12 British Horror Films You Need To See

4. The Abominable Dr Phibes (1971)

If you had to explain to the uninitiated exactly what it is that makes Vincent Price such an icon, hopefully you€™d direct them to his portrayal of Dr Anton Phibes, a demented Biblical scholar (and organist) who, following injuries sustained during a car crash, wears a rubber face mask and drinks through a hole in the side of his neck. It€™s unlikely that anyone other than Price could€™ve pulled the character off €“ capable of speaking only through an electronic voice box he created, Phibes€™s voice is seldom heard, meaning Price has to bring him to life via body language. In even his more sympathetic roles, the actor appears menacing, but here he really pulls out the stops to create a flamboyant supervillain. He€™s also conducting a vendetta against the surgeons who failed to save his wife Victoria (Caroline Munro) on the operating table. Not just any old vendetta, mind you €“ this one involves recreating the 10 plagues of Egypt from the Old Testament. So one character is attacked by rats, another is eaten by locusts and, representing a plague of hail, one surgeon encounters a machine that spews ice.