A heavyweight lineup of horror legends star in this black comedy about a
troubled funeral parlor owner.  Mr. Trumbull (Price) is having both domestic
and financial problems.  With alcoholism and depression setting in, plus the
difficult relationship with his opera-singing wife and her aging father
(Karloff), plus his unpaid landlord (Rathbone) seeking a year's worth of
rent, he decides to increase his business by his own hands.  So Mr. Trumbull
and his assistant Mr. Gillie (Lorre) go and create new customers, and then
offer their services to the kin.  However, this never seems to work out for
them, especially when trying to kill his landlord.

The movie is really heavy in comedy, most of which does not work.  It's kind
of a shame, especially with the talent on display in this film.  The actors
themselves do a great job, and there is some interesting fast-flying
dialogue.  But overall, the movie doesn't work, and it annoying at times in
its attempts at laughter.  There are some good parts in it, but one of them
is certainly not the painful singing of Price's wife, and neither are the
multiple scenes with the cat, nor the poor edits between the actors and
their stuntmen.  Oh well.  It's still worth watching for fans of any of
these horror giants.
 
 

Quality: 4.0  Visuals: 4.0  Intensity: 3.0  Laughability: 2.5
OVERALL RATING: 3.4