The Abominable Dr. Phibes

Dr. Anton Phibes is believed to have died in a Swiss car crash in 1921 as he hurries home after learning of Victoria's death during surgery. He survives but is horribly scarred and rendered unable to speak. He later rebuilds his face with prosthetics and goes into hiding, plotting his vengeance.

Five years after the crash, Phibes resurfaces secretly in London in 1925. He regains his speaking voice using his acoustic knowledge and begins a meticulously planned vendetta against the doctors he blames for Victoria’s death. He operates from the shadows, aided by his silent assistant Vulnavia.

Phibes adopts the Ten Plagues of Egypt as his motif and wears an amulet with Hebrew letters corresponding to each plague. The symbols guide his murders and serve as a ritual signature. Vulnavia helps him execute these grim rituals.

Three doctors connected to Victoria's treatment are killed in a staged, ritualistic manner. The murders echo the plague motif and draw increasing suspicion from the police. Inspector Trout begins to connect the killings to Phibes.

Trout learns that the deceased doctors had worked under Dr. Vesalius, who says they were part of his team when treating Victoria. Vesalius's involvement deepens the investigation and widens the medical circle under scrutiny. The growing connection pushes Trout closer to the truth about Phibes.

At the fourth doctor's murder, an amulet bearing Phibes's plague insignia is found. Trout shows it to a jeweller and then to a rabbi to decode its meaning. The symbol confirms Phibes's role and intensifies the pursuit.

Trout and Vesalius trace the clues to Phibes's mausoleum at Highgate Cemetery. Inside, they find a box of ashes in Phibes's coffin and realize Victoria's coffin is empty. They conclude the embalmed remains are not Phibes but perhaps his chauffeur.

Phibes abducts Vesalius's son Lem and calls Vesalius to come alone to his mansion on Maldene Square to save the boy. Trout tries to intervene, but Vesalius insists on facing Phibes to rescue Lem.

Vesalius arrives at Phibes's mansion and, with six minutes on the clock, must locate and remove a key placed near Lem's heart to release him before acid drops kill him. He succeeds by moving the table away and freeing Lem just in time.

During the confrontation, Vulnavia is ordered to destroy Phibes's machines but is confronted by Trout and his assistant. She is drenched with acid and dies, removing Phibes's most faithful ally from the plan.

Convinced his vengeance is complete, Phibes retreats to the basement to inter himself in a stone sarcophagus beside the embalmed Victoria. He drains his own blood and replaces it with embalming fluid, then lies down beside his wife as the lid lowers. When Trout and the police arrive, Phibes has vanished, and darkness envelops the basement, hinting at his final curse.

The film closes with the sense that Phibes's revenge persists beyond the tomb, as darkness falls and the final curse lingers. Trout and Vesalius search for any trace of Phibes but find only the sealed tomb and the lingering mystery of his fate.