‘A thrilling mystery of a supernatural killer!’
Scared to Death is a 1947 horror film in which a dead young woman tells the bizarre tale of how she got there, through a maze of murder involving a hypnotist, a midget and a mysterious figure in a green mask.
The movie was directed by Christy Cabanne from a screenplay by Walter Abbott (as W.J. Abbott). The Golden Gate Productions movie stars Bela Lugosi, George Zucco, Nat Pendleton and Molly Lamont. It was filmed in Cinecolor.
Plot:
Morgue examiners reveal that the beautiful dead woman on the slab has literally died of fright…
Previously, the woman was married to the son of a doctor, the proprietor of a private sanatorium, where she is under unwilling treatment. Both the son and the doctor indicate they want the marriage dissolved. Arriving at the scene is a mysterious personage identified as the doctor’s brother who formerly was a stage magician in Europe. He is accompanied by a threatening dwarf (Angelo Rossitto).
After it is apparent that the wife is terrified of the foreigners, it is disclosed that she is the former wife and partner of a Paris dancer known as René, who had been shot by the Third Reich. Attempts to draw a confession that she had betrayed her dancer husband and had collaborated with the Germans led to the use of a device employing a death mask of the dead patriot, which literally frightens her to death.
Although the young newspaperman hero and his sweetheart guess the answer to the story, they allow the diagnosis “scared to death” to stand.
Cast and characters:
Bela Lugosi … Professor Leonide
George Zucco … Doctor Joseph Van Ee
Nat Pendleton … Bill Raymond
Molly Lamont … Laura Van Ee / Laurette La Valle
Joyce Compton … Jane Cornell
Gladys Blake … Lilybeth
Roland Varno … Ward Van Ee
Douglas Fowley … Terry Lee
Stanley Andrews … Pathologist
Angelo Rossitto … Indigo
Lee Bennett … Rene the Killer
Stanley Price … Autopsy Surgeon
Dorothy Christy … Mrs Williams
Filming locations:
Yorke-Metro Studios, 1329 Gordon Street, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Technical specs:
1 hour 8 minutes
Cinecolor
Aspect ratio: 1.37: 1
Audio: Mono
Fun fact:
Probably the first film to be narrated by a corpse. This gimmick was subsequently used in Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard and Danny Boyle thriller Shallow Grave (1994) with Ewan McGregor.
Trailer:
Full movie – free to watch online:
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