Spaventato a morte

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.

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

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.

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.

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.