SPECIAL FEATURES: •Original The Corpse Vanishes Trailer
The Pitch
Bela Lugosi in a coffin is money in the bank.
The Humans
Bela Lugosi, Luana Walters, Tristram Coffin, Elizabeth Russell, Angelo Rossitto
The Nutshell
Dr. Lorenz’s (Bela Lugosi) wife (Elizabeth Russell) has a terminal disease and needs the juice of virgin brides to sustain herself. All goes according to plan until reporter, Patricia Hunter (Luana Walters), starts poking around the Lorenz household.
The Lowdown
This episode starts with a short, Commander Cody & The Radar Men From The Moon. As is typical for these shorts, this is a good time to make some popcorn or some other kind of snack before the feature presentation begins. If you long for the days when aliens were only differentiated by spandex and heroes looked like The Rocketeer, this short is for you. It is pretty forgettable and unfortunately there are no chapters, so you cannot skip it easily.
Bela Lugosi’s lost screen test for Re-Animator
After a thrilling serial cliffhanger, The Corpse Vanishes begins. While you would expect MST3k to tackle Bela Lugosi’s Ed Wood collaborations, this film occurs during Lugosi’s ‘typecasted years’. A film that is conceptually a mad scientist film becomes a borderline vampire film most likely due to the casting of Lugosi. While Lugosi does not feed himself, his wife requires injections from the ‘youth glands’ of young brides on their wedding day. It is unclear why this must occur during the ceremony when the bride has the attention of all in attendance. This is further muddied by the fact that the reporter is apparently a suitable candidate for youth juice extraction despite not being a bride. If the life-sustaining neck extractions are not vampiritic enough for you, Lugosi and his wife prefer to sleep in coffins. In addition, Lugosi has a sideshow of henchman including a hunchback with a hair fetish and a dwarf that is reminiscent of the bully’s sidekick in A Christmas Story.
Rule 1: Don’t go to sleep at Bela Lugosi’s House
Without a Gil Grissom or Jack McCoy to solve the mystery, Lugosi’s bride stealing operations have so far remained undetected. It is up to the archetypal nosy female reporter, Patricia Hunter, to crack the case so that her archetypal newspaper editor will not fire her. Her only clue is the strange species of orchid that were delivered just before the brides dropped dead. Apparently, since it is a flower, only a woman could have noticed such an obvious clue. Coincidentally, there is an eccentric doctor that specializes in this exact species of orchid.
Rule 2: Don’t go to sleep at Bela Lugosi’s house
So naturally our intrepid reporter hitches a ride to his house and is stranded there by a storm. She agrees to spend the night even though she suspects Dr. Lorentz (Lugosi) of murdering several women and that his wife ‘bitchslaps’ her upon introduction. After several members of the Lorentz household come and go via a hidden passage in the Patricia’s bedroom, the reporter only wakes up when Mike the Hunchback decides to indulge in his favorite pastime, stroking the hair of unconscious women. It is due to this fright that she discovers the Lorentz’s sleeping arrangements and decides to snoop around and find the hidden passage in her room.
As is typical of old Hollywood, husband and wife are forced to sleep in separate coffins.
The Package
This DVD is the most disappointing with regard to bonus features. If you are looking for any background information on The Corpse Vanishes you will have to look elsewhere. It is also worth noting that the picture quality is lacking and at times it is way too dark.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
