Comedy of Terrors (1964)

Directed by Jacques Tourneur. Starring Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Joyce Jameson, Basil Rathbone, Boris Karloff, Joe E. Brown, Luree Holmes, Beverly Hills.

First-rate cast, working off a Richard Matheson script, plays it broad—even cartoonish at times—in this bumpy horror spoof. Reprobate undertaker Price and assistant Lorre don’t shy from dumping bodies so they can reuse the same casket, nor from rubbing out their wealthy clients to maintain business, but matters get complicated when they ply their sinister swindle on their no-nonsense landlord. Karloff is Price’s former partner that he keeps trying to poison; Jameson is Price’s none-too-bright wife with a singing voice that could raise the dead; Rathbone is the cataleptic, Macbeth-quoting proprietor. Generates a good number of chuckles, but they’re poorly distributed and the mildewed build-up leaves much to be desired. Lovable Hollywood tabby Orangey appears throughout, though he’s oddly credited as “Rhubarb,” the name of his first role in the film of the same name. Brown’s final film.

53/100