A buzzing, crawling, creeping nightmare of terror!!

Among all the 12" classic horror offerings released in the last few years, mostly by Sideshow Collectibles, one piece tends to get a bit overlooked. Majestic Studios released their Return Of The Fly action figure in 2003 and it's a very nice addition to have in your monster lineup. It's based on the movie of the same name released in 1959 and starring Vincent Price, who appeared in the original version "The Fly" as well in the previous year. Price played the character of Francois Delambre (not the monster) in both movies, but did not appear in the trilogy's final entry, 1965's "Curse of the Fly", as by this time he was under contract to another studio.

This is a really neat figure. I bought it mostly because I got a good deal on it, (it retailed for about $40, but I got it on clearance for $15) but I'm reallly glad I did. While most of my 12" figures are in storage due to space limitations, this is one of only three that still gets displayed. I really like the big fly head with the shiny green eyes and the claw hand and foot add a nice touch of menace. The neck and upper chest have hair on them, but besides these things the rest of the toy is just a regular guy in a suit. You can unbutton the jacket, shirt and pants, but it doesn't appear that you can unbuckle the belt.

There are 15 points of articulation (ankles, knees, hips, wrists, elbows, shoulders, waist, chest and neck) allowing for great poseability. Though it's generally referred to as a 12" figure, in reality it is more like 13.5" tall. 14"+ if you measure from the botoom of the included base. Speaking of which, this is a really neat add-in that you don't get with the Sideshow releases. The base is about 7"x6" with a "Return Of The Fly" plaque on the front. Also included is a tipped over jug of red liquid, presumably blood although I don't remember that from the movie. Of course, it's been a few years since I've seen it, though. Rounding out the presentation is of course a fly with a human head. Unlike the David Cronenberg remake of the 1980's in which Jeff Goldblum gradually becomes a fly, in the originals the main character actually has his head, arm and foot SWAPPED with a fly after his teleportation experiment goes wrong. So if you have a big human toy with a fly head, you need a little fly toy with a human head.

Title Plaque

Overturned Jar O'Blood

I must say that the guy doesn't seem to be too bothered by having his head on a fly's body!

My biggest, and really only, gripe with this toy is the box it came in. Unlike the Sideshow 12" figures, and even the later Dr. Phibes one from Majestic Studios, this does not come in a sleek box with the movie artwork on front. Instead it's a much bulkier box with a cellophane window on the front. It's one of those boxes that really doesn't lend itself to collectability. Mine was destroyed and thrown away. And if you know how obsessive I am about boxes, then you know how much of a hassle the thing was to deal with. This is why I can't provide a picture of it for you.

But I definitely recommend this to monster fans, especially if you can find a good deal on it like I did.

And if you were wondering, yes, The Misfits song "Return of the Fly" is indeed about this movie.

If you think you can reason with him, then you're as mad as he is!

The Abominable Dr. Phibes, released in 1971 by American International Pictures (AIP), may not be the best movie that the great Vincent Price ever appeared in, but it certainly introduced one of his most loved and memorable characters. Many of the other horror stars of the time had specific roles that they were especially known for (Boris Karloff as the Frankenstein Monster, Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee as Dracula, Lon Chaney Jr as the Wolf Man, etc...), and even today, actors like Kane Hodder (Jason Vorhees), Gunnar Hansen (Leatherface) and Doug Bradley (Pinhead) have their signature roles. Price never really had a recurring character to call his own. Sure he played the Invisible Man a couple of times, but he was invisible and most people still associated that character with Claude Rains anyway. I suppose it is to his credit that he had such a long and distinguished career without a franchise character to fall back on.

But with his 100th movie, Price created a character for the ages, Dr. Anton Phibes, horribly disfigured in a car accident and back from the dead to seek revenge on the doctors who could not save his beloved wife, Vulnavia. He would use prosthetic makeup to restore his face, but the ghoulish visage remained beneath. This toy features a separate head to represent each. In the movie, Phibes also lost his ability to speak, but overcame this using a special apparatus he made. Plugging a microphone wire into his neck and connecting it to a speaker allowed him to communicate. This is also portrayed on the toy, with the connector on the neck and two separate wires that can be attached.

Two costumes are included, one white and one black. Each has an attached cape and a separate hood that can be wrapped around his head and connected with velcro. The gloves are molded on, but you can remove both lower arms and swap them for whichever outfit he is wearing. The shoes and socks can be removed and changed as well. They should have included a shoe horn though as I had a really hard time removing/inserting the foot from/into the shoe.

The toy is 12" tall and features 17 points of articulation. It's very poseable, but can be difficult to stand in extreme poses. It does include a stand with his name on the bottom at least.

The packaging is very much like the packaging for the 12" dolls from Sideshow Toys. The box features the dvd cover from the MGM Midnight Movies release and the front panel opens to reveal the toy inside, which rests in a plastic tray. I'm very glad that the packaging is so similar because I'm certain that fans of the Sideshow dolls would buy this too and it's nice to have that consistency.

Although Dr. Phibes doesn't break any new ground in toy design, I would still recommend that every monster movie fan pick this one up.

Here is the original trailer: