The Corpse Vanishes (1942) - Video On Demand

The Corpse Vanishes - Movie Review

The Corpse Vanishes is one of the more deliciously outrageous horror exercises of the 1940s. Bela Lugosi, as hammy as ever, stars as Dr. Lorenz, a European horticulturist who wants to keep his elderly wife young. He does this by kidnapping young females and extracting fluid from them. He then injects this fluid into his wife.

The Corpse Vanishes is an American Black and white film released in 1942, which stars the horror actor Bela Lugosi. The film also stars Luana Walters, Elizabeth Russel, Minerva Urecal and Tristram Coffin. After the death of many brides in their weddings and disappearance of their corpses, the snoopy journalist Patricia Hunter (Luana Walters) notes that all of them were wearing an orchid in their breasts. She finds that the hybridization of the orchid was made by Dr. Lorenz (Bela Lugosi), and she decides to interview him about the flowers. She hitchhikes on the road with Dr. Foster (Tristam Coffin) and they are hosted by Dr. Lorenz in his isolated house. Dr. Lorenz is indeed a mad scientist that sleeps with his wife in coffins, and with the assistance of a dwarf and his strong retarded brother, extract gland fluids from the neck of the abducted virgins to keep his elder wife young.

Bela Lugosi's stint with Monogram is usually considered a waste of the great star's talents, but The Corpse Vanishes may just be the exception. For once, Lugosi doesn't have to carry the whole show by himself, but is offered good support from the cat-like Elizabeth Russell, the always watchable Minerva Urecal and the peppy Luana Walters, the film's true star. Usually wasted in typically empty ingénue roles, Walters tears into this assignment with gusto, matching Lugosi all the way, but always with her tongue firmly planted in cheek.

The Corpse Vanishes - Cast & Crew

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