A high level of nervous tension is giving overbearing screecher Laura Van Ee (Molly Lamont) some heart problems. Unhappily married to Ward (Roland Varno) and living in a large mansion/clinic with her hubby and his doctor father Josef (George Zucco), Laura believe someone's trying to kill her. And apparently she is correct in her assumption since the film is narrated by her fresh corpse on a morgue slab. The film frequently closes in on her body, the screen goes wavy and the film settles into flashback mode as she narrates her own story. Too bad she isn't even present for the majority of it! Laura, a former singer in Paris, now thinks she is being held prisoner in her home by Ward and her father-in-law. She hears strange noises and someone sends her a dummy head in a package to try to drive her even more bonkers. After that set-up during the first 20 minutes or so, the film seems to forget all about Laura until the very end of the film, when some absurd, out-of-left field explanation is given about how she was literally "scared to death" by someone from her past who has returned to settle an old score.
So what happens during the majority of this film? Unfortunately, it has little to do with Laura's predicament and more to do with a crew of irritating, chattery side characters trying (and usually failing) to be amusing. Nat Pendleton plays an extremely annoying bumbling detective named Bill Raymond, who hangs out in the home hoping someone is killed so he can solve the case and get his old job back (?) There's also put-upon maid Lilly Beth (Gladys Blake), who Bill seems obsessed with and who finds herself clinically dead at one point. Add to the mix reporter Terry Lee (Douglas Fowley), his airhead girlfriend Jane Cornell (Joyce Compton), Josef's estranged hypnotist cousin Professor Leonide (Bela Lugosi), Leonide's deaf-mute dwarf sidekick Indigo (Angelo Rossitto), blackmailer Mrs. Williams (Dorothy Christie) and someone wearing a green expressionless mask peaking in windows from time to time. This film has far too many pointless characters, far too many dull, talky scenes that really have nothing to do with the plot and completely fails at being a horror film, mystery OR comedy.
The film's chief notoriety is being both Lugosi's only starring role in a color feature and his only color horror effort. Unfortunately, Bela is underutilized here and seems to disappear for lengthy stretches, though his presence in general will be enough of an incentive for fans to check this out. Same goes for horror star Zucco, who plays his role completely straight but has almost nothing to do. The run-time is a measly 68 minutes, but that doesn't keep this misfire from dragging on and on and on for what seems like an eternity.
So what happens during the majority of this film? Unfortunately, it has little to do with Laura's predicament and more to do with a crew of irritating, chattery side characters trying (and usually failing) to be amusing. Nat Pendleton plays an extremely annoying bumbling detective named Bill Raymond, who hangs out in the home hoping someone is killed so he can solve the case and get his old job back (?) There's also put-upon maid Lilly Beth (Gladys Blake), who Bill seems obsessed with and who finds herself clinically dead at one point. Add to the mix reporter Terry Lee (Douglas Fowley), his airhead girlfriend Jane Cornell (Joyce Compton), Josef's estranged hypnotist cousin Professor Leonide (Bela Lugosi), Leonide's deaf-mute dwarf sidekick Indigo (Angelo Rossitto), blackmailer Mrs. Williams (Dorothy Christie) and someone wearing a green expressionless mask peaking in windows from time to time. This film has far too many pointless characters, far too many dull, talky scenes that really have nothing to do with the plot and completely fails at being a horror film, mystery OR comedy.
The film's chief notoriety is being both Lugosi's only starring role in a color feature and his only color horror effort. Unfortunately, Bela is underutilized here and seems to disappear for lengthy stretches, though his presence in general will be enough of an incentive for fans to check this out. Same goes for horror star Zucco, who plays his role completely straight but has almost nothing to do. The run-time is a measly 68 minutes, but that doesn't keep this misfire from dragging on and on and on for what seems like an eternity.