The Curse of the Living Corpse is a 1964 Period Piece Horror film made by low-budget auteur Del Tenney. It’s mainly known as the big-screen debut of Roy Scheider. Candace Hilligoss, who had previously starred in Carnival of Souls, plays a supporting role.
In 1892 New England, the Sinclair family bury their paterfamilias, Rufus. Rufus, who had an intermittent paralyzing condition and had always feared being buried alive, left instructions in his will that no funeral be held for five days, that a qualified physician pronounce him dead beforehand, and that his crypt should always be lit by torches. If these conditions aren’t met, his family and faithful servant Seth (J. Frank Lucas) will not only be disinherited, but Rufus swears to do them in by the ways they most fear. By the time family lawyer James Benson (Hugh Franklin) has read the will, some of its conditions have already been violated.
Strange things soon occur, and bodies pile up. The deaths start with Letty (Linda Donovan), a servant whom elder brother Bruce (Robert Milli) has taken as a lover. Bruce himself is killed next, leaving his sickly and drunken younger brother Philip (Scheider) as leader of a family being picked off one-by-one.
The Curse of the Living Tropes:
- The Alcoholic: Philip is never seen without a drink in his hand, which appears to have killed his sexual desire for his wife Vivian. He’s actually not drunk, at least not most of the time, so he must just be over her.
- And There Was Much Rejoicing: Whether Rufus was abusive or just difficult, his family isn’t sorry to see him go.
- Asshole Victim: While most of the killer’s victims evoke some kind of sympathy, Bruce condemns himself with his callous behavior after being presented with Letty’s severed head. He’s also in the main responsible for the terms of Rufus’s will not being kept.
- Damsel in Distress: Benson’s daughter Deborah (Hilligoss) is kidnapped by the killer, who intends to drown her in quicksand. Her boyfriend Robert (Dino Narizzano), who is also Rufus’s nephew, snaps into action to rescue her.
- Dead Person Impersonation: Philip kills while pretending to be Rufus. Strictly speaking it’s not a "Scooby-Doo" Hoax since there’s a naturalistic explanation for why Rufus could have come back.
- Fan Disservice: Vivian strips down to take a scented bath (in a time when nudity was far from routine even in exploitation horror flicks.) She has a phobia about drowning, so she’s then half-strangled and half-submerged while making awful choking noises.
- Kensington Gore: Shows up a lot with all the stabbings and slashings. Since the movie is in black-and-white it only has to be dark.
- Man on Fire: The pyrophobic Abigail is killed by fire in bed.
- Playing Drunk: A denouement with the two policemen reveals that most of Philip’s liquor stash was tea.
- Police Are Useless: Constable Winters is a sub-Wiggum dolt who accidentally handcuffs himself, and Constable Barnes delegates everything to him.
- Portrait Painting Peephole: The portrait of Rufus in Abigail’s room has removable eyes through which the killer spies on her.
- Quicksand Sucks: Bruce and Vivian dispose of Letty’s body in a quicksand pool which swallows her instantly. Philip tries to drown Deborah in quicksand, but winds up being dragged down himself.
- Self-Made Orphan: Philip kills his mother—his only surviving parent—by tying her to her bed and setting it on fire.
- You Keep Using That Word: Bruce refers to his alleged right to do what he wants with servant girl Letty as “noblesse oblige”, seeming to get the concept almost entirely backwards.
