Scared to Death (1946) User Reviews

Fun Movie

[stevebob99 · 3/10 · 21 July 2004]

Scared to death is a fun movie. I really liked the character of Bill Raymond (played by Nat Pendleton), who was a detective sitting around a house waiting for someone to be murdered so that he could impress his superiors on the police force.

There were a great deal of fun turns in the movie. The bad guy was really a good guy and the person who was "murdered" really deserved it. As I mentioned before, the cop was there for no reason but to wait for a murder and the reporter was also there waiting for something to report. There was also a dwarf who seemed to just be hanging around to make the movie strange, a man who wanted a divorce and couldn't figure out how to get one, a doctor who never saw a single patient and a maid who sometimes seemed like she might be a nurse.

The plot was so silly and contrived that you couldn't take it seriously- so you have to just sit back and have some fun with it. It's not an expensive movie, I bought it on a DVD that also has 2 other Bela Lugosi movies on it- White Zombie and The Corpse Vanishes. It's not the best plot in the world, but it is a nice distraction for an hour of your time.

"Filmed in Natural Color!"

[preppy-3 · 3/10 · 20 August 2006]

Bela Lugosi's only color feature film. VERY strange movie about unhappily married Laura (Molly Lamont) convinced that her husband and his father are trying to scare her to death. (Why they are supposedly doing it is kind of vague) In strolls the mysterious Prof. Leonide (Bela Lugosi) and his mute, deaf midget friend (Angelo Rossitto) for no real reason. Then there's private cop Bill Raymond (Nat Pendleton) casually walking around the house looking for a murder!

Not a good movie--badly directed with some of the worst color designs I've ever seen in a movie. The acting ranges from unbelievably hammy (Lugosi) to bad (everyone else). The plot is full of holes and unexplained people and circumstances--I'm still not sure what Rossitto is doing in this. Also someone in a blue mask keeps looking in windows--but everyone says it's a GREEN mask! Love the part when George Zucco listens to the heartbeat of a woman who fainted and immediately declares she's under hypnosis!

None of it makes much sense but--in a way--this is lots of fun. Just silly enough to enjoy and keep you interested. The "explanation" at the end is just ridiculous. The color is actually pretty strong in the print I saw and it's all narrated by a dead woman! It's bad (that's why I give it a 3) but oddly compelling. A must for bad film fans.

Laughably inept in every way, but Lugosi's okay.

[Steve-171 · 3/10 · 2 August 1999]

Norm thinks more of this turkey than I do. I found it inept in plotting, dialog, direction---well, everything. Lugosi tries, but the deck's stacked against him. Watch as Zucco takes the dead girl's pulse, lets go of her hand, and it hangs there for a second before dropping to the floor. Lines get flubbed but they go on anyway. Hear the corpse stick her two cents in periodically, while the same spooky chord plays every time. Okay, I've seen it, but the next time I watch it I'll have some liquored up friends over for some solid laughs.

Entertaining Cast, But Best Left To Hardcore Lugosi Fans

[gftbiloxi · 11 June 2007]

Bela Lugosi had a notable career during the 1930s--but success of his landmark performance in the 1931 Dracula combined and his exotic appearance and accent left him typecast, and during the 1940s he found work increasingly difficult to obtain. By the mid-1940s he was so greatly pressed that he began to accept work in low-budget independent movies. Among the first of these was the 1947 SCARED TO DEATH, a film often described as the only color movie in which Lugosi appeared. This is not strictly true: although he was not the star, Lugosi also appeared the color 1930 VIENNESE NIGHTS--but given that both films are so little known it's hardly worth arguing about.

The story begins with a clever idea: a woman's body lies on a slab in a morgue and through flashback she relates the way in which she was murdered. Sad to say, though, this clever idea is not only badly executed, it also happens to be the only clever idea in the entire show. The plot, such as it is, concerns a doctor with a questionable background whose son has married a woman with a questionable background (our soon-to-be corpse.) The family is suddenly descended upon by the doctor's brother, a hypnotist (Lugosi, of course) with, yes, a questionable past. Throw in a surly maid, a mean dwarf, a newspaper reporter, a dumb blonde, and a green mask that keeps floating in front of the window and you have SCARED TO DEATH.

The only saving grace in this nonsense is the cast. Although he receives star billing, Lugosi's role might be better described as the second lead; whatever the case, and in spite of a truly ridiculous script, he gives the role more sparkle than you would expect. The film also includes a number of character actors who like Lugosi shone most brightly in the 1930s--George Zucco, Nat Pendleton, and Joyce Compton--and they too deliver more than the silly script actually allows.

Even so, the charms of the cast cannot raise SCARED TO DEATH above the level of slightly-less-than-mediocre, and for the most part watching the movie is an uphill battle. Lugosi would go on to make one or two more films for major studios, most notably the 1948 ABBOT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN, and he would make a few television appearances as well, but for the most part SCARED TO DEATH would mark the beginning of his career's rapid slide into the likes of BELA LUGOSI MEETS A BROOKLYN GORILLA and his wildly dire association with the notorious Ed Wood in such appalling (and accidentally hilarious) films as GLEN OR GLENDA and PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE.

For the sake of Lugosi, Zucco, Pendleton, and Compton I'm giving SCARED TO DEATH three stars, but truth be told it really doesn't deserve more than two, and that's throwing roses at it. Although it does have a few moments--and I do mean a very few--this is one Lugosi film that is best left to die-hard fans.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Low budget, no scares, Lugosi

[dfranzen70 · 2/10 · 18 November 2005]

This is Bela Lugosi's only starring feature in color. That's about all it has going for it, really; the schtick of having a corpse narrate the movie (Which would be done quite a bit better a few years later by Sunset Blvd.) isn't well executed, anyway.

Laura Van Ee (Mary Lamont) is a nervous, tension-ridden ex-dancer who thinks she's imprisoned in her room by her husband Ward and her father in law Dr. Josef (George Zucco). She's mad, mad I tell you! Since it's her corpse that narrates, I think we can assume we know what happens to Mrs. Van Ee right from the get-go.

Why is she so anxious? She's not sure - no one is - but everyone suspects it all has something to do with her past, and something to do with a handkerchief. Enter Bela Lugosi and a midget - no, wait, Professor Leonide and his faithful companion, Indigo. And a wisecracking, tough-guy reporter (Douglas Fowley) and his dim-bulb dame (Joyce Compton). Add in a bumbling ex-cop who overtly desires a murder so he can solve it and get back to "real" policework (Nat Pendelton), and you have all the ingredients for One Crappy Low Budget Movie.

Every now and then the director remembers this is supposed to be a horror film, not a crime caper, so you hear this loopy pseudospooky music that's probably supposed to portend doom, or something. Which makes some sort of sense, but there's nothing creepy going on at the time, so it's hardly effective.

I've heard tell that Lamont, as the haunted Mrs. Ee (love the surname) is the only actor with any kind of spirit (ha, ha) in the movie - but please, hammy isn't the same as being spirited. Lugosi plays Lugosi, the midget disappears halfway through the picture, there's a supposedly disembodied head, and that's about it. It's all over in an hour or so.

.....in Natural Color!!!!

[kidboots · 3/10 · 22 September 2008]

Laura (Molly Lamont) thinks she is being frightened to death. She is not a very pleasant character, just the way she talks to people. Professor Leonide (Bela Lugosi) and his companion Indigo (Angelo Rossito) arrive. Rossito had a featured role in "Freaks" and was hugely in demand in Hollywood. Bela is fantastic as usual as Leonide, someone from Doctor Josef Van Ee's (George Zucco) past. The way Bela looks the Doctor up and down and sneers "old friends" with a wealth of meaning - is there anyone who could doubt he is one of the all time greats!!!!

It is a pretty ghastly movie - nothing makes much sense. The doctor's son produces a photo of a masked couple - he thinks it will clear up the identity of Laura. The ending is fantastically bad with every thing in the plot but the kitchen sink. And any film with Joyce Compton as the second lead (however madcap she is ) you know is not going to be a grade A production. Still the "Natural Color" does look very natural - not garish or artificial. The biggest mystery of the film is why it was filmed in color in the first place - when there were so many lesser musicals that could have been enhanced by color.

Did they just give up halfway through?

[culwin · 4/10 · 8 September 2021]

The classic trope of several people in a house with a killer. Right away, we're assaulted by a garish color palette, but OK whatever. We're introduced to the cast one-by-one and we are trying to figure out whodunit and why. Pretty standard so far. Then about 65 minutes in, the killer is abruptly revealed and the movie ends. Wait, what? The movie starts out not being too bad, and seems like it could have gone somewhere, but ultimately it's like they just gave up (ran out of time? Money?) and ended it. The unsatisfying ending turns a mediocre movie into a somewhat bad one.

Irritating, nearly-laughless horror-mystery-comedy.

[capkronos · 3/10 · 12 April 2009]

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.

The Dead Speak . . .

[zardoz-13 · 5/10 · 9 April 2012]

If Bela Lugosi weren't in "Scared to Death," I would probably have skipped it. As it is, the producers used the "Dracula" star simply as a red herring. He shows up at a doctor's office with a dwarf and lurks mysteriously in the shadows and shrubs. The action focuses on a girl named Laura who is married to the son of the doctor (George Zucco), but she acts like she is a hostage in the house. Most of everything that we learn about Laura occurs as a result of her memories of the past. What makes "Scared to Death" such an oddball opus is that Laura narrates the film from the slab of an autopsy room. Exactly why she undertakes this task is anybody's guess. Not surprisingly, she died--as we discover in the final quarter of the film because she saw a man who she believed was dead, shot by the Nazis. The final five minutes unloads a treasure trove of exposition and revelations that you are not prepared for during the previous 50 minutes. The story unfolds at the doctor's office as Professor Leonide shows up with his dwarf Indigo. Pay close attention to the first few minutes after the autopsy room. Lugosi is appropriately flamboyant while Zucco is all business. About half-way through the story, a wisecracking reporter, Terry, shows up with his future wife. Nat Pendleton is amusing as a cop who is no longer on the force. "Scared to Death" is a low-budget epic shot in color.

Not really scary, just confusing

[KHayes666 · 5/10 · 24 February 2008]

I can understand 60 year old movies not being scary by todays standards, but this really isn't a horror movie as it is one of those kooky detective stories.

The plot is, a woman going through mental problems is being stalked by a ghost....or something. All I know is it seems everyone in the movie from Bela Lugosi, to the maid and to the midget was trying to do her in. The only 2 on her side was the reporter dude and the dumb detective.

First of all, the movie was supposed to establish the main character telling the story after she dies, but half the scenes have her not even in the picture so how could that be a "recap" of what she personally saw? Also, the very end was supposed to establish she left her first husband in the hands of nazi's but his spirit inhabited a scarf, um...yeah. Its hard to follow the plot because the characters range from weird to dumb and no one drops dead even though someone attacks the doctor twice. Bela Lugosi can't even save this one no matter how brilliant he portrayed his character.

The highlight of the movie was Indigo the midget. Yes, we even got midgets in this one. Like I said earlier, its more or less one of those old detective stories with a horror twist and if into that then check it out.

5 out of 10

"Sir, there is an air of enquiry about you that immediately offends my deepest nature." Poor murder mystery whodunit.

[poolandrews · 3/10 · 30 December 2005]

Scared to Death starts in the 'Central City Morgue' where a pathologist (Stanley Andrews) is about to begin his gruesome work on a dead woman named Laure Van Ee (Molly Lamont), as the corpse of Laura lies there it begins to tell the tale of how she ended up dead... Cut to Dr. Josef Van Ee (George Zucco) & his son Ward (Roland Varlo), they discuss Laura & how she won't give Ward a divorce & how she is generally a moody paranoid b*tch. Laura thinks that someone is trying to kill her & she suspects everyone, from Lilly Beth (Gladys Blake) the maid to the private patrol officer Bill 'Bull' Raymond (Nat Pendleton) to a creepy stranger Professor Leonide (Bela Lugosi) to her husband Ward & Dr. Josef. No one is safe from her accusations & moods, women eh!? However it seems Laura may have a point, she receives a decapitated dummies head, the feeling that she is being spied upon & mysterious letters that appear to unsettle her. Then a tipped off reporter named Terry Grant (Dougles Fowley) & his bird Jane Cornell (Joyce Compton) turn up, invite themselves in & start sniffing around for a story. Before the night is over they will get one...

Directed by Christy Cabanne this is a pretty poor film whichever way you look at it I'm afraid. The script by Walter Abbott plays much more like a murder mystery than a horror film that the title may suggest. The murder plot is confused, it tries to cram as many stupid red-herrings as it can. Every character in Scared to Death acts so suspiciously it becomes both irritating & distracting, I mean do these people want to be suspected of murder even though it hasn't even happened yet?! I quite liked the idea of a corpse narrating it's own murder but for some bizarre reason the film likes to concentrate on the comedy relief supplied by the dim-witted Raymond. The ending might have been effective if not preceded by such a lame, confused & boring hour of badly written comedy, mystery & character's who don't need to be there, I mean what was the purpose of the dwarf Indigo (Angelo Rossitto) as to my eyes he contributed NOTHING to the film? The story doesn't grip like any good murder mystery should & just ends up becoming tedious.

Director Cabanne does nothing to add any suspense, tension, scares or excitement & instead piles on the lame comedy. Scared to Death might have been decent it if were set in a spooky old mansion but Cabanne decided on an bland ordinary looking house which hardly generates any atmosphere, in fact it doesn't generate any. There is only one murder if you can call it that, refer to the title to understand what I mean.

Scared to Death was another poverty row effort for Lugosi who comes & goes but doesn't do much. This was one of only two colour films he appeared in, the other being Viennese Nights (1930). The acting isn't great but it's better than some of these early horrors.

Scared to Death is a poor murder mystery, has no horror elements in it & is stuffed with annoying comedy that is anything but funny. Do yourself a favour & give this one a miss, there are much better films out there. One more thing, the IMDb cast listing on the Scared to Death main page gives away the identity of the killer if you look down it. A case of the IMDb breaking their own rules?

An "odd" film

[Norm-30 · 8/10 · 9 June 1999]

This film is notable because it's the only color film Lugosi ever made.

The entire plot is very confusing (in the vein of "the Gorilla") and a lot of the "thrills" are done for their "creepy effect", without any real explanation for some of them.

Even so, the floating green mask at the window, secret panels, disembodied heads and other things provide an "undercurrent" of an eerie mystery.

It's also interesting that Zucco & Lugosi are in this film; to my knowledge, they never made another film together.

It's a difficult film to find, but see it if you have the chance!

Hard to explain, but enjoyable...

[bre_anna · 6/10 · 29 March 2009]

Well, yes, Shakespeare it ain't, and yet... Anyone who has read reviews on this film will have a pretty good idea that it isn't a world beater. Aside from that though, there's something gorgeously, exuberantly sweet about it. The dialogue when it isn't odd, is quite funny, and delivered by all with a straight conviction that subverts the silliness of it. This gives the film a kind of odd charm."If I were announced, I doubt I would be received anywhere" and "In short sir, I think you're a cop", or "Lorette, Lorette, I'll make a bet, the man in green, will get you yet..." Somehow Bela Lugosi gives these incongruous lines a life that is at once humorous, gentlemanly,comically sinister and well, intriguing. It's the incongruity of suggested supernatural drama, the vaudeville cop, charmingly played by Nat Pendleton, and the simultaneously wild and wacky Joyce Compton, in short, the odd mixture of affability, nuttiness and mysteriousness that makes this movie fascinating. It's one of the few films whose quality of oddness alone really made me enjoy and watch it a few times. I've often wondered how this film ever got made, who approved the budget after reading the script? for which audience demographic was it intended? and so on. However it got through, I'm glad it did, the world's a better place for the inclusion of odd, good natured films like this. It's like the hairless cat breed, it's not a crowd pleaser, but it makes the cat family more interesting by its very existence. Anyone with a broad sense of humour will love this film. It simply exists, defying all logic and explanation. That's it's charm.

I've Been Lugosied and it Zuccoed!

[Hitchcoc · 5/10 · 5 February 2007]

The only thing to recommend this film is the mugging of Bela Lugosi in his only color feature. Running around with a cape and that mysterious smile, he brings about the death by fright of a young woman, who, is dead at the start of the film and tells the story from a table in the morgue. The story she tells is of a bunch of boobs hanging around a house. Weird events keep taking place, and no one in the audience could care less about any of their needs. It goes on forever with no resolution in sight. People come and go from hidden doorways. Appear and reappear, but we don't know why. A mysterious green face appears at times. We don't know why. The mask being used is put in various places to startle us. But it doesn't. It's as if the script were made up as it was being shot. Only watch it to see Lugosi's face. He deserved more.

Not as bad as you might think

[orc0294 · 19 June 2002]

I do admit to someone not into classic films this movie will seem boring and it is in fact not on the same level as the greats of this time period but it does have endearing qualities. For one as others have mentioned Lugosi and Zucco play solid roles. Second it does have good comic relief with the bungling ex detective and the ditzy fiancee of the reporter. Also I like the wide open ending where you are left wondering what exactly happened. Now it does have flaws also, the major one being switching back to the morgue ever few mins to have the woman on the slab tell you what is coming up next, a complete waste of film. But, All in all a decent movie for the time period.

Cheesy fun if you are a bad movie buff

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 8 October 2007]

This film was told though a series of flashbacks as told by a dead woman lying on a slab at the morgue. While a very intriguing idea, the ineptness of the transitions was a problem (they were very abrupt and choppy). What was a much worse problem is that although the story is supposed to be told by the dead woman, many scenes in the film don't feature her and you are left wondering "how did she know about that conversation?".

This dead woman, by the way, was a very obnoxious and sharp-tongued lady--so you find yourself rooting for her death! I actually liked this because so many people in the movie had good motives for killing this harpy and it also felt very satisfying to see her literally scared to death.

As for the acting, apart from George Zucco and Bela Lugosi, most of the rest of the actors seem like amateurs--and often they either talk over each other's lines or they get the other actor's names wrong (like the exchange where one character keeps calling the other "Bull" instead of "Bill"). These problems should have been dealt with by the director, but apparently re-shooting scenes wasn't allowed or they simply couldn't afford this! Considering it was made by "poverty row" studio Golden Gate Pictures, this sloppiness isn't too surprising.

The plot, though far from great, is reasonably interesting and will probably be quite enjoyable to fans of Bela Lugosi--especially the strange twist ending (though it is a tad too complicated). Others probably will find the whole thing rather silly and dull--though I think this gave the film some of its cheesy charm. I especially liked when Zucco declares that the zombie-like lady is being controlled through mental telepathy! How he knows this is completely beyond me--perhaps he just was reading the script.

1947 was a lean year...

[Flixer1957 · 2/10 · 5 July 2010]

Here's a weird one for you: a terror tale told in flashback by the voice of a dead woman. Heroine Joyce Compton is terrorized by an eerie figure in a green mask until her ticker can't take it any more. Shots of her corpse are separated from flashbacks by loud noise on the soundtrack. Perennial mad doctor George Zucco stars, along with Bela Lugosi as a hypnotist, Angelo Rossitto as his assistant and Molly Lamont as a stereotype Irish maid. Big Nat Pendleton, so good at playing goof-balls, is a dopey detective so inept he couldn't catch a virus during a flu epidemic. They all play their parts as if completely unrehearsed, which at least gives the picture its only continuity. Cabanne blended horror and comedy relief very well in THE MUMMY'S HAND; this outing is a farce with horror trappings and nothing more. Allegedly Lugosi's only film in color.

Scared to Death

[Scarecrow-88 · 5/10 · 11 October 2007]

A woman is dead. Her body on the slab has a story to tell. It relates why she is dead. And it focuses on patient in the home of a doctor (George Zucco), with a green-masked weirdo outside looking through a window, among other visitors (including a professor played by Lugosi), one of whom might be responsible for her "death by fright". Lugosi in color is the marketing ploy.

Wishing for the End

[coppington · 1/10 · 8 November 2006]

Scared To Death isn't a campy, fun, bad movie, its just plain bad and painfully boring. I agree with other reviewers this film is an easy one to nod off to at 3am. Wish it were so that Bela had Zucco's role, because about the only interest this film can generate (besides being filmed in color) is when Bela is on the screen. I also enjoyed Bela's reunion with dwarf Angelo (from the Corpse Vanishes)though this pairing was wasted since they had little to do. Zucco, though slightly creepy looking was always somewhat of a bore as a B-horror movie actor. Nat Pendleton gets too much screen time as the annoying "comedic" detective. Characters mostly pace from room to room giving the film a claustrophobic, cheap feel. Mostly for the curious Bela-philes...

Let the corpse speak for herself.

[michaelRokeefe · 3/10 · 20 October 2001]

This is a strange, lukewarm chiller that arguably for the first time in the movies has a corpse telling the story of her mysterious death by way of flashbacks from a lab in cold storage. This is also the only movie that Bela Lugosi played in that was released in color. The mysterious green mask that keeps appearing in the window does fit into the weird story line. Albeit this 65 minute mystery/drama is more odd than horror.

Beside Lugosi, very familiar faces show up in the cast: George Zucco, Roland Varno and Nat Pendleton are aided by Molly Lamont and Gladys Blake.

Not Really Sure I Understand This Film

[gavin6942 · 5/10 · 25 June 2006]

The other collaboration between Bela Lugosi and Angelo Rossitto (the first being "The Corpse Vanises"), it is either the better or the worse of two depending on your preferences.

The film opens with a woman lying dead in the morgue, and the story then picks up telling the events leading to her death. While this flashback gimmick is a clever idea, it is so poorly executed as to be incredibly annoying and a waste of film. Each flash back to her dead body lasts only a few moments and adds nothing to the story other than to be a constant reminder of her death. A reminder we don't need. Had the film started in the morgue and never returned to it, I would have thought much more of this work.

That complaint aside, the film is not bad. It offers a mystery killer, secret passageways, a dwarf, Lugosi, and some great comedic performances from a maid, an ex-detective and a reporter's girlfriend. The comedy is very simple and also slapstick in nature, but certainly not an unwelcome addition.

I am still not entirely sure what was happening throughout the film, and who was responsible for some of the events that occurred. A second viewing would likely clear this up, though I have little desire to see it again soon and I cannot promise myself I would understand it even then.

In short, a fine film and a worthy contender in Lugosi's career, but the likelihood of repeated viewings is slim. This film's best chance at survival is, sadly, a remake.

Scared to Death

[CinemaSerf · 4/10 · 8 January 2023]

It's only an hour long, but this still manages to involve a couple of the worst performances I've seen in a long, long time. Bela Lugosi and George Zucco - who can normally be relied upon to deliver well enough in these short horror/thriller features are just not on form together at all here. The dialogue is unsure in what genre the film wants to sit - a suspenseful thriller with the odd bit of comedy, or a comedic thriller with the odd, well, thrill. It appears to, reluctantly, settle for the latter but by then the somewhat irrelevant story of a murdered woman who relates the events leading up to the crime no longer really matters. It has way too many daft sub-plots and by the time we do approach the end you've almost forgotten what/who or, more importantly - why?

A good time for Lugosi fans

[Zbigniew_Krycsiwiki · 10/10 · 12 February 2011]

Hilarious Lugosi "horror", his only filmed in colour, begins at Central City Morgue with the two pathologists pompously philosophising about the dead girl's last thoughts before death. This segues into the main story, narrated by the corpse herself(!), about the events leading up to her demise, including some events that she was clearly not present for, so how could she narrate them to the audience? And, if she's at the morgue, dead, at the start of the film, needless to say the outcome holds no surprises.

Various different film stocks were used, as well as various different lighting techniques (sometimes soft lighting; sometimes more harsh overhead lighting, which is occasionally visible at the top of the frame) Pure hilarity involving almost everything one can want from an old B-movie: corpses, severed "heads", midgets, and enough purple dialogue to rival Ed Wood's entire oeuvre (my favourite of Lugosi's lines has to be: "There is an air of inquiry about you that immediately offends my deepest nature! Something suggesting Scotland Yard, the French Sécurité, the Italian Carabinieri, the Turkish Polizi, and other minions of the law!") this is a sure bet for Lugosi fans and fans of old B-movies.

"Pardon me, Professor, but didn't I just see you outside baying at the moon?"

[bensonmum2 · 6/10 · 5 February 2005]

Most of the reviews on IMDb for Scared to Death give it a good trashing. And, while I understand it has many flaws, I didn't find it to be as bad as some of the reviews would lead one to believe. Maybe I was just in the right frame of mind or something.

The basic story: A women is slowing being driven mad. So mad in fact, that by the end of the movie she is literally scared to death (I'm not giving anything away as the fact she is dead is presented in the first minute of the movie). She is presented with numerous images and circumstances that become too much for her to bear. There are several suspects - her husband, her father-in-law, the maid, her husband's mysterious uncle, the uncle's dwarf companion, or could it be someone else? But which one of the suspects is behind it? You'll have to watch to find out.

Scared to Death stars Bela Lugosi and George Zucco. Lugosi is obviously having fun. He seems to understand just how silly some of the situations are, yet he handles each as if it were life and death. Zucco, on the other hand, acts most of the film as if he would rather be someplace else. Very aloof. The rest of the cast does a decent job with the material they are given.

This is the only time I've ever seen Lugosi in color. The film is marketed as being his only color picture, although I'm not sure that's true. The color is very nicely used throughout the movie. Very vivid.

Some of the flaws in the movie: a little stagey at times, goofy dialogue, and it may prove slow to some. The biggest annoyance, however, is the way the story is told. It's presented in a series of flashbacks from the dead woman at the morgue. It gets old real quick. But for the most part, I was able to look past these weaknesses and have a good time.

One final note. I picked up the DVD for $5 from Alpha. This is one of the better Alpha DVDs I've seen. While there are a few spots and other picture flaws here and there, overall the picture quality is good. The sound (so often bad on older films) is above average. All in all, for $5, Scared to Death is a wonderful addition to my DVD library.

Continual Film Flashbacks are distracting.

[oscar-35 · 18 May 2011]

*Spoiler/plot- 1947, A story told in retrospective with life flashbacks of a morgue slab female's victim to how she was badly treated during her life. She is involved in some family drama while in an old creepy family rural estate. Her husband, her father-in-law (Zucco) and the unfriendly housekeeper are all suspect in seeking her demise and along comes her husband's visiting foreign uncle (Lugosi) with his weird dwarf assistant (Rossito). All these elements make for some mystery and drama on screen.

*Special Stars- Douglas Fowley, George Zucco, Bela Lugosi, Nat Pendleton, Angel Rossito

*Theme- Being rich and living in an rural mansion can be suicidal for you.

*Based on- Pulp paperback murder mysteries

*Trivia/location/goofs- The dwarf actor, Angelo Rossito and Nat Pendleton had long and varied acting careers with many feature films and worked until their deaths. Their careers are an interesting study in two different character actors versatility and longevity in modern Hollywood. Their careers are worth some investigation by real film buffs.

*Emotion- An interesting film for it's plot use of retrospective, script writing work and character studies.