The Body Snatcher

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The Body Snatcher

1945

1h 19m

Horror

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

86%

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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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Wolcott Gibbs

The New Yorker

A horror item considerably better than most.

Oct 15, 2021

Full Review

Variety Staff

Variety

Settings are inexpensive but sufficient for the needs. Production values, in general, however, aid materially in making this picture a winner.

Nov 14, 2007

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Time Out

The film accelerates to great effect towards the end.

Jun 24, 2006

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Alan Jones

Radio Times

Producer Val Lewton's version of Robert Louis Stevenson's Burke and Hare-like corpse-stealing short story is a horror masterpiece.

Rated: 5/5

Jun 7, 2024

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Eddie Harrison

film-authority.com

...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...

Rated: 4/5

Feb 20, 2021

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Mike Massie

Gone With The Twins

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.

Rated: 8/10

Aug 5, 2020

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Ray L

First time watching this film I am a huge Karloff fan I really enjoyed this film

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

11/20/25

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Joel H

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.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

10/31/25

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Madoka A

Fantastic. Spooky. Funny. Great product! Really good!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

06/23/25

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Robson C

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.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/13/25

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Ben T

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.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/28/24

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Alec B

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.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

11/18/23

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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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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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