Arrow Video have announced the limited edition release of The Complete Dr.Phibes on 9th June 2014, which will include both The Abominable Dr.Phibes and its sequel Dr Phibes Rises Again. These exclusive sets will be limited to a run of 3000 copies only and include a 100-page collector’s booklet.
“What more could a horror freak desire?” asked Motion Picture Guide of The Abominable Dr. Phibes back in 1971. Arriving on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK on the 9th June, The Abominable Dr.Phibes sees Vincent Price in one of his signature roles, playing the wealthy and mysterious Dr. Phibes, a mad, disfigured genius, who elects to wreak revenge on nine doctors who failed to save his beautiful wife with a murderous campaign inspired by the Ten Plagues of Egypt. Phibes requires an elimination of disbelief more than a suspension of it. Filled with wonderful Art Deco sets, dark humour and a legendary performance by Vincent Price, The Abominable Dr.Phibes and its sequel Dr Phibes Rises Again have since gone on to become classics.
Featuring a bumper crop of fantastic extras, this exclusive set will include Dr. Phibes and the Gentlemen, an all-new discussion with the League of Gentlemen in which they fondly recall these two British horror classics, the featurette Daughter of Phibes in which Victoria Price discusses her father Vincent Price’s career and The Doctor Will See You Now, an interview with Vincent Price’s biographer, David Del Valle.
Alongside this, the Blu-ray extras include two audio commentaries on The Abominable Dr. Phibes, the first with the late director Robert Fuest and the second with Dr. Phibes creator William Goldstein, moderated by his son Damon Goldtsein, curator of the official Phibes website. Dr. Phibes Rises Again includes and an audio commentary with critic and author Tim Lucas.
The discs will also include the original trailers for both films, plus an exclusive 100-page collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the films by Julian Upton, Martin Jones, Justin Humphreys and Jonny Trunk alongside the on-set recollections of Caroline Munro, plus interviews with Tim Burton and AIP publicist Milton Moritz.
Synopsis:
“Nine killed her, nine shall die, nine eternities in doom!”
Horror legend Vincent Price (The Fall of the House of Usher, Theatre of Blood) is Dr. Phibes, former musician, current murderer. Seeking revenge from the medical staff that left his wife for dead, he sets about knocking them off one-by-one in a series of elaborate murders based upon a Ten Plagues of Egypt. Death by bats, by boils, by blood and more await the nurse and surgeons who failed to save the life of the beloved Victoria Regina Phibes!
A camp classic, The Abominable Dr. Phibes sets itself apart from the seventies horror crowd with its knowing humour and art deco sets, and also prefigures the Saw movies with its increasingly fiendish set of murder devices.
Pairing the original film with sequel Dr. Phibes Rises Again, The Complete Dr. Phibes provides viewers with a double diabolical dose of macabre thrills and black comedy.
Special Edition Contents
- Limited edition boxed-set (3000 copies) containing both films and 100-page collector’s booklet
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of The Abominable Dr. Phibes and Dr. Phibes Rises Again, transferred from original film elements by MGM
- Original uncompressed 1.0 Mono PCM Audio for both films
- Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for both films
- Audio commentary on The Abominable Dr. Phibes by director Robert Fuest
- Audio commentary on The Abominable Dr. Phibes by the creator of Dr. Phibes, William Goldstein
- Audio commentary on Dr. Phibes Rises Again by critic and author Tim Lucas
- Dr. Phibes and the Gentlemen – The League of Gentlemen fondly recall a pair of British horror classics
- Daughter of Phibes – Victoria Price discusses Vincent Price’s career
- The Doctor Will See You Now – an interview with Vincent Price’s biographer, David Del Valle
- Original Trailers for both films
- 100-page collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the films by Julian Upton, Martin Jones, Justin Humphreys and Jonny Trunk, the on-set recollections of Caroline Munro, plus interviews with Tim Burton and AIP publicist Milton Moritz, all illustrated with rare and original archive stills
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