Ted B
2.5 stars; Probably a higher rating than it deserves. Cheap T&A classic female casting. A meandering script that tried to take advantage of the Bridey Murphy reincarnation story of that time (1957), but somehow turned it into a time travel movie. Directing and acting seemed completely unrehearsed.
So, how does it get 2.5 stars? Two words: Roger Corman. This movie was shot on a shoestring budget in ten days in a rented grocery store with homemade props. Some of the actors had to work for free or not get paid until Roger started his next film.
All this. And yet, while watching it, it actually seems like something legitimate. All hail the king of B-Horror flicks!!!
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
07/01/24
Full Review
Dallas H
It is surprising to imagine how much of this movie was filmed in a rented-out grocery store. Roger Corman is one of the leaders in small-budget movie productions!
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
06/30/24
Full Review
CodyZamboni
Movie is lame and boring. One of Roger Corman's misfires. A film about hypnosis, past lives, time travel, silly Shakespearean dialogue, witches. and lame fx. Some interest in that this is one of first movies about about messing around with timelines, The other assets being the two hot female leads.
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
12/31/23
Full Review
Audience Member
In the mid-1950s, reincarnation was in and The Search for Bridey Murphy was being made, so Roger Corman asked Charles Griffith to write a script, which was originally called The Trance of Diana Love, which is a great title, and was to be in all iambic pentameter.
Griffith said, "I separated all the different things with sequences with the devil, which were really elaborate, and the dialogue in the past was all in iambic pentameter. Roger got very excited by that. He handed the script around for everybody to read, but nobody understood the dialogue, so he told me to translate it into English. The script was ruined."
I can't even add up how many wasted hours that was.
Mel Welles, who played Smolkin, told Interviews with B Science Fiction and Horror Movie Makers: Writers, Producers, Directors, Actors, Moguls and Makeup "it was a wonderful script and it probably would have been the cult film rather than Little Shop of Horrors had it been shot that way. But either Roger or someone at American-International Pictures didn't think it was commercially viable to do it that way and at the last minute a decision was made to rewrite the script without that."
Quintus Ratcliff (Val DuFour) is a psychic researcher who has spent years in Tibet to learn how to mentally regress someone back into their past life. He wants to prove to an old professor that he can do this, so he hires Diana Love (Pamela Duncan) for $500 to place her into a trance for two days.
She's soon back in the Middle Ages, trapped in the mind of her ancestor Helene, accused of witchcraft. Diana is able to inform her past self of how to escape, so she heads into the night and meets up with the real witch Livia (Allison Hayes) and even Satan himself (Richard Devon).
Using the link between Diana and Helene, Quintus comes back in time, hoping to convince Helene to avoid her death and change history.
With Billy Barty as an imp and Dick Miller as a leper, this Corman film may have been a cheap one -- and one that caused him stress with the bad smelling fog and budget iss
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
02/06/23
Full Review
Audience Member
One of the reasons why I am a huge Svengoolie fan is because of the wide variety of movies he shows. However for every classic Svengoolie shows, there are a few that miss the target. Roger Corman's "The Undead" definitely is a miss. A big one. The movie is not terrible, but it is loaded with flaws. Suspension of disbelief can only go so far. The cast does their best with the script they are given. I will admit it was kind of neat to see veteran character actors the late Richard Miller and the late Billy Barty in early roles. However that is really the only good things I can say about this movie. The script is not well written. It is very dull and confusing. Also, once the movie had ended I just did not feel any emotion for the characters. It is a very forgettable movie and it is not worth your time in my opinion. The performances alone are what is compelling me to give this movie two stars. However you need more than that to make a good movie.
Rated 2/5 Stars •
Rated 2 out of 5 stars
01/22/23
Full Review
joe m
Not overly scary yet "The Undead" is a surprisingly engaging with a better than usual plot than you'd expect from a Roger Corman film. Mixing hypnotism, time travel, witchcraft and the very question of reincarnation and predestination, it manages to bring these all together even if done using B actors and a set that was apparently all done on in a former supermarket. Recommend, even if not highly.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
03/30/23
Full Review
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