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The Body Snatcher

Play trailer Poster for The Body Snatcher 1945 1h 19m Horror Play Trailer Watchlist
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86% Tomatometer 22 Reviews 75% Popcornmeter 2,500+ Ratings
Dr. Toddy MacFarlane (Henry Daniell) needs cadavers for his medical experiments, ultimately intended to treat a young disabled girl. However, they are not easy to come by, so he enlists the help of taxi driver John Gray (Boris Karloff) and his assistant, Joseph (Bela Lugosi), to unearth bodies from the cemetery. When Donald (Russell Wade), Dr. MacFarlane's assistant, recognizes one of the corpses Gray delivers, the true source of the bodies is called into question.
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The Body Snatcher

Critics Reviews

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Wolcott Gibbs The New Yorker 10/15/2021
A horror item considerably better than most. Go to Full Review Variety Staff Variety 11/14/2007
Settings are inexpensive but sufficient for the needs. Production values, in general, however, aid materially in making this picture a winner. Go to Full Review Time Out 06/24/2006
The film accelerates to great effect towards the end. Go to Full Review Alan Jones Radio Times 06/07/2024
5/5
Producer Val Lewton's version of Robert Louis Stevenson's Burke and Hare-like corpse-stealing short story is a horror masterpiece. Go to Full Review Eddie Harrison film-authority.com 02/20/2021
4/5
...a good example of a kind of horror style that we've lost the knack of; intelligent, thoughtful, thrilling and yet subtle in its intention... Go to Full Review Mike Massie Gone With The Twins 08/05/2020
8/10
Essentially turns the tale of famous Scotland serial killers Burke and Hare into a fictional recounting with altered protagonists, allies, cover-ups, and other elaborations. Go to Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Ray L Nov 20 First time watching this film I am a huge Karloff fan I really enjoyed this film See more Joel H Oct 31 The Body Snatcher is a pleasantly ghoulish surprise. It took some time for the plot to get in motion, but when it did, I was immediately interested. Boris Karloff gives a wonderfully wicked performance as Gray the Cabman. He plays the kind of person you hope to never run into in real life. And although Bela Lugosi is prominently listed on the marketing, he’s barely in this horror film, which was a little disappointing. Still, I was shocked by how dark this plot went, and when I read up on the real-life inspiration, I was even more astonished. I’m glad I finally dug up The Body Snatcher and watched it. See more Madoka A Jun 23 Fantastic. Spooky. Funny. Great product! Really good! See more Robson C Jan 13 O cocheiro Gray, na Edimburgo dos anos 30, é um ladrão de túmulos, fornecendo corpos para o Dr. MacFarlane. Logo Gray decide alterar a hierarquia e passa a chantagear a ele a seu assistente Fettes, que caminha em um tênue limite entre ser um bom homem e acobertar os crimes de Gray e MacFarlane, em nome da medicina. Uma pequena pérola deste terror gótico, onde Karloff brilha como Gray. Ele pode ser simpático para a menina que sofre de paralisia nas suas pernas, mas também insinuante como a serpente que tentou Adão e Eva no Paraíso. Pena ver o Bela Lugosi em um papel tão pequeno. Um conto de terror gótico. See more Ben T 02/28/2024 Boris Karloff gives another sinister performance as a supplier of bodies to a doctor. But Bela Lugosi is dreadfully wasted and his role in the film id forgettable. The story is carried out well and is creepy and exciting. It's good to see Karloff without his ‘Frankenstein' make-up. See more Alec B 11/10/2023 The Body Snatcher, a 1945 horror film directed by Robert Wise, offers a chilling, golden-era production of Robert Louis Stevenson's novel. Starring the iconic duo of Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi, the film unfolds in the murky shadows of 19th-century Edinburgh, where grave-robbing and medical ethics collide. Karloff's performance as the sinister cabman Gray is nothing short of chilling, exuding creepiness matched only by his performance in Frankenstein. "The Body Snatcher" is an early success in the horror genre, and slightly ahead of its time in film direction. See more Read all reviews
The Body Snatcher

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Cast & Crew

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Robert Wise

Director

Boris Karloff

Cabman John Gray

Bela Lugosi

Joseph

Henry Daniell

Dr. Wolfe `'Toddy'` MacFarlane

Edith Atwater

Meg Cameron

Russell Wade

Donald Fettes

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The Body Snatcher

The Body Snatcher (1945) The Body Snatcher (1945) The Body Snatcher (1945) The Body Snatcher (1945) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis Dr. Toddy MacFarlane (Henry Daniell) needs cadavers for his medical experiments, ultimately intended to treat a young disabled girl. However, they are not easy to come by, so he enlists the help of taxi driver John Gray (Boris Karloff) and his assistant, Joseph (Bela Lugosi), to unearth bodies from the cemetery. When Donald (Russell Wade), Dr. MacFarlane's assistant, recognizes one of the corpses Gray delivers, the true source of the bodies is called into question.
Director
Robert Wise
Producer
Val Lewton
Screenwriter
Philip MacDonald, Val Lewton
Distributor
RKO Home Video, Nostalgia Merchant, Image Entertainment Inc., RKO Radio Pictures
Production Co
RKO Radio Pictures Inc.
Genre
Horror
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
May 25, 1945, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Jan 1, 2009
Runtime
1h 19m
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