High-camp horror with its tongue firmly in its gruesomely deformed cheek, this British oddity features Vincent Price in one of his most memorable roles. Thought to have died in an horrific car accident, Dr Phibes survives, suffering such hideous burns that he now has to wear Price’s prosthetic face and speak through a gramophone trumpet plugged directly into his vocal chords.
For kicks, he plays doom-laden ditties on an organ that rises through the floor of his opulent lair. He has a mute sidekick called Vulnavia who favours sheer blouses and fur hats, and plays the violin whenever Phibes is doing anything particularly evil; there’s a mechanical house band called Dr Phibes’ Clockwork Wizards which accompanies the action with a kind of twisted take on