[[quoteright:202:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/phibes.jpg]]
->''"Nine killed you, nine shall die and be returned your loss, nine times nine! Nine killed you, nine shall die, nine eternities in [[DoomyDoomsOfDoom doom]]!"''

A 1971 horror film starring VincentPrice as the eponymous doctor and Joseph Cotten as his nemesis.

Four years ago, in 1921, Victoria Phibes died after only six minutes on the operating table. While rushing to her side, her husband Anton Phibes, a brilliant organist with expertise in theology, medicine and automation, crashed his car, and was thought to have been killed. In truth, the horrifically burned man had survived, only to learn of the death of his wife. In despair, Phibes went into seclusion, swearing vengeance upon those he perceived responsible for the death of his only love.

Now the year is 1925, and doctors have been perishing in disturbing and bizarre ways. At first, the only connections between them seem to be that the manner of their death is related in some way to one of the ten plagues of Egypt as outlined in the Old Testament, and that a silent, beautiful woman was nearby when they died. Yet there is one more connection between the doctors; a certain failed operation comes back to haunt them.

But if there were ''ten'' plagues, and only ''nine'' people operated on Victoria... then for whom is the Plague of Darkness intended?

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!!Contains examples of:

* ActorAllusion:
** In real life, VincentPrice was an excellent chef and art expert. In the movie, Phibes cooks up a Brussels sprouts-based concoction in order to get locusts to eat a woman, and throws a withering DeathGlare at one of his victims upon seeing an ugly piece of art in his room.
** [[Film/HouseOfWax1953 The wax busts]] he melts after each kill. And, indeed, the casting of Price as a vengeful and disfigured burn victim.
** Dr. Phibes' wife's full name is Victoria Regina Phibes. ''Victoria Regina'' was the name of a 1935 play starring Vincent Price.
* AllThereInTheManual: According to the script, Vulnavia is a clockwork creation of Phibes'. The actual movie leaves her nature more ambiguous.
* AnimalAssassin
* AntiVillain: Phibes.
* BlackCloak: Phibes wears one at the beginning as he flamboyantly plays his organ, complete with ominous black hood. He dons a white cloak in the climax.
* BookEnds: Phibes plays Music/FelixMendelssohn's ''War March Of The Priests'' twice on his organ. The first time opens the movie. He plays it a second time [[spoiler: as he prepares to join his wife in death]] towards the end.
* {{Camp}}: The movie is full of it, Phibes' lair and mannerism in particular.
* CollapsingLair: Phibes orders Vulnavia to destroy everything in his lair once his vengeance is accomplished. She uses an [[AnAxeToGrind axe]], which is not really appropriate for the task. She can only achieve mere vandalizing with it.
* ComplexityAddiction
* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: Phibes' techniques for killing off his enemies involve such varied methods as impaling a man on a gold unicorn's horn, a contracting, crushing frog mask, and ''[[KillerRabbit adorable]]'' flesh-eating bats[[hottip:*:They're fruit bats, which are imposingly large but have cute faces.]].
* CostumePorn
* CoversAlwaysLie
* CuteMute[=/=]TheVoiceless: Phibes' assistant, Vulnavia. [[spoiler:Though she is apparently capable of speech, her only utterance on-camera is an agonized scream as she dies.]]
* DeathByDisfigurement: [[spoiler:Vulnavia is killed by a shower of acid falling on her face, making this rather literal. We don't see the results, but it's safe to say that her dead body won't be very pretty...]]
* DeathByIrony: Dr. Hargreaves (the crushing frog mask victim) said "I'm a head shrinker!".
* DeathSeeker: [[spoiler:Phibes.]]
* DisproportionateRetribution: In the whole movie, but specially in the last scenes. Dr. Vesalius failed in a surgery with a team of 9 doctors. Then Phibes [[spoiler: reveals his disfigured face, scaring the crap out of him]] and makes him operate [[spoiler: on his son, alone, while ''constantly'' reminding him about the acid and playing organ.]] It's just unfair.
** More basic than that: the movie gives no indication that Dr. Vesalius and his team were negligent in any way, or committed any sort of malpractice. Phibes is just looking for someone to punish for his wife's death.
* DramaticUnmask: When [[spoiler: Phibes reveals his disfigured, skull-like face to Vesalius.]]
* GoodIsDumb: Dr. Vesalius could've killed Phibes, [[spoiler:then turned off the machine that would drop acid in his son]], and then proceed to call the police. He even had a scalpel in his hand! The only reason for him to not do so seems to be this piece of dialogue:
-->'''Dr. Vesalius''': [[spoiler:Your wife no, Phibes, but you I will kill.]]
-->'''Dr. Phibes''': [[spoiler:But you can't, doctor. I'm already dead.]]
** Even before, Dr. Vesalius was not the brighest person when he suggested for nurse Allen to take a sleeping pill. [[spoiler:She could have survived if she was awake.]]
* GottaKillThemAll
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Dr. Whitcombe. With a brass unicorn head.
* KillItWithIce: Dr. Hedgepath is frozen to death with an ice-spewing machine.
* LargeHam: All through mime, yet.
* LipLock: Completely averted; Phibes' throat is too damaged for normal speech, so he communicates by plugging himself into outlets and then - [[ForScience with science]] - speaking through them. Which is to say, Vincent Price acts his character in mime, and then supplies voiceover later. This made his only dialogue scene a bit tricky for Joseph Cotten, who didn't always know when to start speaking.
* LoveMakesYouEvil
* MurderousMask: Dr. Hargreaves is done in by a mechanically constricting frog mask that crushes his skull.
* MyNameIsNotDurwood: A RunningGag is that people keep getting Trout's name wrong and calling him after other types of fish.
** Also persistently pronouncing 'Phibes' as 'FIH-bees', which someone corrects them on.
* NecRomantic
* ANiceChianti: Although he has to drink it through the back of his neck...
* NotThatKindOfDoctor: Phibes has his doctorates in theology and music.
** Though he does know enough about surgery to safely [[spoiler:cut open a boy's chest and plant a key inside him.]]
* OminousPipeOrgan: As a virtuoso organist, Phibes naturally loves to play his theatre organ in his lair.
* PimpedOutDress: Some of Vulnavia's dresses.
* PoeticSerialKiller
* PoliceAreUseless: Well, except for Trout, and even he is powerless to prevent most of the deaths despite figuring out Phibes' modus operandi fairly early on.
* [[TrailersAlwaysLie Posters Always Lie:]] The poster implies that a romance between the disfigured Phibes and Vulnavia is a major part of the plot. It's not part of the plot at all.
* [[TrailersAlwaysSpoil Posters Always Spoil:]] Phibes' disfigured face was supposed to be TheReveal. It's right there at the top of the screen.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: The whole plot.
* [[spoiler: ThanatosGambit: Phibes prepares to join his wife in death once his vengeance is accomplished.]]
* TheRoaringTwenties
* RuleOfCool: Bats and locusts eat people when Doctor Phibes ''says'' they do, dammit!
* RuleOfFunny: Instant rigor mortis makes unscrewing someone from a wall that much goofier.
* UsefulNotes/ScotlandYard
* SlidingScaleOfComedyAndHorror: Both films have a very dry sense of humor, are well aware of Phibes' epic hamminess, and generally don't take themselves all that seriously.
* SoundtrackDissonance: One of the victims dies rather horribly at a fancy-dress party to the strains of "The Darktown Strutter's Ball".
* SympatheticInspectorAntagonist: Inspector Trout (Peter Jeffrey).
* TalkingToTheDead: Phibes keeps his dead wife's body preserved and frequently speaks to her.
* ThemeSerialKiller: Dr. Phibes used the 10 plagues of Egypt to carry out his revenge.
* UnlimitedWardrobe: Vulnavia dons a different outfit in every one of her scenes.
* VillainProtagonist
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Creator/PeterCushing as Dr. Vesalius. He turned the role down because of the serious illness of his wife. He got a cameo in the sequel though. And, you know, given that they ended up with Creator/JosephCotten, it's not a total loss.
* WickedCultured
* WomanInWhite: Vulnavia's first appearance.

After the success of ''Phibes'', the studio naturally greenlit a sequel, ''Dr. Phibes Rises Again''. This film sees Phibes [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin rising again]], and then heading to Egypt, because the river of immortality is buried underneath an ancient temple, and he's pretty sure he's figured out how to find it and bring Victoria back to life. Unfortunately for him, AdventurerArchaeologist Darius Biederbeck is after it, too. So Phibes does the most logical thing he can: he kills all of Biederbeck's excavation crew in overly elaborate, desert-themed ways.
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[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dr_phibes_rises_again_9975.jpg]]

!!'''''Dr. Phibes rises again''''' contains examples of:

* AdventurerArchaeologist: Biederbeck
* BackFromTheDead: Phibes, of course, although to what extent he was really dead is a bit vague. Also, with no explanation, [[spoiler: Vulnavia. If she's a robot, maybe this one's another copy or something]].
** The rather trippy scene in which she reappears suggests that she is a supernatural being of some sort.
* TheBadGuyWins
* TheCameo: Creator/PeterCushing and Terry-Thomas (who plays a different role this time).
* {{Camp}}: Much more so than the first movie
* GentlemanAdventurer: Biederbeck
* LargeHam
** HamToHamCombat: Robert Quarry can ham it up, too, although Price is clearly the winner.
* LipLock: Phibes still talks through electrical speakers.
* NecRomantic
* NotSoDifferent: Phibes gives a damn fine argument why Biederbeck isn't really any better than he is.
* TheOtherDarrin: Vulnavia. Virginia North was pregnant and therefore unable to reprise the role. Valli Kemp was cast instead.
* RapidAging: [[spoiler: Biederbeck]]
* RealitySubtext: This was the last film Price did for American International Pictures, who were planning on replacing him with Robert Quarry as their main horror star (it didn't go too well. You've barely ever heard of Quarry, right?). Some of the dislike between their characters is genuine.
** Even more uncomfortable in ''Madhouse'', where Price plays an iconic horror actor, and Quarry plays an exec who is deliberately trying to ruin his career.
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: [[spoiler: Biederbeck]]
* RuleOfCool
* SayMyName: After TheBadGuyWins, all Biederbeck can do is yell "PHIIIIIIIIBES!"
* SoundtrackDissonance: ''[[Film/TheWizardOfOz Sooooooomewheeeeere, over the raaaainbooow...]]''
* SympatheticInspectorAntagonist: Once again, Inspector Trout (Peter Jeffrey). He is even more useless than he was in the first film.
* ThemeNaming: Both Biederbeck and a minor character called Lombardo are named after bandleaders of the time.
* ThoseTwoGuys: Trout and Waverly
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Various ideas for a third film were discussed, including Phibes protecting the eternal life secret from Nazis, Phibes fighting a group of Satanists led by the grandson of Vesalius, Phibes fighting another Satanist (ChristopherLee and Donald Pleasance were considered for the part, and there would have been a scene where Phibes puts butter on one guy and boils him like a lobster) in Greece and eventually [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence ascending to a higher plane of existence]]. Victoria would be an active character in the third movie, and serve as her husband's MoralityPet. At least one of the scripts was to have given the Clockwork Wizards mechanical band the power of full movement, and have them engage in a street battle with a squad of armed policemen. Several scripts were written (including one titled Brides Of Phibes, which was planned to co-star Roddy Mc Dowall as Phibes' adversary), and a few of these met Price's approval, but his ailing health prevented their production.
* WhatTheHellHero: Biederbeck is repeatedly called out on his utter disregard for all the deaths happening around him. The writers have realized, by this point, that we're all rooting for Phibes anyway, so why bother pretending his nemesis is at all likable?

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