The Curse of the Living Corpse

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Marcus P DVD Review "The Curse of the Living Corpse" By Dan Century "The Curse of the Living Corpse" opens in 19th century New England at the funeral of Rufus Sinclair, patriarch of the Sinclair family. In the beginning moments of the film we witness the selfish Sinclair family violate all the stipulations of Rufus Sinclair's last will and testament. Rufus feared that his family would bury him alive, and so he crafted a terrifying will to punish his family with terror. According to the will: · His wife Abigail would die in a fire, · His son Bruce – the first of many disappointments – would die with his face disfigured. · His other son, the sickly Philip, would be choked or smothered to death. · Vivian, Philip's unfaithful wife, would drown. · Cousin Robert would have his beloved wife take from him, and · Seth, the handyman, would join Philip in his tomb. Since all of them violated the will in the first scene, it was only a matter of time before the body count began. After a make out session in the tomb with Bruce, Letty the maid is relieved of her cranium by a cloaked phantom. Is Rufus really alive and back to murder his clan? It would seem so. In the first of many classic, gristly scenes Letty's head arrives in Bruce's room served on a platter (instead of Bruce's breakfast). Bruce remains cool and calm and reveals Letty's head to Vivian while delivering the classic line "Would you prefer a better menu?" Bruce convinces Vivian to aid in the disposal of Letty's halves in a quicksand bog. Before long Bruce is murdered, and his precious face is destroyed. At this point the family is certain that Rufus has risen from his tomb. The lawyer offers these gangster rap-like lines: "If he was buried alive you can be sure of one thing, by now he is hopelessly insane, a homicidal maniac bent on one thing, revenge by the most horrible means". What means are those? Being forced to watch this movie twice? Just kidding – I'm actually enjoying this film. The family enlists the aide of the bumbling local police. The best protection the police can offer is by helping Philip polish off a bottle of whiskey; "Official procedure, just to make sure it hasn't been tampered with." As you might guess the murders continue until the end, which I won't spoil for you because I think this is a rather good film and I think it's worth seeing without further spoilers. "The Curse of the Living Corpse" benefits greatly from the strength of the two lead actors, Roy "Jaws" Scheider and Robert Milli, as well as a fair amount of clever and quotable dialog – it's a shame Del Tenny didn't write more scripts. My favorite quote has to be: "The body is a long insatiable tube, in need of drink and relaxation". There's even some side boob action – about as good as it gets in 1964. "The Curse of the Living Corpse" is an enjoyable mystery that would make an excellent remake if Hollywood were looking for scripts to resurrect. Maybe they can remake it with gangsta rappers! --- Originally published in Legends #160. Edited by Marcus Pan. Rated 1.5/5 Stars •  Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 11/28/23 Full Review Audience Member This was supposed to be the Big film in the twin bill with the "Horror of Party Beach". Wrong, it was the girls in bikinis, monsters and bikers that brought them in droves to the Drive In theaters. My mother was a Production Assistant (Ruth Freedman) and was very proud of finding a horse drawn hearse for Del Tenney. She picked out Roy Schider as being an up and comer. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/26/23 Full Review Audience Member Surprisingly watchable little Gothic potboiler, back with the cheesy Horror Of Party Beach, I had very low expectations, so I was pretty impressed by this one showing even a modicum of proficiency. Worth a look and definitely the better of the two films on this particular disc. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/07/23 Full Review Audience Member The Curse of the Living Corpse doesn't bring anything new to the genre other then it's an early slasher in the 10 little Indian vein. Dear old dad suffers from catalepsy, they think him dead & lay him to rest. He has previsions in his will in case he is mistakenly buried alive & needs to return from the grave but of course his family doesn't carry out his wishes & each must meet their gruesome demise. Not as schlocky as director Del Tenney's other works but still pretty stilted. It's b/w photography could have been put to better use & the acting is more then sub par even w/ the screen debut of Roy Scheider. Seen it all before as everyone is bumped off one by one & even a couple of stupid Mick cops show up to investigate. Im a little rough in my rating but this formula has been done dozens of times & a hell of a lot better Rated 1.5/5 Stars •  Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 01/27/23 Full Review Audience Member This one was just ok. I liked the Party Beach one better. Not the worst B but not the best either. Oh and Roy Scheider was in it. LOL! He's so famous for being in Jaws. Sometimes you see great actors in these old second rate movies. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/02/23 Full Review Audience Member some people may rate this movie as predictable but i got the identity of the killer, if you have an hr and a bit going spare with nothing to do give this old thriller a watch you could do worse Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review Read all reviews

The Curse of the Living Corpse

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