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Plot:
A 19th-century Edinburgh scientist hires a thief to provide him with corpses for his experiments. But when the supply of fresh cadavers begins to dwindle, the thief begins to taunt the doctor with the...( read more 
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Recent Reviews
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MCT:August 1, 2008
It was good. Karloff gave a subtly sinister performance that was probably better than the movie itself. I just hate that they so horribly underutilized Lugosi simply to put the two in a movie together...again. It takes away from the movie, I think. And the kid they had playing Fettes was awful for the part. Ordinarily I don't encourage casting for accent, but there really had to be SOMEONE with a British/Scottish accent available that could have given a better performance than that.
On a vaguely related note, I'm sure Karloff enjoyed the scene where he Burked Lugosi just a wee bit more than a little. LOLOL -
MCT:July 31, 2008Karloff is hypnotically evil as Gray, a carriage driver who sidelines in grave robbing and blackmailing the local medical school dean, in this eerie adaptation of a Robert Louis Stevenson story. Gray may be Karloff's most sinister performance, but with the notable exceptions of Henry Daniell's Dr. MacFarlane, and a very good if too small bit by Bela Lugosi, the supporting performances aren't up to snuff in this horror/drama. Still, a minor horror classic from legendary producer Val Lewton and future Oscar winning director Robert Wise.
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MCT:July 21, 2008
What a gem. Atmospheric, good story, and great performances. Great flick - definitely check it out if you have the chance.
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MCT:July 20, 2008
Karloff and Lugosi get all the praise in this one (their last pairing together) and they are both really good, but the star of the film is Henry Daniell. Check it out! Very different because it's not a monster movie at all, but still creepy and suspenseful.
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MCT:July 17, 2008
Finally, I rewatched this and liked it better this time, but it still isn't as great as people say. There were some creepy moments, but I wouldn't call it scary. For a big plus, this is one of Boris Karloff's greatest performances, and his scenes with Bela Lugosi were great. But a little confusing and quite boring.
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MCT:June 14, 2008
Coming soon to a Community Theater near you - Body Snatcher: The Musical! [Written, Produced & Directed by Vidiot49]
My Favorite Things (This really only works if you sing it)
Bodies on slabs and cadavers on gurneys;
Corpses in boxes nailed shut for their journeys;
Bags full of organs all tied up with strings;
These are a few of my favorite things.
Widows in black with their veil covered faces;
Chalk outlines on pavement to remember the places;
Lifetimes cut short when the fat lady sings;
These are a few of my favorite things.
When the rent's due,
When the phone rings,
When I'm feeling sad,
I simply remember my favorite things,
And then I don't feel so bad. -
MCT:June 13, 2008Great film adaptation of the great Robert Louis Stevenson short story, deftly directed by Robert "The Haunting" Wise. This features what is perhaps Boris Karloff's greatest performance.
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MCT:April 23, 2008This is definitely a B-movie with a lot of flaws but it's still really good. Could have used more Bela Lugosi, but Karloff is amazing in this movie and it's a treat every time he's on screen. You just want more of him as this character. I kind of wished they had gone more into his history with the doctor MacFarlane, the subject of his endless torment. I'm glad they resisted the urge to have Karloff play the doctor. Recommended.
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MCT:March 21, 2008
I tend more toward the middle period of filmed horror (the 70s and 80s) than I do toward both the classic and the recent variety, but as with film in general, I've begun to at least expand backward. Delving into the RKO pictures that Val Lewton produced has been a very satisfying approach to this, and this film is no exception.
Donald Fettes (Russell Wade) is a medical student in Edinburgh, studying under the renowned Wolfe MacFarlane (Henry Daniell). Mrs. Marsh (Rita Corday) begs Dr. MacFarlane to attempt to cure her daughter Georgina (Sharyn Moffett)'s paralysis. He refuses because he feels he has no time as a teacher, and there's a hint that something more may be at issue for him. Fettes, meanwhile, tells MacFarlane that he must give up his learning to help his ailing father. MacFarlane will have none of this and takes Fettes on as an apprentice instead, thereby providing him with the financing necessary to help and continue to learn at the same time. As a result, the Marshes come to Fettes instead now, asking him to curry the favour of MacFarlane to cure Georgina. He does his best, but meanwhile has begun to interact with MacFarlane's source for specimens, the ever-creepy Cab man John Gray (Boris Karloff). MacFarlane believes that the laws regarding acquisition of corpses--those of paupers are free to practitioners of medicine--are "stupid" and "unjust," and that Gray's methods (grave robbing, in case you're feeling a bit thick today) are, while unwholesome, necessary to the advancement of science. Fettes is more unsure, having met the mother of the boy who's body was stolen most recently. Slowly we begin to learn that there is more history between MacFarlane and Gray than was earlier let on, leading to one of the best low-budget, creepy horror endings I've seen yet.
The best part about this film (shock! surprise!) is Boris Karloff. He's not as booming and deeply voiced as I sort of imagined from his most famous role (it lacking in much dialogue and all), and plays wonderfully a man who occupies the lowest rung of society, but from there throws dirt upward, using his meager skills to enact a sort of class-based revenge on the more well-off MacFarlane. He's clever and manipulative in all the "right" (or rather, wrong) ways and astonishingly dimensioned for a relatively short film like this one. Robert Wise and company (Wise, of course, also directing the sequel to the Lewton/Tourneur film The Cat People, but more importantly later directing films like The Haunting and The Day the Earth Stood Still, as well as Martin Scorsese's favourite boxing movie, The Set-Up) admirably overcome the dearth of funding Lewton consistently was beleaguered with, lighting strong faces like Karloff's in fascinating and ever more frightening ways, usually from below, recalling images like Lon Chaney, Sr. in London After Midnight and other early attempts at mildly distorting the human face for horrific effect.
This may be my favourite of the Lewton films I've watched so far, and it was absolutely wonderful to see such a great scene between Karloff and his, well, "competitor" on occasion, but mostly thought of as colleague, Bela Lugosi. Joseph (Bela) is a poor man who has decided that he can hold Gray's nastier habits over his head for the purposes of blackmail. Unfortunately for him, he's not nearly as clever as Gray, but it leads to a great scene where the two discuss their options regarding this mutual knowledge, Bela seeming just as dopey as his character should, and Karloff easily appearing both friendly enough to fool the poor buffoon before him and to show the audience that his motives are something other. -
MCT:March 4, 2008Not a bad movie per se, but it has always turn me off. It's unengaging and, well, boring! Be very sure, however, to check out Val Lewton's other horror noirs like Cat People or I Walked with a Zombie.
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MCT:February 3, 2008
One of Val Lewton's best known (with good reason)productions, this spooky tale is the story of a doctor in a medical school in 19th century London (Henry Daniell - was he in EVERYTHING in the 30's and 40's?!) who uses a gloulish cabdriver (Boris Karloff) to deliver bodies for his students to dissect. And he's not too picky about where they come from. One of several films that Karloff and Bela Lugosi did together, although Lugosi's role was much smaller than Karloff's in this case. Lots of eerie scenes courtesy of director Robert Wise, who will later direct the best haunted house film ever "The Haunting". The way horror used to be before torture porn. more's the pity.
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MCT:December 18, 2007
"body snatcher" is boris karloff's another classic directed by robert wise (born to kill, sand pebbles)...a deranged story of thieving corpses from graveyard for the sake of medical research, and this time karloff transcends beyond the monstrous skin, reincarnating himself into another authentic form of pure evil.
british stage actor henry daniell plays the avid doctor with superb medical talent who accumulates his success by dissecting the stolen dead bodies provided by karloff's sinister body-snatcher who would resort to murder for his mercenary avarice, but body-snatcher has another more profound motive which is far beyond greed, he pupeteers the soul of this anxious doctor by taunting him with scornful manipulation and haunting him with parasite-alike possessiveness, further the pride of enabling to bridle this prestigious doctor as karloff's character asserts himself. body-snatch lashes out the angst of his low birth which compulses him into lots of degenerated deals for suvival, and the mere sadistic pleasure which keeps him moving forward is to afflict the doctor whose higher status and genius he enviously resents. this calculated pervert drive is evil itself which dominates the whole feature without any involvement of supernatural form of power, and the darkness of a twisted mind is even more horridly chilling. eventually the doctor's soul is bereft by the body-snatcher's contagious vileness in a psychological perspective.
another well-acted archetyped story of human corruptness, and karloff delivers another tour-de-farce performance without the shield of frankenstein monstrous cosmetics that is a proper showcase to exuberate his brilliant acting talent, and henry daniell obtains a chance to play some character who is not utterly objectionable as his typecasted villain roles.
before the ingredients of alien subplots, the body snatcher was a simplistic gothic tale with the potentiality to doctrine on the respect of the humanity: to deem life as something sacred and not to be violated. -
MCT:August 20, 2007
Certainly this is one of Boris Karloff's best and most villainous acting roles apart from "The Black Room" (which isn't in the database yet).
The atmosphere and historical accuracy in this film is incredible but is no less than you'd expect from Robert Wise who also went on to create the scariest ghost story of all time with "The Haunting". -
MCT:May 21, 2007
not to be confused with "invasion of?" based on semi true events about men who robbed graves and even murdered to provide bodies for the medical school.
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MCT:April 25, 2007
One of Karloff's finest-and most diabolical roles but often overlooked for the more famous frankenstein and mummy movies. Anyone who doubts that Karloff could be seriously menacing without the makeup needs to check this film out! AWESOME.
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MCT:December 27, 2006
A really great creepy, atmospheric period horror film. The acting was really good and the script was well-rounded. Boris Karloff gives an excellent performance in the title and the ending was a kicker. If you would like to see a good old fashioned horror film, this is it.
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MCT:November 23, 2006
My favorite Karloff film, next to the original Frankenstein. His delivery is superb in this film. Hightly Recommended.
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MCT:October 22, 2006
This movie creeped me out; if I ever see something that looks like those plants seed things, I'm so going to torch it!!!
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