The Curse of the Living Corpse

source: The Curse of the Living Corpse

Moviecut—The Curse of the Living Corpse

"The Curse of the Living Corpse" (1963) is probably director Del Tenney's best movie (faint praise indeed, with such competition as "The Horror of Party Beach" and "I Eat Your Skin", both 1964). All the main faults lie in Tenney's script, which appears to have been hastily concocted in the most rudimentary fashion (at least he allowed his wife to show as much skin as the censors would allow for its time). For those already familiar with the film, let's examine some of the details: since Roy Scheider is climactically revealed as the disguised killer, he could not be the corpse that awakens in the tomb while the lawyer is still reading the will; the gloved hand that locks the pretty blonde maid in the crypt would seem to be Scheider's, since the corpse is also locked in, and commits the film's first murder; after this, however, there is no evidence that the cowled killer is anyone but Scheider, yet there are no explanations as to the disappearance of the corpse, who is not found in the crypt when the maid's headless body is recovered and later dumped in the bog; if the secret passages included an unknown entrance to the crypt, then Scheider could have locked in the maid, returning via the hidden passage to kill her; after his brother is dragged to a violent death back to the stable, Scheider appears in the living room looking rested and relaxed; a drinking session with the idiot constable gives him the time to murder his fearful mother, but he sneaks in through the second floor window; lastly, Seth is murdered in the crypt despite the fact that all of the men are off on the manhunt; after Seth's murder, Scheider is clearly seen leaving the posse behind to return to the house for a final reckoning with the two remaining women. As one of the previous comments points out, the film does not bear close scrutiny (except by those of us with too much time on our hands), but could have been a classic of the genre rather than just a minor "cult" item notable chiefly as the film debut of Roy Scheider. It must be stated for the record that director Del Tenney made films that look more professional than the works of Ed Wood, Phil Tucker, Jerry Warren, Richard E. Cunha, David L. Hewitt, or Al Adamson.

A bickering family of loathsome characters are being killed one by one(the method of their departure by nefarious means is through their worst fears)by supposedly their recently dearly departed patriarch deemed an evil man who caused nothing but strife to those around him while alive. The father had an intense fear of being buried alive and claims that if his family didn't carry out the wishes of his will, they'd all perish. One dies because he feared of a scarred face(the killer, if it is the dead father, uses a hidden sword within the cane he always carried around to let everyone know he was drawing near), is slashed in said face, & dragged by the murderer on a horse until dead, another feared death by drowning and is submersed underwater by the killer until dead, another has a great fear of fire and the killer sets her aflame, etc, etc.. Is the father really the one murdering each family member because they didn't follow the will to the letter, or is it possibly someone else with sights set on the fortune? I really don't know if there's anything to recommend regarding "The Curse of the Living Corpse" for it's essentially a killer doing in relatives one by one, but the murders aren't that well staged and the characters are portrayed by the cast so badly you might be looking at your watches far before it's over. It might be of interest for fans of Roy Scheider since this is his film debut, though if he comes off rather unlikable..he portrays the second son whose a worthless, aggressive, confrontational, alcoholic jerk often causing verbal jousts with his relatives. This film is directed so poorly, with dialogue so limply delivered by the uninspired cast, it would probably serve best under the scrutinizing eyes of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 crew. And, when we find out who is murdering the cast, the film opens up a can of plot hole worms where you question how the person could commit the deeds without getting caught.

"The Curse of the Living Curse" is a decent enough but rather unspectacular affair. **SPOILERS** After a funeral procession, Bruce Sinclair, (Robert Mili) Abigail Sinclair, (Helen Warren) Phillip Sinclair, (Roy Scheider) Vivian Sinclair, (Margot Hartman) Seth Lucas, (J. Francis Luke) and Robert Harrington, (Dino Narriziano) all display various forms of grief over the loss, and are soon distraught over what has happened. Reading over the will, they all realize that they have been entrusted to perform tasks to receive money, and they are told that all have violated terms of the agreement. Paying little attention to the threats, they all continue their vices and problems. When they start mysteriously disappearing, they realize that a mysterious killer is among them and killing them off one-by-one according to their fears. Trapped in the house, they all try to escape from the killer. The Good News: This is a somewhat decent Gothic thriller. It's most surprising feature is that it gets some halfway decent suspense scenes. The opening sequence in the tomb is quite nice, as the slowly opening coffin and perpetual darkness is really great, and the fact that the there's a whole large amount of these kinds of scenes gives it an extra. The later sequence where the killer strikes one victim is great, as the first strike is spectacular with the killer emerging from the shadows, and the constant going in and out of light is pretty creepy. The beginning also has some pretty great Gothic moments, including the funeral and a shocking breakfast revelation. This one even has some pretty nice deaths to it. There's a brutal severed head, being dragged around over the ground tied to stampeding horses, thrown and sunk into a pit of quicksand, another is set on fire while trapped in a burning bed in the film's best scene, a sword in the neck and being drowned in a bathtub, which has a pretty sleazy air to it. In general, whenever the film has a death or is setting it up, it's the best moment, and all combine to make the film really entertaining. The Bad News: This one here is overall decent and contains a couple flaws. The biggest one is that this one never once feels important about what it's doing. This one just doesn't seem to have anything for what has happened and instead seems content to have everything coast by. There's never the feeling of dread coming from this that they're should've been. That fact about following the details provided should've been built up more to give it a little extra, yet there is barely glossed over enough to get a handle on what will exactly happen to them, as it gives their phobias and nothing else afterward. That is just like the unemotional care for the film and destroys it just as badly. The film's conclusion is another big problem area. It's twist is one seen coming a mile away, and then it twists into something that doesn't make sense. Nothing is given about why it's twisted to where it is, and from there it actually has one of the biggest plot holes in the genre, as it decides to ignore a pressing matter that the film is based around. It's confusing as to why this secret is left, and is a hard problem to overlook. The goofy-looking killer's wardrobe is something, but it's not as bad as the other ones. The Final Verdict: While it isn't that bad as a cheap Gothic film, as anything else it isn't that spectacular and comes off as rather decent. Fans of the genre at this point will think it's decent as well, while most will find others out there rather than this one to really get into. Today's Rating-PG-13: Violence

In the year of our Lord, 1964, the horror genre already underwent a metamorphosis. Films like "Psycho" and "Peeping Tom" gave a new meaning to terms like tension and terror, pioneers like Hershel Gordon-Lewis were experimenting with extreme splatter, and across the Atlantic Ocean geniuses, like Mario Bava were savagely butchering fashion models in the first Gialli. Why this little history lecture? Well, because "The Curse of the Living Corpse" was released in the same year, but it still looks and feels - deliberately - like a horror production of the 30s or early 40s. Okay, admittedly, it's a more Grand Guignol than in the thirties, with severed girls' heads on a plate and close-ups of burned corpses, but "The Curse of the Living Corpse" is basically a standard "old dark house" chiller, and I expected Boris Karloff or Bela Lugosi to pop out from behind the curtain at any given moment. Everything else is there: the death of a rich but tyrannical patriarch, the atmospheric reading of the will, insufferably greedy relatives bickering with each other, eerie family vaults, peek-holes through the eyes of portraits, quicksand puddles, redundant comic relief characters, etc. All this isn't criticism, you know. I love hammy guff like this, especially when the main characters are as loathsome as the Sinclair brothers, and when the death traps are sadistically linked to the victims' deepest fears. Director Del Tenney maintains a good pacing, the ensemble cast is more than amiable (including the debut performance of none other than Roy Scheider), the women are beautiful, and the end-twist is acceptable.

(Some Spoilers) Having a morbid fear of being buried alive due to his catalepsy old man Rufus Sinclair stipulated in his will that everything should be done by both his relatives and servants after his death to make sure that he's in fact really dead. Being a bunch of greedy and uncontentious gold diggers Rufas' relatives together with his faithful but weak-minded servant Seth, Seth Lucas, overlooked what he wanted from them and had him entombed two, not the five that he demanded, days after he suddenly passed away. For some strange reason the movie "Curse of the Living Corpse" which should have ended right there and then just keeps going on until it's final and not so surprising ending. This after the family lawyer James Benson, Hugh Franklin, had told those gathering to hear Rufus' will that their unqualified to receive any of his millions by not following Rufus' strict instructions. Right away it becomes apparent to everyone that Rufus, since he disappeared from his coffin, is indeed alive and in his crazed condition, because of his instructions not being followed ,is out to murder everyone who had him laid to rest while he was still clinically alive and breathing. Rufus, or whoever the masked and crazed killer is, goes not only after his family members but also his maid Litty Crews, Linda Donovan, who was not only excluded from his will but didn't do anything wrong, in his premature burial, to give him just cause to murder her. Dressed up like Zorro Rufus does in everyone in a way that they fear most by playing on their phobias; like fear of drowning suffocating and and fire. It's when the police are called in that Rufus, or whoever the killer is, becomes a bit overconfident in just how comical and ineffective they are. In fact Rufus' intended last victim is, like the brutally murdered Litty, totally innocent of his wrath, in not following his instructions, his nephews Robert, Dino Narizzano, girlfriend Deborah, Candace Hilligoss. By then he truth is finally revealed to who's behind all these killings and it only a matter of time for the killer to get his just deserts, in what he fears the most,at the bottom of of a nearby bog on the Sinclair Estate. Some really grizzly murder scenes, that includes a decapitation, that matched anything released back in those days, 1964, like the shower scene in "Psycho" and the string of vicious and blood splattering dismemberment's in "Blood Feast" makes the film "Curse of the living Corpes" truly terrifying to watch. The trick ending in the movie is a bit worn out since it's obvious by then who the killer really is due to process of elimination. Still the acting and direction is far above average for a low budget horror movie like "Curse of the Living Corpse" and it's that what makes the film more then worth while to sit through.

The Curse of the Living Corpse (1964) is a mediocre horror featuring a young Roy Scheider eleven years before, "You're gonna need a bigger boat." Roy's performance was the one strong point and sole reason I sat through this otherwise unremarkable film. It kicks off with the far from original plot where an old contemptible, wealthy man dies. His heirs, hoping to inherit, gather together in one house. But they soon start getting creatively picked off one by one. You can see the twist ending coming from a mile away. With the plot holes, overacting and bad dialogue it misses the mark and falls some where between horror and dark comedy. It does show potential with a few of the death scenes. Pair that with an outstanding performance by Scheider and all things considered it's not all bad.

The setting is New England in the late 19th century. A hated and feared patriarch, Rufus Sinclair, has supposedly died, and his family lays him to rest. However, the corpse rises from the grave, and proceeds to punish the heirs to the estate. This is done by killing each person in the manner that they fear most: mutilation of ones' face, drowning, fire, etc. "The Curse of the Living Corpse" was written, produced and directed by Del Tenney, something of a cult figure even if he only made a handful of movies. His others include "The Horror of Party Beach", "Violent Midnight", and "Zombie" a.k.a. "I Eat Your Skin". His tribute to the classic "old dark house" genre of black & white horror films is actually reasonably competent, although it must be said that it's mostly pretty lighthearted and fun stuff. It's never really scary, or even that atmospheric. Still, it has its delights, such as a memorable severed-head-on-a-platter gag. Tenney's screenplay won't bear much scrutiny, but in a fairly lightweight lark like this, that might not matter too much to the prospective viewer. The movie is very much noteworthy for being the screen debut for future star Roy Scheider, who gets the top billed role and who is obviously having fun. He hams his way through his performance as drink-loving, sardonic Philip. Robert Milli is amusing as the pompous Bruce, Linda Donovan is a real cutie as the servant Letty, and Margot Hartman (the real life Mrs. Tenney) is fine as Vivian. This can also boast the only other film appearance for Candace Hilligoss, known to horror buffs as the star of "Carnival of Souls". The story comes complete with comedy relief cops played by Paul Haney and George Cotton, who supply us with the blatantly goofy ending. Nothing great but it is entertaining. Seven out of 10.

Takes place in 1895 New England. Familiar script of a tyrannical old man dying and leaving instructions for his wife and children on how he is to be buried. Naturally they ignore them and, in his will, he promises to come back and destroy them. Soon a black-clad figure with a hat, cane and scarf covering his face starts killing everybody. Has the mean old man returned from the dead? FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!! The script is old hat, the dialogue and script are terrible and all the acting is bad. Even Roy Scheider (in his first movie) and Candace Hilligoss (from "Carnival of Souls") are lousy. The gore effects are pretty terrible: we see a severed head, a man disfigured, a woman burnt to death and a man stabbed with a sword. The only killing that worked was a woman who is strangled to death while taking a bath. The glimpses of nudity are surprising in a 1964 movie (expect all TV prints to be edited). The final revelation was no surprise at all. Also the background music never seemed to fit the scenes! I was fast-forwarding through this movie at the halfway mark just to get to the killings. It's paired with "Horror of Party Beach" which is so hysterically bad it's good. This however is just bad. A 1 all the way.