Who payed the critics

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Bela Lugosi plays a scientist who is killing brides on their wedding day and then stealing the corpses so he can extract their gland fluids (gross). He uses the fluids to keep his old wife young. One of Bela's many Poverty Row cheapies he made in the '40s. Not great but a little better than the Ed Wood garbage he would be doing in the next decade. The plot isn't half-bad and in better hands with a better budget it could've been a decent thriller. As it is, it's mostly just dull and cheap with nothing to look forward to but Lugosi's scenes. That isn't to suggest Bela has a great role here. Don't get your hopes up for that. He knows he's in crap but did it for a paycheck. I can't really recommend you check this out unless you're a hardcore Lugosi fan and have to see all of his movies. Even then, good luck finding a decent print. No one restores these old cheapies.

Brides are dropping dead at the altar one by one. To make matters worse, their corpses have gone missing. These strange events inspire a plucky lady reporter to investigate, leading her to the home of the menacing scientist played by Bela Lugosi.While it's not awful by any means, The Corpse Vanishes (1942) feels like a waste of time. Luana Walters is a pain as the heroine, fainting at every little thing. Lugosi is alright and manages to rise somewhat above the insipid material. The highlight of the film is an atmospheric bit with Luana wandering through the Lugosi's manor in her night robe, stalked by his hunchbacked assistant. The ending includes a silly and hectic chase scene.I would recommend this only to Lugosi fanatics. The easiest way to get through it would be with the aid of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Bela Lugosi plays a mad scientist named "Dr. George Lorenz" who kidnaps young brides in order to transfer their life essences to his evil wife "Countess Lorenz" (Elizabeth Russell) which keep her youthful. But his operation becomes scrutinized when a pretty newspaper reporter named "Patricia Hunter" (Luana Walters) starts snooping around. Anyway, what I enjoyed about this film was that it was a likable little movie which never got too dark or too serious. And even though Bela Lugosi put on an excellent performance I thought Luana Walters actually stole the show and made it such fun to watch. Now, fans of horror might not think this is scary at all. It certainly isn't by today's standards. But this was made in a time when movies in general were a bit more subdued than they are now. Even so, there is no reason it still can't be enjoyed for what it simply is—a nice little film.

Creaky but fun, this Monogram programmer is a must for Lugosi fans and lovers of "Bad Cinema". It's actually his most consistently enjoyable Monogram film, campy in spite of Lugosi's sincere performance. He is a mad doctor (what else?) having brides kidnapped right before their wedding so their bodily fluids can be used to revitalize his aging wife (a ridiculously hammy Elizabeth Russell playing a modern version of Elizabeth Bathory). A reporter (Luana Walters) manages to get clues which lead her to Lugosi and his band of wackos (dwarf Angelo Rossitto who sneers and laughs at the evil around him, Frank Moran as a perverted simpleton who may be necrophiliac, and Minerva Urecal as his psychotic mama). While Lugosi's caring for his aging, vile wife is touching from his perspective, the countess is such an angry, mean character (at one point slapping Walters simply out of jealousy for her loveliness) that you long to see her brutally dispatched. A doctor (played by the ironically named Tristram Coffin) aids Walters in her determination to find out what has happened to all the "virginal" brides, and points out to Walters that while Lugosi and Russell themselves sleep in coffins, "normal" people may not understand the reasons. There are many unintentional laughs (such as Rossito laughing in glee as Moran gets whipped for stroking one of Lugosi's victim's hair), some of them disturbing in a rather perverse way. This non-pretentious melodrama is certainly no "Dracula" or "The Black Cat", but certainly better than such dogs as "Scared to Death" and the ridiculous "Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla".