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Scared to Death

  • 1946
  • Approved
  • 1h 5m
IMDb RATING
4.1/10
1.9K
YOUR RATING
Bela Lugosi, Molly Lamont, and George Zucco in Scared to Death (1946)
From a slab in the morgue, a dead young woman tells the bizarre tale of how she got there, through a maze of murder involving a hypnotist, a midget and a mysterious figure in a green mask.
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CrimeHorrorMysteryThriller

From a slab in the morgue, a dead young woman tells the bizarre tale of how she got there, through a maze of murder involving a hypnotist, a midget and a mysterious figure in a green mask.From a slab in the morgue, a dead young woman tells the bizarre tale of how she got there, through a maze of murder involving a hypnotist, a midget and a mysterious figure in a green mask.From a slab in the morgue, a dead young woman tells the bizarre tale of how she got there, through a maze of murder involving a hypnotist, a midget and a mysterious figure in a green mask.

  • Director
    • Christy Cabanne
  • Writer
    • Walter Abbott
  • Stars
    • Bela Lugosi
    • George Zucco
    • Molly Lamont
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    4.1/10
    1.9K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Christy Cabanne
    • Writer
      • Walter Abbott
    • Stars
      • Bela Lugosi
      • George Zucco
      • Molly Lamont
    • 88User reviews
    • 34Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

    Trailer
    Trailer 1:41
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    Photos26

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    Top cast13

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    Bela Lugosi
    Bela Lugosi
    • Prof. Leonide
    George Zucco
    George Zucco
    • Dr. Joseph Van Ee
    Molly Lamont
    Molly Lamont
    • Laura Van Ee…
    Nat Pendleton
    Nat Pendleton
    • Bill Raymond
    Joyce Compton
    Joyce Compton
    • Jane Cornell
    Gladys Blake
    Gladys Blake
    • Lilybeth
    Roland Varno
    Roland Varno
    • Ward Van Ee
    Douglas Fowley
    Douglas Fowley
    • Terry Lee
    Stanley Andrews
    Stanley Andrews
    • Pathologist
    Angelo Rossitto
    Angelo Rossitto
    • Indigo
    Lee Bennett
    Lee Bennett
    • Rene the Killer
    Stanley Price
    Stanley Price
    • Autopsy Surgeon
    Dorothy Christy
    Dorothy Christy
    • Mrs. Williams
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Christy Cabanne
    • Writer
      • Walter Abbott
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews88

    4.11.9K
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    Featured reviews

    orc0294

    Not as bad as you might think

    I do admit to someone not into classic films this movie will seem boring and it is in fact not on the same level as the greats of this time period but it does have endearing qualities. For one as others have mentioned Lugosi and Zucco play solid roles. Second it does have good comic relief with the bungling ex detective and the ditzy fiancee of the reporter. Also I like the wide open ending where you are left wondering what exactly happened. Now it does have flaws also, the major one being switching back to the morgue ever few mins to have the woman on the slab tell you what is coming up next, a complete waste of film. But, All in all a decent movie for the time period.
    3preppy-3

    "Filmed in Natural Color!"

    Bela Lugosi's only color feature film. VERY strange movie about unhappily married Laura (Molly Lamont) convinced that her husband and his father are trying to scare her to death. (Why they are supposedly doing it is kind of vague) In strolls the mysterious Prof. Leonide (Bela Lugosi) and his mute, deaf midget friend (Angelo Rossitto) for no real reason. Then there's private cop Bill Raymond (Nat Pendleton) casually walking around the house looking for a murder!

    Not a good movie--badly directed with some of the worst color designs I've ever seen in a movie. The acting ranges from unbelievably hammy (Lugosi) to bad (everyone else). The plot is full of holes and unexplained people and circumstances--I'm still not sure what Rossitto is doing in this. Also someone in a blue mask keeps looking in windows--but everyone says it's a GREEN mask! Love the part when George Zucco listens to the heartbeat of a woman who fainted and immediately declares she's under hypnosis!

    None of it makes much sense but--in a way--this is lots of fun. Just silly enough to enjoy and keep you interested. The "explanation" at the end is just ridiculous. The color is actually pretty strong in the print I saw and it's all narrated by a dead woman! It's bad (that's why I give it a 3) but oddly compelling. A must for bad film fans.
    8Norm-30

    An "odd" film

    This film is notable because it's the only color film Lugosi ever made.

    The entire plot is very confusing (in the vein of "the Gorilla") and a lot of the "thrills" are done for their "creepy effect", without any real explanation for some of them.

    Even so, the floating green mask at the window, secret panels, disembodied heads and other things provide an "undercurrent" of an eerie mystery.

    It's also interesting that Zucco & Lugosi are in this film; to my knowledge, they never made another film together.

    It's a difficult film to find, but see it if you have the chance!
    3Steve-171

    Laughably inept in every way, but Lugosi's okay.

    Norm thinks more of this turkey than I do. I found it inept in plotting, dialog, direction---well, everything. Lugosi tries, but the deck's stacked against him. Watch as Zucco takes the dead girl's pulse, lets go of her hand, and it hangs there for a second before dropping to the floor. Lines get flubbed but they go on anyway. Hear the corpse stick her two cents in periodically, while the same spooky chord plays every time. Okay, I've seen it, but the next time I watch it I'll have some liquored up friends over for some solid laughs.
    4culwin

    Did they just give up halfway through?

    The classic trope of several people in a house with a killer. Right away, we're assaulted by a garish color palette, but OK whatever. We're introduced to the cast one-by-one and we are trying to figure out whodunit and why. Pretty standard so far. Then about 65 minutes in, the killer is abruptly revealed and the movie ends. Wait, what? The movie starts out not being too bad, and seems like it could have gone somewhere, but ultimately it's like they just gave up (ran out of time? Money?) and ended it. The unsatisfying ending turns a mediocre movie into a somewhat bad one.

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Possibly the first film to be narrated by a corpse. This gimmick was subsequently used in Billy Wilder's classic Sunset Boulevard (1950) and the early 1994 Danny Boyle thriller Shallow Grave (1994) with a young Ewan McGregor.
    • Goofs
      Near the beginning of the film when Dr. Van Ee goes to the window to investigate the tapping noise, he takes the stethoscope out of his ears twice in succeeding shots.
    • Quotes

      Leonide: My little friend Indigo is deaf and dumb, he cannot hear and he cannot speak, but reads the lips. And I will advise you to say nothing to annoy him, for his temper is as short as he is.

    • Connections
      Edited into Terror in the Pharaoh's Tomb (2007)

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    FAQ16

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    • Is this available on DVD?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • February 1, 1947 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Languages
      • English
      • Hungarian
      • French
    • Also known as
      • Accent on Horror
    • Filming locations
      • Yorke-Metro Studios, 1329 Gordon Street, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA
    • Production company
      • Golden Gate Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    • Budget
      • $135,000 (estimated)
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

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    • Runtime
      • 1h 5m(65 min)
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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