The Curse of the Living Corpse

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.

One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Directed and Produced by Del Tenney; Released by 20th Century-Fox. Screenplay by Del Tenney; Dialogue by Alan Bodian; Photography and Production Design by Richard Hilliard; Edited by Jack Hirschfeld and Gary Youngman; Edited by George Burt and Bill Holcomb. Starring Roy Scheider, Helen Waren, Margot Hartman, Robert Milli, Linda Donovan, Hugh Franklin and Candace Hilligoss.

A 1960s costume horror flick concerning the systematic decimation of the beneficiaries of a millionaire's will by the presumably still-living stiff. Cheaply executed b good, wasted performances by a cast of unknowns (of whom Roy Scheider would achieve stardom a decade later), but the premise remains a dead one, overused many moons ago. Surprisingly interesting photography, and notable for the meticulous use of just over the borderline nudity.

This is an obscure little film that is more atmospheric than anything else. It's certainly not original, in fact it's a loose remake of a much earlier film called "Secret of the Blue Room"...which, in itself, was remade as "Murder in the Blue Room". Confused yet?

Here we have a stereotypical rich megalomaniac whose death brings out the worst in his surviving relatives. He threatens to come back to life and murder each of them if they do not conform to the minute details of his burial. Of course they blatantly disregard the orders, and soon they are all being picked off as promised. Not that any of them have the sense to just leave the old manor.

This is particularly interesting for its photography, which makes excellent use of light and shadow. Faces loom out of darkness, small objects are illuminated by tiny shafts of light, and the confines of the gloomy mansion are utilized to the hilt. This takes place in an indeterminate time period, with a glaring lack of modern technology, which adds to the gothic feel of the film.

Candace Hilligoss from "Carnival Of Souls" is our heroine, which is another intriguing aspect of the movie. Truthfully, I wasn't aware that Roy Scheider was even in this film, which makes me want to go back and watch it again just out of curiosity. I musn't have been watching the credits.

If you can find this one, you may enjoy it for the aforementioned reasons, but don't expect any real chills or thrills. If you can't figure out the conclusion ahead of time, you're just not paying close enough attention.

While this film is by no means a thriller on par with anything Mario Bava directed or anything Edmond O'Brien starred in, it still is a pretty decent watch. The acting is overdone, the comic relief (if one can call it that) is so pitiful that I was seriously hoping the Constable (the "funny" character) was the next beheaded.

THe story surrounds a New England family of status and money. Their abusive and controlling father dies, leaving an inheritance for each member of the family provided they fulfill the stipulations of the will. Upon the first reading of the will, we learn that everyone has already violated the terms, wow. Way to cut out a lot of story. The murders are pretty predictable and leave little tension. The killings each pertain to said victims' fear (drowning, fire, etc) and are admittedly pretty graphic for 1963/1964. The beheading, the drowning scene, etc are very violent and there is no sparing the gore. That isn't to say that it looks completely realistic, but nonetheless at the time it must've caused quite a stir.

The murderer is allegedly the dead father returned from the grave to revenge his disobedient family. I won't spill the beans but you can probably guess the twist about a half and hour into the film.

Roy Scheider makes his screen debut and chews the scenery with vigor.

At the end of the film the explanations don't really justify the "how" and if you've scene the film, and know the character I'm talking about, his "disability" wouldn't have allowed him to do what he did.

Through and through there are points of interest, it's not complete fodder but I wish the police men had been cut from the film. They made the viewing less pleasurable for me. It's not complete fodder and OK for a double feature (as it's released with Horror of Party Beach) when you just want a bit of "fun" and non-introspective entertainment,

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.