Back from the Dead

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.

One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Directed by Charles Marquis Warren; Produced by Robert Stabler for Regal Films; Released by 20th Century-Fox. Screenplay by Catherine Turney from her novel; Photography by Ernest Haller; Edited by Leslie Vidor; Music by Raoul Kraushaar. Starring Peggy Castle, Arthur Franz, Marsha Hunt, Evelyn Scott, Marianne Stewart and Don Haggerty.

Supernatural terror outing concerning a second wife who is haunted by the lingering presence of her predecessor. The film benefits from the extensive use of the "lady in a white nightgown" and the "waves pounding against the rocks" bits of Gothic schtick.

After his new wife Mandy (Peggy Castle) has a seizure, Dick Anthony (Arthur Franz) finds that she has become possessed by the spirit of his first wife Felicia, who drowned six years earlier. Dick's sister-in-law Kate (Marsha Hunt) suspects that Felicia's mother is somehow responsible and goes to occultist Maitre Renall (Otto Reichow) for help.

Back From the Dead is one of the earliest horror movies to deal with the subject of Satanic cults and of possession, sub-genres that would become much more popular in the late-'60s and early-'70s thanks to films such as Rosemary's Baby and The Exorcist.

The reason this one isn't better known is that, despite its intriguing premise, the script is strictly second-rate and the pacing dreary. Director Charles Marquis Warren is clearly out of his comfort zone, his stock-in-trade being the Western, and he fails to conjure up any real atmosphere or suspense, the overly talky material not helping matters.

Castle is captivating as Mandy/Felicia, her beauty one reason to seek out the film, but this is an unremarkable movie on the whole, one that ends in a muddled and rushed manner as though even Warren had grown tired of it.

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.

Dick (Arthur Franz) is puzzled. While his first wife, Felicia, died long ago, suddenly after listening to a weird record, his second wife becomes possessed with the soul of the first wife! Oh, and the first wife just happens to be evil and will do ANYTHING to keep this new body. Can Dick or his nice sister-in-law (Marsha Hunt) manage to put things right and bring back the second wife once and for all? Or, is this simply a case where it's too late...and she's been repossesed?

In some ways, the plot to "Back from the Dead" is like taking Daphne Du Maurier's "Rebecca" and injecting it with EVIL and the supernatural...or perhaps a bit of LSD! Either way, it makes for a strange yet watchable horror/supernatural film...one worth seeing IF you like the genre and have a high tolerance for the silly.