The moon rises at a predestined angle and awakens the sleeping Dr. Phibes three years later. To his dismay, he finds his house has been demolished and his papyrus scrolls stolen, the scrolls he needs to find the Pharoah’s Tomb in Egypt, where the River of Life flows. After identifying the source of the papyrus theft, he packs and leaves for Egypt with his assistant Vulnavia, still intent upon awakening his dead wife Victoria. The parties responsible for the theft of Phibes’ scrolls suffer an attrition problem as Inspector Trout chases him across the world. —IMDb
Robert Fuest (born in 1927 in London) is an English film director, screenwriter, and production designer who has worked mostly in the horror, fantasy and suspense genres.
Fuest’s most highly praised and popular films, which feature strong black comedy undertones, include perennial cult favorites The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971), Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972), and The Final Programme (aka The Last Days of Man on Earth) (1973). Other films include And Soon the Darkness (1970), a straightforward suspense thriller which received considerable critical acclaim but little commercial success, and The Devil’s Rain (1975), a horror film shot in the U.S. The latter movie received such scathing reviews it may arguably have killed off his once promising career, as Fuest immediately thereafter found himself relegated to directing fairly anonymous television work. His only subsequent theatrical release to date has been Aphrodite (1982), a soft-core sex movie filmed in Greece.
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