THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES
ARTICLE

My Books and Movies!

E.C. McMullen Jr.
RUMOR

RUMOR: People are dying to know the truth

PERPETUAL
BULLET

"'Some People' ... may be the standout story in the book."
- John Grant, Infinityplus

E.C. McMullen Jr.
WILLOW BLUE

"'Willow Blue' will burrow under your skin and stay there long after you've put the book down."
- Jeffrey Reddick, Creator of
FINAL DESTINATION

IN OTHER BOOKS
E.C. McMullen Jr.'s
short story
CEDO LOOKED LIKE PEOPLE
in the anthology
FEAR THE REAPER

"This Ray Bradbury-esque is one of the most memorable and one of the more original stories I've read in a long time."
- Steve Isaak,
Goodreads

HORROR 201:
The Silver Scream

Filmmaker's Guidebook
featuring
RAY BRADBURY,
JOHN CARPENTER,
WES CRAVEN,
TOM HOLLAND,
E.C. McMULLEN Jr.,
GEORGE A. ROMERO,
and many more.

Extensively quoted in

PHANTASM
EXHUMED
The Unauthorized Companion

And In
CINEMA
E.C. McMullen Jr.
Head Production Designer

MINE GAMES
(Starring:
JOSEPH CROSS,
BRIANA EVIGAN,
ALEX MERAZ,
ETHAN PECK)

Dept. head
Special Effects Make-Up
(SFX MUA)

A SIERRA NEVADA
GUNFIGHT
(MICHAEL MADSEN & JOHN SAVAGE).

Production Designer

UNIVERSAL DEAD
(DOUG JONES,
D.B. SWEENEY,
GARY GRAHAM)

Art Director

THE CRUSADER
(COLIN CUNNINGHAM,
GARY GRAHAM)

Article by
E.C.McMullen Jr.

THE INVINCIBLE VINCENT PRICE
and the
BIRTH OF THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES

In retrospect, Vincent Price's acting career seems indestructable.

By 1971 Hollywood had never been more "Youth Culture" in their movies. TV was all about family this and that, but every movie, regardless of genre was either about

THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES
MOVIE REVIEW

DR. PHIBES RISES AGAIN
MOVIE REVIEW

VINCENT PRICE
EVERYTHING WE'VE COVERED!

Young people in love despite their square parents, baby!

Young people in trouble, man!

Young people Fighting the system, man!1

(Not as bad a system as the NAZIs, Fascists, and Evil Emperor their fathers fought and defeated in WWII, but they're like, over 30 now and can't be trusted. Besides, illegal drugs and sex without consequence is still a battle worth fighting for!2)

Young people trapped by the system and fighting a war, you mother! - OR - based on a real scandal about corrupt hard-core, over 30 cops and nihilistic rebels hitting their mids, you son of a bitch!

The only other place you're going to find old 30-something men in a lead role were Horror Thriller movies where they were the ones battling the system they helped create (LAST MAN ON EARTH, COLOSSUS, PLANET OF THE APES, JAWS) or seeing their beliefs torn apart by the reality they ignored (THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE, THE EXORCIST, THE OMEN).

TRIVIA

2 You'd be right to say that Racial Equality was a battle worth fighting for, but the overwhelmingly white dominated counter-culture of the 60s and 70s ignored it almost entirely or paid it weak tea lip service. Good luck ever finding it in the "disruptive" Underground Comics of the time unless it was filtered and watered down through a caucasian writer or artist.

You'd also be right to say that Gender Equality was a battle worth fighting for, but the counter-culture feminists of the era formed towering walls between the races, wih the whites dropping encouraging love notes to the people of color from their towering parapets.

This too is embarrasingly reflected in magazine articles and Underground comics of the era. So too in Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences March 17, 1973 awards show and the overwhelmingly racist, snobbish treatment from the Academy and the press, of Marie Cruz aka Sacheen Littlefeather.

40 was the ceiling for movie leads (TV was another story) and the only place for older geezers was circling the drain with 8 or 10 other co-leads: former A-Listers in a disaster movie (Earthquake! The Towering Inferno! Airport! The Posiedon Adventure) or a low budget Western. No 40-plus actor could lead a movie by himself and forget about herself.

Then along comes Vincent Price who, at the time, was 20 to 30 years past Hollywood's expiration date and here he was, 61 and leading a Horror movie being sold to young people, and he was the ONLY lead!

American International Pictures (AIP) was a big studio at the time. Thanks to their winning producer, Roger Corman, they were a star birthing nursery of Hollywood's hottest young actors (Jack Nicholson), directors (Francis Ford Coppola), writers (Richard Matheson), and so on. They'd had good to great success with Vincent in the late 1950s ad early 60s, but eventually all runs cross the finish line.

In the protest era of Turn On, Tune In, and Drop Out, it wouldn't be that big a deal if AIP released a low budget Comedy Horror movie send-off for Vincent. Hey, Mr. Price, no hard feelings, you did your best. Good luck and Good bye!

After all, it was Vincent's 100th freaking movie!

So what was the outcome?

Vincent did it!

Director Robert Fuerst's THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES was a box office hit so huge AIP scrambled to get the sequel out as soon as Price was available again!

Continue to THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES Movie Review