It's always a strange experience when you see the sequel before the original. I caught MC2 on cable one night and was transfixed. The scene where Cordell (great name!) smashes lightbulb after lightbulb as he walks through the underpass is tremendous -- in fact, virtually every scene that sets out to scare you is genuinely chilling (it helped that I lived in NYC at the time).
The relationship between Cordell and the serial killer is fascinating (reminiscent of the Frankenstein monster-Ygor odd couple in "Son of Frankenstein" and "Ghost of Frankenstien"). Finally, the station house massacre is a great low-budget homage to/ripoff of The Terminator's similar scene.
Anyway, I finally got to see the original a couple of years later and found it a great disappointment. But then, I saw "Dr Phibes Rises Again" first and then missed the high camp element when I later caught the original "Abominable Dr. Phibes".
In an interview about a decade ago, Lustig talked about casting Z'Dar. Lustig had seen the massive actor in "The Night Stalker" and was totally creeped out by him. Lustig recalled he was actually scared to death during the early stages of their first meeting.
Amazing that they chose Z'Dar, of all people, to replace Roddy Piper when they did the sequel to "Hell Comes to Frogtown"!
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