of life. We must
Speaker 3: make haste and find the river at its flood? Should
Speaker 3: we do a sidebar here on what exactly is going
Speaker 3: on between Fibes and Volnavia. So, Rachel and I watched
Speaker 3: this movie together, and we both had questions about this
Speaker 3: because while the goal is for Fibes to resurrect his
Speaker 3: beloved wife and they can live together again, it almost
Speaker 3: seems like he and Volnavia are an item. I don't
Speaker 3: know if, like if Victoria is gonna wake up and
Speaker 3: be like, now you will be my second wife. Like
Speaker 3: Vulnavia and him, they dance around, they seem to go
Speaker 3: on dates sort of. I don't know exactly what the
Speaker 3: nature of their relationship is, but it seems they're more
Speaker 3: than just friends. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I guess that's another reason I kind of land on
Speaker 2: the meuse identification because it seems like there is a
Speaker 2: closeness there, but maybe there is just something inherently preventing
Speaker 2: them from being an item, Like she is a Greek
Speaker 2: ancient Greek supernatural being that just wants to see him
Speaker 2: be his best self and achieve his artistic dreams. But
Speaker 2: you know they can never actually be together or I mean,
Speaker 2: I don't know. Don't we know that he really loves
Speaker 2: his wife and he wants her back, and maybe, I
Speaker 2: don't know, maybe they have more of a a libertine
Speaker 2: arrangement when it comes to these things.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't. I mean, to be clear, we never
Speaker 3: see them like kissing or anything like that. It's never
Speaker 3: that over. It's just ambiguous what's going on with the
Speaker 3: two of them anyway. Oh, but we get a wonderful
Speaker 3: set piece here because Vulnavia joins Vincent Price at the
Speaker 3: organ and he's like playing the music, and then what
Speaker 3: happens We get the elevator organ.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it rises up into what should be the
Speaker 2: Fibes mansion that I guess is held in some sort
Speaker 2: of a trust or something or has robots looking after it.
Speaker 2: But much to Fibes' irritation, Uh oh, they've ascended not
Speaker 2: into this mansion, but into its ruins. Everything is just
Speaker 2: initially it's like a post apocalyptic ruined hellscape, and you're.
Speaker 3: Like, what happened They like pop up in the prologue
Speaker 3: of Terminator two. Yeah, that's it's just this gray world
Speaker 3: of dust and skulls, I mean not quite skulls, but
Speaker 3: the house is completely ruined and it's like a wasteland.
Speaker 3: And and Fibes demonstrates his disappointment by playing a dissonant
Speaker 3: chord on the organ. Also, I should know that somehow,
Speaker 3: I think they have like magically they've like changed clothes
Speaker 3: by coming up, because now Volnava is wearing the tall
Speaker 3: furry hat that she wears in part one, and I'm
Speaker 3: glad to see that's back.
Speaker 2: Excellent.
Speaker 3: But so they go searching for his safe among the
Speaker 3: rebel to get the papyrus, and Fibes finds it empty,
Speaker 3: and he's furious. Who could have stolen his precious papyrus
Speaker 3: map Only someone who seeks eternal life as he does,
Speaker 3: and does he immediately know who? Does he? Just at
Speaker 3: this point say bide Beck, I think he does.
Speaker 2: Ah, Because right after this we cut to bite her
Speaker 2: back and we get to meet him, and we instantly
Speaker 2: see this is a man that is very determined, a
Speaker 2: man obsessed with the pursuit of eternal life via ancient
Speaker 2: Egyptian sorcery. And we meet him in his study attended
Speaker 2: by Hugh Griffith from the first film here playing his
Speaker 2: archaeologist Buddy Ambrose.
Speaker 3: Now we've talked about the sets in the movie, and
Speaker 3: a lot of the sets are doctor Fib's mansion with
Speaker 3: the beautiful organ and the clockwork band and the weird
Speaker 3: lights and all that, and the layer he sets up
Speaker 3: inside the temple. But another one is just at bider
Speaker 3: becks house, his wreck room. Here. It is glorious. It's
Speaker 3: got a snooker table, roaring fireplace, priceless stolen art from
Speaker 3: ancient Egypt on the walls, and this brigade of like
Speaker 3: six identical forest green pendant lamps that hang down to
Speaker 3: like like chest height.
Speaker 2: What. Yeah, it's a stunning shot when we first see him,
Speaker 2: because we see the lamps and then a reflection of
Speaker 2: the lamps and then bider Becks figure in the background.
Speaker 2: Like it's a great case of just initially introducing a
Speaker 2: character with enough visual flare that you don't know who
Speaker 2: this guy is, but you can tell that he's important.
Speaker 3: Yes, and he is important. Bider Beck and Ambrose are
Speaker 3: adventuring archaeologists who have been scouting out locations in Egypt
Speaker 3: looking for a particular temple where the pharaohs of old
Speaker 3: would access the secrets of eternal life. And bider Beck
Speaker 3: reveals he's got the papyrus. He was contacted by a
Speaker 3: dealer who discovered this papyrus in the ruins of a
Speaker 3: demolished mansion in Maldi and Square because of his interest
Speaker 3: in the document. Well because so like it was known
Speaker 3: among the world of antiques dealers that he wanted this papyrus,
Speaker 3: and so they found it and they brought it to him.
Speaker 3: And I guess this is also how Fibes knew that
Speaker 3: bider Beck would have wanted it like that. He it
Speaker 3: was just known that this guy was looking for it.
Speaker 3: And then later we see Fibes spying on the wreck
Speaker 3: room through the window, so he's here, he knows what's up.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So bider Beck explains to Ambrose that astronomy is
Speaker 2: the key to understanding the secrets hidden in the ancient
Speaker 2: Egyptian papyrus they obtained from the ruins. And then this
Speaker 2: is actually at least a casual nod to the importance
Speaker 2: the ancient Egyptians placed on the movement of the heavens.
Speaker 2: Though this, of course, is not the sort of film
Speaker 2: to get serious in its egyptomania.
Speaker 3: No, it's it's not engaging very deeply, like they make
Speaker 3: references to the Book of the Dead and stuff, but
Speaker 3: I think it is a very loose relationship to actual
Speaker 3: Egyptian mythology. Yeah, anyway, Ambrose is like bider Beck, you
Speaker 3: are a respected intellectual. You are acclaimed as one of
Speaker 3: he says, one of the most brilliant minds in the
Speaker 3: Western Hemisphere. He says, yet you seem obsessed with the spiritual,
Speaker 3: the mythical aspect of life, and bider Beck responds, of course,
Speaker 3: I'm obsessed with life. Like that's not quite what he said.
Speaker 3: But anyway, he says, and somewhere in Egypt that obsession
Speaker 3: will be answered. So we learned that they are headed
Speaker 3: to Egypt to find the temple, and bider Beck promises
Speaker 3: Ambrose that he can keep whatever gold they find, because
Speaker 3: bider Beck is not interested in gold he has he
Speaker 3: has his sight set on a different prize. Now Here
Speaker 3: are the film kind of toys with some of the
Speaker 3: some of that lost ancient knowledge lore because Darius spider
Speaker 3: Beck knows the location of the temple is called the
Speaker 3: Temple of Ibysis because of maps from thousands of years
Speaker 3: ago containing information that was not thought to have been
Speaker 3: discovered until after the Renaissance, things like the existence of
Speaker 3: rings around Saturn, and so these maps contain, you know,
Speaker 3: information that we didn't think the ancient Egyptians could have known,
Speaker 3: and these maps somehow also point out the location of
Speaker 3: the temple. Anyway, time to meet our non Fibes aligned
Speaker 3: heroine Diana. Bider Beck is Diana's fiance, and she barges
Speaker 3: into the snooker room dressed to the nine. She's got
Speaker 3: like a beautiful dress and furs, and she's like, oh,
Speaker 3: didn't you remember, darling, we are having dinner with the princess.
Speaker 3: So Darius goes up to change for dinner, and speaking
Speaker 3: to Ambrose, Diana reveals that she is not excited about
Speaker 3: going to Egypt. She explains that that Darius has been
Speaker 3: so preoccupied with something lately and this trip seems to
Speaker 3: be all he can think about. So she is an
Speaker 3: unsatisfied woman whose fiance has she knows he's hiding something.
Speaker 3: He has some kind of secret and she can't get
Speaker 3: it out of him anyway. On the way out of
Speaker 3: the house, we meet Bider becks Manservant Chang here, who
Speaker 3: we talked about earlier. They leave, and Chang by himself
Speaker 3: at the house, plays snooker, and outside we see Volnavia
Speaker 3: like with a car unloading a giant wicker basket from
Speaker 3: the trunk, and she gives the basket a shake, which
Speaker 3: is funny. And here we get to amazing murder number one.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so this is your classic clockwork viper slash, real
Speaker 2: viper fake out into a death by pneumatic golden spike
Speaker 2: shape like a snake hidden in the telephone that goes
Speaker 2: through your brain. The victim, of course, is Manservant Chang.
Speaker 3: This is so good. So yeah, he's playing snooker, he
Speaker 3: hears snakes, he sees snakes, He kills one of the
Speaker 3: snakes with his pool cue. Then he realized. He picks
Speaker 3: up the body and realizes it was not a real snake.
Speaker 3: It was a clockwork snake. Then he sees another snake
Speaker 3: and he's like, ah, it's just a clockwork snake. So
Speaker 3: he picks it up and then realizes that there's like
Speaker 3: a wind up clockwork piece of it, but it's not
Speaker 3: actually part of the snake. It's just taped to a
Speaker 3: real snake. And then the real snake bites him, and
Speaker 3: then he realizes the bite is venomous, and he like
Speaker 3: cuts it and tries to suck out the poison and
Speaker 3: then runs to the telephone I guess, to call for help,
Speaker 3: and then the telephone is booby trapped and sends a
Speaker 3: spike through his brain.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the spike is a gut is made of gold,
Speaker 2: or at least colored gold, and shape like a snake.
Speaker 2: It's wonderful.
Speaker 3: Now, I don't want to spoil the fun, but my
Speaker 3: question is, did Fibes in Vulnavia need the snakes? Couldn't
Speaker 3: they have hear me out here, called the telephone and
Speaker 3: spiked him when he answered, well.
Speaker 2: Where's the fun in that? It is absolutely essential. The
Speaker 2: snakes are key here.
Speaker 3: Okay, yeah, but so yeah, they spike him, and then
Speaker 3: they go to the safe and they get bider Beck's papyrus.
Speaker 3: They get vibes of papyrus back. It was rightfully his.
Speaker 3: That's right.
Speaker 2: So we're off to a really great start with just
Speaker 2: an overly elaborate kill here.
Speaker 3: So later we see the police investigating and it's Inspector
Speaker 3: Trout again. So the main thrust of the scene is
Speaker 3: bider Beck being like, look, I don't care that this
Speaker 3: man is dead. I want my stolen papyrus back at once.
Speaker 3: Their conversation is pretty funny. Bider Beck insists that the
Speaker 3: culprit is a common thief because he says that no
Speaker 3: one who knew of the value of the papyrus would
Speaker 3: have stolen it, would have stolen it or done a murder.
Speaker 3: And Trout is like, wait, you're saying a common thief
Speaker 3: killed your man servant with live snakes and clockwork snakes
Speaker 3: and a booby trapped murder telephone, And bider Beck is like,
Speaker 3: what are you implying. I think the idea is this
Speaker 3: was a known assailant, This was a premeditated in some way.
Speaker 3: So yeah, we're about to head off to Egypt, but first.
Speaker 2: We get another organ monologue here from Fibes, and he
Speaker 2: lets us know that he's already been to Egypt and
Speaker 2: he's built a palace beneath the stone to await this
Speaker 2: key moment, So you know, don't spend a lot of
Speaker 2: time trying to construct the timeline here of when Vibes
Speaker 2: had the time to make this earlier. You know, maybe
Speaker 2: it was, you know, earlier in his career and as
Speaker 2: a doctorate of theology. But just trust us. He's been there,
Speaker 2: he scoped it out, he's created a layer, and now
Speaker 2: it's time to go back and get the job done.
Speaker 3: That's right. And they're going to travel by steamship.
Speaker 2: Mm hmm, oh man. And do they ever travel?
Speaker 3: This is great. Fibes in Volnavia are not traveling light.
Speaker 3: So first of all, they take along Carolyn Monroe in
Speaker 3: this giant barbie box. It's like a human sized, sealed
Speaker 3: display case with a glass front. It's got purple curtains,
Speaker 3: carnival lights all around it, sometimes a microphone inside, like
Speaker 3: she's about to sing a jazz number, but unfortunately she
Speaker 3: never does. And then they also take the clockwork wizards
Speaker 3: with them, so the robot band comes along on the trip,
Speaker 3: and this will continue to play a role in the plot.
Speaker 2: See Vulnavia accepts and supports doctor Fibes utterly. She's not saying,
Speaker 2: do we really need to bring a robot band? In
Speaker 2: twenty seven elaborate death elaborate death traps on our voyage. No, no,
Speaker 2: she just makes it happen because she knows that this
Speaker 2: is who he needs to be.
Speaker 3: Yeah, she has faith in his vision. So on the ship. Oh,
Speaker 3: also we see like Vincent Price and Vlnavia just like
Speaker 3: waltzing on the deck. You know, they're they're really they're
Speaker 3: excited about their trip. Fibes is monologuing with his neck
Speaker 3: plug plugged into a phonograph about how Victoria will rise
Speaker 3: again and he will hold her in his arms. And
Speaker 3: then we go to bider Beck's cabin, where we got
Speaker 3: a plot reveal. Bider Beck is writing in his diary.
Speaker 3: He says, I am taking three drops of my elixir
Speaker 3: of life. The vials are almost empty. If I fail
Speaker 3: in Egypt, I am doomed. Then we see him dole
Speaker 3: out a few drops into a tiny spoon and swallow them.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and so this is our first realization that bider
Speaker 2: Beck really isn't a normal person. He's not just an
Speaker 2: an exceptional human, but there is something unnatural about him,
Speaker 2: because he's maintaining this appearance of being like, you know,
Speaker 2: a well maintained middle aged man kind of. But how
Speaker 2: old is he really? How long has he been taking
Speaker 2: this magical elixir to sustain his life?
Speaker 3: Right, So we have this idea now of why bider
Speaker 3: Beck is so desperate to get to Egypt and get
Speaker 3: to the temple. He's using this elixir to stay alive
Speaker 3: and he's almost out of it. This is his last
Speaker 3: chance to survive. After he takes the drops, he like
Speaker 3: goes and examines his skin in the mirror as if
Speaker 3: he worried, like is it working? And we also see
Speaker 3: that he keeps this secret closely guarded, so he goes
Speaker 3: to hide the elixir when somebody comes near, and then
Speaker 3: we see bider Beck and Ambrose discuss how the mountain
Speaker 3: temple holds a great secret. He's not going to reveal
Speaker 3: it just yet. And Diana is like listening at the door,
Speaker 3: hoping to discover the root of her fiance's obsession, but
Speaker 3: no dice. So Ambrose leaves the cabin, giving way to
Speaker 3: Amazing murder number two.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so basically Ambrose goes into the ship's hold here
Speaker 2: to get something like research materials or something. I forget
Speaker 2: exactly what he's down there for.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's looking for something, and the like the captain
Speaker 3: and not the cabin somebody's showing him around, but he
Speaker 3: gets distracted when he comes across some large set pieces.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a giant Miller's gin bottle. Now I'm unsure
Speaker 2: if doctor Phibes brought this or if this is like
Speaker 2: some sort of a promotional thing for Miller's Gin that
Speaker 2: they're about to do, like either in Egypt or some
Speaker 2: their port of call.
Speaker 3: It's like a giant advertisement. So it's a giant Miller's
Speaker 3: brand gin bottle with cardboard cutouts of chorus dancers. I
Speaker 3: don't know. But then he stumbles across Fibes's cargo, including
Speaker 3: Victoria in her original packaging and the clockwork wizards, and
Speaker 3: he starts like fiddling around with the controls on them,
Speaker 3: and he shouldn't have done that, because then he is
Speaker 3: ambushed by Fibes, and we don't see in exactly what form,
Speaker 3: but we see Fibes at the edge of the ship
Speaker 3: clearly throwing something overboard. And then later bider Beck is
Speaker 3: visited in his cabin by Peter Cushing, playing the captain
Speaker 3: of the ship, and he explains that he's been circling
Speaker 3: the area for hours and he pledges to use every power,
Speaker 3: his every power to find Ambrose in the hope of
Speaker 3: rescuing him, and bider Beck is like, nah, this has
Speaker 3: taken too long. Put us back on the original course
Speaker 3: at once.
Speaker 2: Yep, But then we then we're gonna find out, Okay,
Speaker 2: how did he kill Ambrose? Why did we see that
Speaker 2: giant gin bottle? How are these two things gonna possibly
Speaker 2: be connected? While Ambrose washes up on shore inside dead
Speaker 2: inside the giant.
Speaker 3: Gin bottle, one of the police that's recovering him from
Speaker 3: the water is like, how do you get in there
Speaker 3: in the first place? And the other one says, blighter
Speaker 3: must have drunk his way in.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So we have no idea, there's no there's no
Speaker 2: explanation for how he got Ambrose into the bottle.
Speaker 3: So the murder of Ambrose leads to the police inquery.
Speaker 3: Here where we start, we meet our main two police characters.
Speaker 3: I guess we've already met Inspector Trout, but we also
Speaker 3: meet his boss, Superintendent Waverley, and they have a sort
Speaker 3: of vaudeville comedy duo. Dynamic Trout is I think the
Speaker 3: way I put it is that Trout is like simple
Speaker 3: literal and not too bright, but he's usually correct, whereas
Speaker 3: Waverley is uptight and irritable and usually wrong. We learn
Speaker 3: from their interaction that Ambrose's body has been recovered from
Speaker 3: the sea, and for some reason, Trout is involved in
Speaker 3: this investigation. I'm not quite sure why, yeah, but so
Speaker 3: they through them, we meet several other characters who are
Speaker 3: not going to come back. We just like get some
Speaker 3: clues from them. So they get a visit from Beryl Reed,
Speaker 3: playing a relative of Ambrose. This is only one year
Speaker 3: before her role in Psychomania, as I think she is
Speaker 3: the witchcraft, the witchcraft practicing mother of our sort of
Speaker 3: Nigel Toughnell youth.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yes, you're right on that. Yes, she was the
Speaker 2: witch She had like second billion in that yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah. And then we also get a visit from
Speaker 3: Terry Thomas, who plays a sniveling, lecherous booking agent of
Speaker 3: the steamship that all of our characters took to Egypt,
Speaker 3: and by gathering details from him, I think this is
Speaker 3: how the cops put together that the murderer must be Fibes.
Speaker 3: What exactly were the deciding factors here? I think the
Speaker 3: elaborateness of the murders and the fact that he's traveling
Speaker 3: with clockwork musicians.
Speaker 2: I think that'll do it. That's enough evidence that you
Speaker 2: can get any any court in the land to agree
Speaker 2: with you. It's all right, this is probably Fibes.
Speaker 3: So the parties all arrive in Egypt. We get the scene.
Speaker 3: It's a great scene where Fibes in Vulnavia are like,
Speaker 3: I don't know, they're having like a lunch date in
Speaker 3: this tent on top of a sand dune, and Volnavia
Speaker 3: has cooked a fish. And this is the bone scene.
Speaker 3: The bone and the next scene, and then they enter
Speaker 3: the temple under the mountain where Fibes has established a
Speaker 3: jazzy layer I think with electricity maybe.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it's it's a it's like a full Art
Speaker 2: deco kind of thing. They're still working on it a
Speaker 2: little bit. We see scenes later where they're they're painting
Speaker 2: and so forth. So it's a full production, but clearly
Speaker 2: a lot of work has been done. Right.
Speaker 3: So bider Beeck, we learn, has hired a team of
Speaker 3: archaeologists and workers to help him unearth the secrets of
Speaker 3: the temple. And of course these guys are just you know,
Speaker 3: meat for Fibes traps, and this is really what most
Speaker 3: of the rest of the movie consists of maybe we'll
Speaker 3: kind of zoom out and talk more loosely about the
Speaker 3: plot from here on out, because what it is for
Speaker 3: the rest of the movie is is Fibes and bider
Speaker 3: Beck competing for control of the mechanism that will allow
Speaker 3: them to access eternal life underneath this temple. And the
Speaker 3: mechanism is there's like a sarcophagus, there's a big box,
Speaker 3: and then it also has a mechanism underneath it that
Speaker 3: releases a key, and with the box and the key,
Speaker 3: you can access this area underneath the temple where when
Speaker 3: the moon reaches a certain height and the waters drained
Speaker 3: away from the nile, you can go into this passageway
Speaker 3: with the gates opened by the key, and that will
Speaker 3: grant you eternal life. Is that how you understood it?
Speaker 2: Yeah, Base, It becomes increasingly mythic towards the end of
Speaker 2: this obviously that this is going to be a magical
Speaker 2: river to eternal life somewhere in the underworld this temple.
Speaker 3: Right, But along the way, Fibes has to do a
Speaker 3: bunch more amazing murders.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and so amazing murder number three is probably the
Speaker 2: least creative of the murders. This one is just a
Speaker 2: hawk attack. We've we've already seen this trained hawk hanging
Speaker 2: out with fibes, so it's not a surprise that he
Speaker 2: has one and it kills. I think the victim is
Speaker 2: this guy Shavers. He gets, you know, his face scraped
Speaker 2: up by the bird and then you know, some of
Speaker 2: his throat torn out or something, and there's some blood.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's it's telling that this is the laziest
Speaker 2: fibes murder and it involved him probably like training this
Speaker 2: bird from birth or something.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's like it's some kind of eagle or something,
Speaker 3: and yeah, it just tears up his face and then
Speaker 3: we see it eating little bits of his flesh. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it's one of the archaeologists that works for bider Beck.
Speaker 3: I think it's understandable that this is the least elaborate
Speaker 3: murder because they just got in from long travel. I mean,
Speaker 3: you can imagine they're jet lagged and so he doesn't
Speaker 3: have time to like put together a bunch of equipment.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but all man does he make up for it
Speaker 2: with the next one, because amazing Murder Number four is
Speaker 2: your classic scorpion death chair with the key dropped inside
Speaker 2: a plastered dog in his master's voice tableau. But the
Speaker 2: plaster dog is full of live scorpions.
Speaker 3: Right, So this is one of the workers at Biderbecks camp.
Speaker 3: He had been like ogling Diana, like, you know, staring
Speaker 3: at her silhouette as she undresses in her tent, and
Speaker 3: so he's he's established as the lecherous assistant. And then
Speaker 3: of course Volnavia is like, oh hi, I'm just a
Speaker 3: random beautiful woman walking out of the desert. Come with me.
Speaker 3: And he's like okay, And so he goes to her
Speaker 3: tent and then she locks him in a metal like
Speaker 3: a gold scorpion that stabs his arms with spikes.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the claws, the claws.
Speaker 3: Of the scorpion. Yeah. And then you think maybe the
Speaker 3: stinger of the scorpion statue is going to stab him,
Speaker 3: but it doesn't. Instead, it's implied that the key to
Speaker 3: releasing him from this contraption is inside this plaster dog
Speaker 3: you mentioned. So he breaks the dog and is full
Speaker 3: of scorpions, and the scorpions crawl all over him, including
Speaker 3: like crawling crawling under his shirt and crawling down his pants,
Speaker 3: and I guess stinging him to death.
Speaker 2: That's right, yeah, And it and it is tremendous. It's
Speaker 2: a tremendous kill. I still have no idea what the
Speaker 2: whole his master's voice thing with the dog and the
Speaker 2: record player man like the RCA Victor dog motif. But
Speaker 2: it's part of it. It's part of the his plan,
Speaker 2: it's part of his design, so it must be important somehow.
Speaker 3: Now throughout this whole process, Diana is becoming increasingly wary
Speaker 3: because she uncovers the body of the of the guy
Speaker 3: who gets eaten by the eagle, that's like somehow buried
Speaker 3: under her tent. I don't know how that was arranged.
Speaker 3: She like digs him up, and she's like, something is
Speaker 3: not right here. We really need to get out of here.
Speaker 3: Why won't you reveal your secrets to me? And Bider
Speaker 3: becks Still he's keeping the secrets. He doesn't let her know,
Speaker 3: all right.
Speaker 2: So the next amazing murder, Amazing murder number five. This
Speaker 2: is the one that the trailer you heard earlier refers
Speaker 2: to as the sausage machine. It's not really a sausage machine.
Speaker 2: It's not really that gross, but what it is is
Speaker 2: death by solow compression in a giant vertical screw driven
Speaker 2: press while a giant fan outside generates enough wind, howling wind,
Speaker 2: to cover the sounds of the victim screams. And we
Speaker 2: should also note that just prior to this, before the
Speaker 2: victim drifted off to sleep, what was he reading. He
Speaker 2: was reading The Turn of the Screw.
Speaker 3: Perfect. It's like it's like Evil Dead two with the
Speaker 3: Farewell to Arms. Yeah, yeah, so this one is this
Speaker 3: one is one of the silliest because it ends up
Speaker 3: with him like he gets squeezed into a hole in
Speaker 3: a little box and then his head pops out the
Speaker 3: other side. The other characters come and look at it
Speaker 3: later and uh again, this is like this. So we
Speaker 3: were talking about how earlier there's not even really a
Speaker 3: very uh clear uh motive of revenge. But at least,
Speaker 3: like say, with the previous guy, you could say, well,
Speaker 3: like he was being a creep ogling Diana. So like
Speaker 3: when you see him get killed there, it's like, okay,
Speaker 3: at least he was being a creep directly before this.
Speaker 3: But this guy, I don't recall that this guy was
Speaker 3: doing anything.
Speaker 2: Now, this was the likable of the two. Yeah, he
Speaker 2: gets this this Grizzly novel death as well.
Speaker 4: Oh.
Speaker 3: Also, we should mention that somehow the police from London
Speaker 3: make their way to Biderbacks camp and they're like they're
Speaker 3: sleeping in the back of their truck and while the
Speaker 3: scene is going on, having like goofy conversations about the wind.
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, it's unclear of why they have jurisdiction in Egypt,
Speaker 2: but they're here. So basically at this point in the film, uh,
Speaker 2: bier Back and Vibes still after the key, you know,
Speaker 2: back and forth there they've been in. The other people
Speaker 2: in bider Becks camp have convinced him, you know, this
Speaker 2: is really dangerous. Maybe you should send your girlfriend back.
Speaker 2: Maybe well actually they say you should leave too, but
Speaker 2: he's like, no, I'm staying. I'll send her back. And
Speaker 2: so there's a scene where Hackett, one of the other
Speaker 2: guys working for bider Back, is like, Okay, I'll take
Speaker 2: her back in the truck, back to the port or whatever. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and this is where we get amazing murder number six.
Speaker 2: This is death by Patriotic Music and flag distraction utilizing
Speaker 2: clockwork humanoid musicians. These are the clockwork wizards transitioning into
Speaker 2: a lethal in vehicle sand blasting booby trap where the
Speaker 2: sand blasts all the skin off of the victim and
Speaker 2: reduces him to a sand covered skeleton.
Speaker 3: Yes, So as they're driving away, Hackett sees the British
Speaker 3: flag flying on the other side of a sand dune,
Speaker 3: and then they hear bagpipes and he goes, look, it's
Speaker 3: the Scottish fusiliers. Ah, now we're saved from whoever's doing
Speaker 3: all these elaborate murders because we'll just go get their help.
Speaker 3: I think they actually know it's Vibes at this point,
Speaker 3: they're like, the Vibes can't stand against the British military.
Speaker 3: So Hackett leaves Diana in the car and he runs
Speaker 3: over the sand dune. Yeah, and he just finds the
Speaker 3: clockwork musicians there and so he's disappointed, runs back to
Speaker 3: the car. Diana is missing, she's been taken and when
Speaker 3: he gets in the car he gets sand blasted to death.
Speaker 2: So at this point where we lead into the final setting,
Speaker 2: So basically Fibes has Diana and he has put her
Speaker 2: in Amazing murder Machine number seven. This is intended to
Speaker 2: be death by slowly lowering snake themed ceiling spikes into
Speaker 2: all inside a custom flooded pyramid of doom. So Diana
Speaker 2: is strapped in there and basically like it comes down
Speaker 2: to this confrontation between Fibes and bider Beck. Look, you
Speaker 2: have the key, bider Beck. You've got to give it
Speaker 2: to me, otherwise your girlfriend's going to die in this
Speaker 2: pyramid of doom I built. And this is the final confrontation.
Speaker 3: That's right. And you know, there's an interesting turn at
Speaker 3: the end because while we've seen bider Beck mostly being
Speaker 3: selfish and uncaring about the deaths of his friends and
Speaker 3: associates as he pursues this way of escaping his doom
Speaker 3: and getting eternal life, at the very end of bider
Speaker 3: Beck is actually, I guess shown to be kind of
Speaker 3: sympathetic because he tries to argue his way out of
Speaker 3: it with Fibes. He tries to find a way to
Speaker 3: get the better of this, but in the end he
Speaker 3: is convinced that the only way he can save Diana
Speaker 3: is to give Fibes the key, and he does, and
Speaker 3: so he gives up the key, goes to rescue Diana,
Speaker 3: and then when he sees that she's gonna be all right,
Speaker 3: he runs back and he tries to gain access to
Speaker 3: the gates to get into the river of eternal life,
Speaker 3: but he just misses his window. Fibes takes Victoria on
Speaker 3: like a bull barge, little little boat, going down into
Speaker 3: this tunnel, and we're left with bider Becks there at
Speaker 3: the gates, like rattling them, shaking, shouting, fib.
Speaker 2: And then he rapidly ages, and I guess it's uncertain
Speaker 2: whether he dies or not or if he's just like
Speaker 2: super old, right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's never made clear. We see him rapidly aging.
Speaker 3: It's like, you know, it's like at the end of
Speaker 3: the Last CRUs Indian Jones and the Last Crusade, like
Speaker 3: his hair gets long and white and he gets all wrinkly.
Speaker 3: But then we never see him crumble to dust or anything,
Speaker 3: and his fate after that is not shown, so we're
Speaker 3: left wondering does he die or is he just greatly aged.
Speaker 3: So Diana in the end is okay, and so that's good.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And so we end seeing doctor Fibbes and Victoria
Speaker 2: on their boat sailing down this tunnel into the darkness,
Speaker 2: into the underworld and presumably eternal life. And while this
Speaker 2: is taking place, doctor Fibbes begins to sing the lyrics
Speaker 2: to Somewhere Over the Rainbow, the song that also capped
Speaker 2: off the first film, only this time Doctor Phibbs is
Speaker 2: actually singing it. So what a treat, right, Yeah, a
Speaker 2: strong choice. I think I like it, So I guess
Speaker 2: happy ending. Really, we didn't get any more Fibes films.
Speaker 2: I don't know what happens in the novels, but as
Speaker 2: far as just the cinematic universe of doctor Fibes, this
Speaker 2: is victory for him. He will now live forever. Victoria
Speaker 2: will live again and live forever beside him, and who
Speaker 2: knows what kind of adventures they'll get into.
Speaker 3: Then we will see them together plotting elaborate revenge murders
Speaker 3: against like people who have wronged them in incredibly petty ways.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, there's always the possibility. I don't think
Speaker 2: he ever realized that Joseph Cotton's character from the first
Speaker 2: film got away. I think he assumed he died, but
Speaker 2: he didn't, So there's always that. Finally, one little thing
Speaker 2: I was wondering about. Okay, we have all these animal deaths,
Speaker 2: and you know what, we have snake, and then we
Speaker 2: have like a jar essentially we have hawk scorpion, some
Speaker 2: sort of press sand snake. I was wondering if these
Speaker 2: are supposed to be interpreted as hieroglyphics, because there are
Speaker 2: hieroglyphics that contain these basic elements. But I have no
Speaker 2: idea how to build upon that as to like what
Speaker 2: it would mean, like maybe the hiergovics just spell out
Speaker 2: fibes or something.
Speaker 3: I don't know. Vibes was here. I can't comment. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I like it though, So.
Speaker 2: There you have it. Doctor Fibes Rises again from nineteen
Speaker 2: seventy two. This one's a real treat. If you enjoyed
Speaker 2: the first film, highly recommend you check out the sequel
Speaker 2: here again you can. You can find it pretty much
Speaker 2: anywhere you get your movies. Just a reminder that Stuff
Speaker 2: to Blow your Mind is primarily a science podcast with
Speaker 2: core episodes and the podcast feed on Tuesdays and Thursdays,
Speaker 2: short form episode on Wednesdays, listener mail on Mondays, and
Speaker 2: on Fridays. We set aside most serious concerns to just
Speaker 2: talk about a weird movie here on Weird House Cinema.
Speaker 2: And if you want a full list of all those
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Speaker 2: peek ahead at what comes next, go over to letterbox
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Speaker 2: the list there.
Speaker 3: Huge thanks, as always to our excellent audio producer JJ Posway.
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