31 Days of Horror: Day 4 "Last House on the Left"

I can suffer through most things that cinema conjures, but graphic rape scenes nearly always force me to look away. I've even refused to watch movies that have notoriously brutal portrayals of non-consensual sex. I have no idea why I decided to re-watch this film, but I'm not terribly sorry that I did. Maybe I'm just in a good mood, every Halloween movie seems to please me these days. This one had the saturated cinematography and synthy Gothic-style soundtrack of a low-budet Giallo and ending reminiscent of 60's Japanese horror films like Kuroneko... but unmistakably sadistic American undertones. Even better, it was populated by actors fairly new to the power of cinema, unencumbered and willing to do what it took to make this movie as real as possible.

31 Days of Horror: Day 1 "Dr. Phibes Rises Again"

Summary: Vincent Price resurrects his role as the grief-stricken, revenge-hungry Dr. Phibes bent on avenging the death of his beloved and bringing her age-less body back to life. Full disclosure, I didn't see the original. I have no idea why Phibes is unable to move his mouth while speaking and instead uses a Victrola-like apparatus connected to what I believe is his voice box via a large Frankenstein-esque plug in the side of his neck (yup). Apparently also just like the first film, he has a silent vixen named Vulnavia at his beckon call. I have no idea who she is or where she came from, but her outfits make me want to drape myself in pleating. One distinct highlight of the film was watching Terry-Thomas in his bit part as Lombardo. good. stuff.

Interesting fact according to IMDB:

The second part of a planned trilogy. The third film would have featured Phibes fighting a group of Nazis, or searching for the key to Olympus. The title would have been "Phibes Resurrectus," "The Seven Fates of Dr. Phibes" or "The Brides of Dr. Phibes". 

I cannot confirm nor deny the validity of that statement, but I truly hope it is true.

I can see how this film has become a cult classic. The premise is insane, cinematography amazing, Vincent Price is incredible and the sets and costumes are absolutely over-the-top. I have included some screenshots as evidence of this: