Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
"I find a coffin much more comfortable than a bed", March 8, 2003
This fun horror classic stars the great Bela Lugosi in one of his best roles! Don't expect the plot to make much sense since nothing is ever really explained. Bela plays a creepy doctor who raises orchids and gives them to virgin girls who are about to be married. When the brides smell them, they go into a comatose state and seem to be dead to everyone. Bela and his henchmen (which includes a dwarf played by Angelo Rossitti from the classic film "Freaks") then steal the bodies by posing as morgue workers with a hearse. Once Bela has the brides at his laboratory he removes some of their 'fluids', which he uses to keep his sick aging wife youthful looking (his wife is played by the great 40s scream queen Elizabeth Russell). Soon a spunky female 'Louis Lane' type reporter played by Luana Walters is on to Bela, and when she tries to investigate (with the help of a hapless doctor), she discovers that Bela and his wife like to sleep in coffins and other odd things. When she confronts Bela about the coffin beds, he calmly replies in one of his most memorable lines ever: "I find a coffin much more comfortable than a bed". Classic 1940s b-movie fun. See it!
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Vintage Bela Lugosi doing what he does best, December 9, 2002
The only thing worse than being left standing at the altar is having your bride fall over dead in the middle of the service. As The Corpse Vanishes opens, that is exactly what is happening; even worse, the bride's corpses keep getting stolen. The cops are baffled, but hard-nosed female reporter Pat Hunter is determined to solve the mystery and make a name for herself in journalism. She follows her leads to the home of Dr. Lorenz (Lugosi) and winds up having the most terrifying night of her life. Lorenz has a peculiar staff-a rather annoying older servant and her two sons, one a midget and the other a seemingly mute and obviously dim-witted stooped-over fellow. Most strange of all, though, is Lorenz's ill-tempered wife. Of course, the Countess has reason to complain because she is constantly fighting old age and death. Lorenz has come up with a way to maintain his wife's youth and beauty; the only catch is that it requires the regular extraction of a certain amount of the essence of life from young girls. Why blushing brides are the specimens of choice is never really made clear. In any event, Pat struggles to find a way to trap the good doctor and convince her boss that she is telling the truth about the things she has discovered. Interestingly, there are some definite similarities between this 1942 film and 1931's Dracula: Lugosi plays an evil man who must steal the life essence from beautiful young women in order to hold mortality at bay; Lorenz secretly enters the rooms of his guests during the night and stares down at them with the look Lugosi is famous for; Lorenz and his wife sleep in coffins; and the dim-witted, eternally slump-backed assistant (called Angel of all things) can be compared with Dracula's Renfield. The plot is rather weak in spots, but I love the nostalgic campiness of it (and, apparently, the Mystery Science Theater 3000 gang did too). I would rank this movie among the better horror movies of that golden era of cinematic fright. Lugosi fans will surely want to have The Corpse Vanishes in their video libraries as it features one of his best performances. Please note that this review if for The Corpse Vanishes only, even though you may see it linked to a double feature release featuring a second Lugosi movie.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
The Case of the Vanishing Virgins, September 8, 2008
The film begins with a church wedding. The bride faints; a doctor declares her dead! A black car takes the body away. Then the men from the morgue show up for the body. Who kidnapped another corpse? The police search only finds a hired man who knows nothing. There will be a society wedding. What can go wrong? The bride gets an unusual orchid as a gift. Poor Alice faints, her body is removed. Does the orchid have a strange smell? Miss Hunter discovers the connection btween the dead brides. We learn why the bodies are taken - for an extract that is given to the Countess! The people at the railroad station say Dr. Lorentz is strange and spooky. Who sent that coffin to Dr. Lorentz?
Reporter Hunter gets a ride to the Lorentz home with Dr. Foster. She wants information on the rare Stanhopia orchid. It is a dark and stormy night, so they will spend the night as guests. Will there be a frightful event in the night? Some horrible creature? Was it just a nightmare? Who would sleep in a coffin? Will something creepy happen? The background music telegraphs the action. Was it all a dream? Do reporters become cynical from working on a newspaper? Dr. Foster visits the newspaper to confirm Patricia Hunter's story. They plan a ruse to catch Dr. Lorentz. Will it work as planned? Will the police shoot first and ask questions later? Can the clever plan of Dr. Lorentz fail? Will bodies pile up to provide an ending?
Is this the worst horror film with Bela Lugosi as a villain? You can see the tight editing and low budget for this Monogram film. Higher production values would have made a better film of this story, which is a variation on the vampire legend but without the supernatural events. Could they ever use body parts for living persons? That reference to "new tires" is a joke about wartime rationing. Gasoline rationing also controlled travel.
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