The Comedy of Terrors

I can think of two things wrong with that title.

WHAT JIGGERY-POKERY IS THIS?

It fails as a straight comedy but did enough to warrant an October watch. Peter Lorre is an outright triumph in this. He unnecessarily opens a nearly incinerated door as he's being chased, he dances worse than Crispin Glover in F13: The Final Chapter (this is debatable), and he vehemently denies an accusation by saying, "I never confessed!" before quietly adding, "They just proved it."

Cheerfully silly farce does surprisingly little with the iconic profiles of any of its stars, content to simply plug them in and watch them go - more slowly paced than it needed to be (it drags a little, even at 80 mins), but the performers do bring some heat to this, especially a hilariously doddery Karloff, though Price and Jameson's eviscerating back and forths are similarly worth the price of admission!

Tourneur's last film ends with a slo-mo sequence I called the worst of his career; this, his second-last, begins with a fast-motion bit worse in its way. 'Course it's over quicker, but sends the stomach sinking before anything gets going. He had some unkind words for the supposed childishness of Corman's work, but while this is more "adult" in conception than THE RAVEN & TALES OF TERROR, it's not nearly as fun (and while JT was talking trash, RC was making his quite-adult masterpiece in MASQUE).

Lorre and Price are fantastic together. Quite a silly little dark comedy.

i think this would be totally forgettable if not for the legendary cast. price and lorre are a great team. rathbone stole the show for me, though. everybody hammed it up but rathbone went above and beyond and his narcoleptic gag waking up shouting "what place is this" had me dying. karloff does little more than appear, but his presence is still appreciated and he gets a fine moment at the very end.

And I thought The Raven was bad. They got the titles all reversed; it should be "The Terror of Comedies." Matheson's dreadful script takes the germ of a good idea and lets it fester instead of nurturing it. Price and Lorre manage to make a few moments work but never all that well when together. Rathbone is very off here as being the heel is completely against his character. However I feel most sorry for Karloff in this one although he gets the final lines which does make for a great scene.

It lacks the original flair and "supernatural" wit of Tales of Terror, but overall it's still watchable. Some funny parts, I see this as even more of a black comedy than the first, with the focus indeed right on the comedy aspect rather than trying to be an old style horror film with witty parts.

so theatrical. loved the ending.

Horror farce never takes flight, despite a good cast and a solid director. Tournier's pacing is off, which makes it seem longer than its short running time (83 mins), and Matheson's script is desperately lacking imagination and wit. Price does his usual hammy thing, and he chews scenery like a pro, but even he can't transform lead into gold.

Even the legendary cast with Boris Karloff, Basil Rathbone, Vincent Price and Peter Lorre plus a topnotch director as Tourneur can't save this dud.

78.00

A few laughs.

I thought this would be a black comedy but it's just stupid slapstick

Surprisingly funny. Usually this kind of silly horror thing doesn't work but it's a fun. Could've been a lot better tho. Lots of funny Shakespeare quips.

Disappointing considering the talent involved.

Pacing issues for sure, but that cast is great fun to watch and the script good enough to not hinder them.

A movie made by six gifted cinematic artists, all in deplorable decline.

Superdupersilly. Fun-ish.

Silly stuff.

An outstanding cast of veteran horror stars have fun spoofing the type of film they used to work in.

#1500

Fun little movie. You'd never have guessed that all these old horror stars were so good at comedy