The Abominable Dr. Phibes

The Abominable Dr. Phibes is a 1971 British horror film starring Vincent Price and Joseph Cotten. Its art deco sets, dark humour and performance by Price have made the film and its sequel Dr. Phibes Rises Again cult classics. The movie also features Terry-Thomas and Hugh Griffith with a cameo appearance by future Bond girl Caroline Munro.

The screenplay was written by James Whiton and William Goldstein and the 93 minute feature film was directed by Robert Fuest. In the storyline the title character, Phibes, blames the medical team that attended to his wife for her death four years prior and sets out to exact vengeance on each one. Phibes is inspired in his murderous spree by the Ten Plagues of Egypt from the Old Testament.

Plot

Dr. Anton Phibes (Vincent Price) was an expert in theology and music who was supposedly killed in a car crash in 1921, shortly after the death of his beloved wife, Victoria, during an operation. However, he survived the crash, horribly scarred by the accident and left unable to speak, forcing him to remake his face with prosthetics and use his knowledge of acoustics to regain his voice. Resurfacing in 1925, Phibes believes that his wife died a victim of incompetent doctors, and begins elaborate plans to kill them.

Vincent Price

Vincent Leonard Price, Jr. (May 27, 1911 – October 25, 1993) was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and performances in horror films. His career spanned other genres, including film noir, drama, mystery, thriller, and comedy. He appeared on stage, television, radio, and in over one hundred films. He has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: one for motion pictures, and one for television.

Price was an art collector and consultant, with a degree in art history. He lectured and wrote books on the subject. He was the founder of the Vincent Price Art Museum in California.

Early life and career

Price was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the youngest of the four children of Vincent Leonard Price, Sr. (1871-1948), president of the National Candy Company, and his wife Marguerite Cobb (née Wilcox) Price (1874-1946). His grandfather, Vincent Clarence Price, invented "Dr. Price's Baking Powder", the first cream of tartar based baking powder, and secured the family's fortune. Price was a descendant of Peregrine White, a first born child in Colonial Massachusetts.

Dan Simmons

Dan Simmons (born April 4, 1948) is an American science fiction and horror writer and author of the Hugo Award-winning science fiction series, the Hyperion Cantos, and the Locus-winning Ilium/Olympos cycle.

His work spans the science fiction, horror and fantasy genres, sometimes within a single novel: a typical example of Simmons' intermingling of genres is Song of Kali (1985), winner of World Fantasy Award. He also writes mysteries and thrillers, some of which feature the continuing character Joe Kurtz.

Biography

Born in Peoria, Illinois, Simmons received a B.A. in English from Wabash College in 1970, and, in 1971, a Masters in Education from Washington University in St. Louis.

He soon started to write short stories, although his career did not take off until 1982, when, through Harlan Ellison's help, his short story "The River Styx Runs Upstream" was published and awarded first prize in a Twilight Zone Magazine story competition. His first novel, Song of Kali, was released in 1985.

Dr. Phibes Rises Again

Dr. Phibes Rises Again! is a 1972 British horror film. It is the sequel to The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971), and stars Vincent Price as Dr. Anton Phibes.

Plot

The film begins by recapping the events of the previous film, following Dr. Anton Phibes' murderous quest for vengeance against the doctors he blamed for the death of his wife, Victoria. Phibes eluded capture by placing himself in suspended animation in a sarcophagus he shares with the body of his wife, where he would lay in darkness until the moon had entered into proper alignment with the planets, which had not occurred in over two thousand years. Three years later, the conjunction occurs, and Phibes rises from his sarcophagus. Summoning his silent assistant Vulnavia (Valli Kemp, replacing Virginia North), Phibes prepares to take Victoria to Egypt; there, in a hidden tomb, flows the River of Life, promising resurrection for Victoria and eternal life for the two of them. Rising from his basement, Phibes is shocked to discover that his house has been demolished, and a safe containing a papyrus scroll, showing the way to the River of Life, is now empty.

Church of Satan

The Church of Satan is an international organization dedicated to the religion of LaVeyan Satanism as codified in The Satanic Bible. The Church of Satan was established at the Black House in San Francisco, California, on Walpurgisnacht, April 30, 1966, by Anton Szandor LaVey, who was the church's High Priest until his death in 1997. In 2001, Peter H. Gilmore was appointed to the position of high priest, and the church's headquarters were moved to Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, New York City.

The church does not believe in or worship a literal supernatural Satan. High priest Peter Gilmore describes its members as "skeptical atheists", indicating the Hebrew root of the word "Satan" as "opposer" or "one who questions". Gilmore rejects the legitimacy of theistic Satanists, who believe Satan to be a supernatural being or force that may be contacted or supplicated to, dubbing them "devil worshipers".

The Church of Satan describes its structural basis as a cabal that is "an underground cell-system of individuals who share the basis of [our] philosophy". Membership to the Church of Satan is available on two levels: registered membership and active membership. Registered members are those who choose to affiliate on a formal level by filing out the required information and sending a one time registration fee of two-hundred dollars, whereupon the applicant will receive an "embossed crimson card" declaring them a member of the Church of Satan. Active membership is available for those who wish to take a more active role in the organization, and is subject to the completion of a more comprehensive application. The church provides wedding and funeral services to members. Such ceremonies are performed by a member of the church's priesthood.The Satanic Wedding Ceremony and The Satanic Funeral Rite were first made available to the public when published in The Satanic Scriptures.