Back from the Dead

If like movies of people talking to each other, then boy this one is for you! Pretty much this whole movie is just scenes of people talking. They show a dog for a couple minutes and there's like a scene and a half where someone actually does something. This movie is worse than Manos: The Hands of Fate. This movie is about black magic and being possessed. So, if that stuff is up you alley, maybe you will like it. I don't know, not for me. (...I just wanted to write a short review, but I'm still 40 characters short of the minimum required.) Maybe you'll like it. Just my thoughts. Have a good day.

I am clad, that i found out about this movie, surprised it not got many comment on it

A newly married young woman, is possessed by the evil spirit of her husband's deceased first wife.

I really enjoy this movie, it not scary or creepy but some how this movie dose have eerie moments in places.

I really enjoyed the plot of the movie, the dose not take to long to get going , the movie flows really well.

There was not one dull second in this movie, it kept intrude from start to the very end!

The acting was really good from the whole cast but there were some very wooden acting from some of the cast members

7 out of 10

1957's "Back from the Dead" paired Arthur Franz and Peggie Castle as husband and wife Dick and Mandy Anthony, accompanied by her sister Kate (Marsha Hunt) to his California seaside home because of Mandy's pregnancy. The raging sea offers little comfort to the apprehensive Mandy, something calling out to her before an epileptic seizure that causes an unfortunate miscarriage. She awakens to call her husband 'Dicken' and does not recognize her own sister, but when she refers to herself as 'Felicia' Dick recognizes her as his first wife, who was believed to have drowned six years earlier. Since he never once mentioned Felicia to his new wife it's a mystery as to what has occurred, and when she goes to see the dead woman's parents there can be no doubt that Felicia is indeed 'back from the dead.' The real star of the film is Marsha Hunt, easily out acting Franz and Castle, doggedly determined to free Mandy from the evil spell cast by local cult leader Maitre Renault (Otto Reichow), whose powers appear to be woefully inadequate if he's unable to dispatch the only person who's on to him. Virtually nothing is made of the Satanic cult, so it's less a case of "The Exorcist" than another run of the mill Bridey Murphy clone, reincarnation being such a hot topic at the time that author Catherine Turney only now was allowed to adapt her own 1952 novel into a sadly muddled script. Hunt herself correctly felt that it wasn't a good film but a solid premise that makes one stay tuned to see what happens; the main problem is that we never get to know the real Mandy before she's possessed by 'Felicia,' growing more predictable until the underwhelming climax. Double billed theatrically with "The Unknown Terror," another less than sturdy effort from Western specialist Charles Marquis Warren, both films quickly forgotten once TV residuals subsided.

The first and most important thing I want to say is that this movie is directed by a great western specialist for whom it is one of the TWO horror films - with also THE UNKNOWN TERROR - besides westerns, westerns and westerns. So this is maybe not a great horror film, but because and only because it is from this western maker Charles Marquis Warren, I was so curious to see it. And I think that's not bad at all. This kind of intrigue is not my cup of tea at all, I am a bit bored, but let's be fair, there have been far worse in this scheme. It is a small budget and that's even better to work hard on a good script. But this plot would have been better made by a director such as Lewis Allen for instance, for whom it was more his stuff - THE UNINVITED, THE UNSEEN -, more than westerns.

Having lost his first wife, "Felicia" (Peggy Castle) in a tragic drowning accident 6 years earlier, "Dick Anthony" (Don Haggerty) has recently remarried. However, when his new wife, "Mandy Hazelton" (also played by Peggy Castle) suddenly becomes ill and endures a strange seizure, she subsequently becomes possessed by the soul of Felicia. We soon find out that, prior to her death, Felicia began practicing "the dark arts" and, the deeper she got, the more wicked she became. And because she is so evil, both Dick and Mandy's sister "Kate Hazelton" (Marsha Hunt) soon begin looking for a way to bring Mandy back. Unfortunately, it is soon revealed that there are other people who feel differently about this situation--and they will stop at nothing to keep Felicia here. At any rate, rather than disclose any more of the movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it, I will just say that this was a decent horror movie which managed to maintain the suspense right up until the end. Likewise, having an actress as stunning as Peggy Castle certainly didn't hurt the film either. In short, don't let the fact that this little-known picture is 57 years old or that it was filmed in black-and-white discourage you from watching it. It's a "diamond in the rough" and I recommend this movie to all of those who might appreciate a film of this nature. Slightly above average.