The Comedy of Terrors

Jacques Tourneur's film gathers four horror stars into a comedy: Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff and Basil Rathbone. Waldo Trumbull, the undertaker played by Price, is about to lose his business because nobody is dying. His solution is simple: rather than find customers, produce them. Richard Matheson wrote the screenplay and builds the black comedy directly out of the mechanics of the funeral trade, with the same coffin reused repeatedly, unpaid rent and a perpetually drunk assistant. Karloff, as a frail and elderly father-in-law, barely speaks; Rathbone plays the landlord who cannot manage to stay dead and keeps returning while reciting Shakespeare, which is the film's best joke. Tourneur is known for serious horror such as Cat People and I Walked with a Zombie, and this is an odd departure in his career. Who it is for: anyone who wants to see the classic horror actors together, and viewers who like black comedy. Who it is not for: anyone expecting real horror, since the film is farce from beginning to end.