Scared to Death
Scared to Death
| 01 February 1947 (USA)
Scared to Death Trailers

A woman is married to the son of a doctor, the proprietor of a private sanatorium, where she is under unwilling treatment. Both the son and the doctor indicate they want the marriage dissolved. Arriving at the scene is a mysterious personage identified as the doctor's brother who formerly was a stage magician in Europe. He is accompanied by a threatening dwarf...

Reviews
Hellen

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

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Tayloriona

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

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Brenda

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

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Gary

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

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a_chinn

Bela Lugosi in color! Lugosi's only color film is a terrible film, but ever since Martin Landau's touching performance as Lugosi in "Ed Wood," I can't help but read into these terrible Lugosi film a kind of tragic subtext. Here's a great actor hobbled by addiction having to waste his talents in embarrassingly bad low budget horror films that capitalize on his early career successes. The story here follows a young woman who's been murdered and who then recounts the events leading up to her demise, which involve a creepy hypnotist, Lugosi, and his loyal dwarf man-servant, Angelo Rossitto of "Freaks" fame who himself was a talented actor hobbled by typecasting. Besides Lugosi and Rossitto, there's also Nat Pendleton, who's not a famous actor, but who's face and voice any classic film fan will recognize. Overall, this film isn't as bad an an Edward D. Wood Jr. production, but it doesn't seem that far off.

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utgard14

Bela Lugosi's only starring role in a color film is a curious thriller that's notable primarily for the novelty that it is narrated by a corpse! Yes, the movie starts out in a morgue where we see a dead woman lying on a slab. She then begins to narrate the story of how she came to meet her end, which we see through a series of flashbacks. Lugosi is having such a great time with this, for reasons we'll probably never understand. He's certainly played better parts. Fellow genre legend George Zucco plays the whole thing straight, which is to his credit as a professional but doesn't exactly help with the limited comedy value the film has. Leading lady Molly Lamont is pretty over the top. Sometimes it's fun, sometimes it's grating. The rest of the cast includes Nat Pendleton, Douglas Fowley, Gladys Blake, Roland Varno, and Angelo Rossitto (Lugosi's midget sidekick). It's not a good movie. The script is peppered with corny dialogue and the actors range from bored to mugging for the camera. The comic relief from Pendleton and Blake works better than the thriller elements. The sets are cheap and the color really just works against the film. Had it been in black & white, there might have been a little more atmosphere to work with. Also, the cuts between the flashbacks are choppy with obtrusive Theremin music that doesn't achieve what I think it was supposed to achieve. It's worth a look for fans of Lugosi and Zucco, or just those who enjoy bad B movies. Everyone else will be bored out of their minds.

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LeonLouisRicci

Ed Wood had Zero Money and Experience but Unbridled Enthusiasm and an Infectious Desire to Make Movies and Entertain People.What's this Guy's Excuse? The Movie is Shot in Color and Features George Zucco, Bela Lugosi, Nat Pendleton, and a Budget of all of Ed Wood's Movies Combined Times Ten. He had been in Films since, Believe it or Not, at the Beginning of the Silent Era with Over 160 Movies to His "Credit".But "Scared to Death" Seems so Clunky, Inept, and Just Plain Bad, that One Wonders if there was Any Direction At All for the "Product". The Cast Stands Around Most of the Time as the Camera Seems Nailed to the Floor. The Incomprehensible Script is Ridiculously Recited as the Lines are Delivered Out of Sync with the Other Actors and Out of Character Half the Time.The Story is Hard to Follow, the Costuming is Clumsy, the SFX Static and Reused Often. The Gimmick of a Dead Woman Narrating this Mystery Movie is the Only Thing that is Fresh, but the way it is Handled doesn't Work, not even a Little Bit.Overall, Recommended for Lugosi Cultists, Bad B-Movie Trashers, and the Novelty of Color for this Type of Thing but the Thing is a Thudding Dud.

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Michael_Elliott

Scared to Death (1947) ** (out of 4)A dead woman (Molly Lamont) is laid out at the morgue and then tells us how she ended up there. Through flashbacks we learn about a strange doctor (George Zucco), a nutty detective (Nat Pendleton) and a mysterious man (Bela Lugosi) and his dwarf assistant (Angelo Rossitto),SCARED TO DEATH is best remembered today for being the only color film to star Lugosi. That's not 100% true since he appeared in a 1930 film that was in color but I believe the color version is lost. He was also in a WWII short that was in color but if you're wanting lead material Lugosi in color then this here is it. Sadly the film itself really isn't all that good, although there are a few interesting moments they just never really come together.The biggest problem with the film is that it really doesn't make too much sense. I've seen the movie several times in my life and its story just never really played out too well and it seems that everything was just thrown together to get to a conclusion. Another problem is that the idea of a corpse telling us their story just doesn't make much sense either and especially since there's so much here that the corpse, when alive, wouldn't have known about. Perhaps that's putting too much logic into a B movie?The one saving grace is the good cast, which includes Lugosi getting to play it up. I must admit that it's pretty neat getting to see him in color and I'll also add that his persona just doesn't seem as good as it does in B&W. I don't know, there's just something about Lugosi that screams for B&W. He has some good moments with dwarf Rossitto; the two had previously worked together in THE CORPSE VANISHES. I also liked Zucco and Pendleton but neither one gives too much of an effort.Another major problem with the film is that the "victim" is so hated that you really don't care what happened to her as you're happy that it happened. This works against the picture but if you're a fan of the cast then SCARED TO DEATH is still worth watching.

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