Rating of
4/4
should be recognized as one of THE classic horror
Drive-In Massacre - wrote on 08/13/10
In the 1940's horror films were starting to go a bit down hill for the first time (coming out of the Universal Studios golden age) producer Val Lewton's, RKO pictures like Cat People and I Walked With a Zombie shined above all others. The best and almost entirely forgotten of the Lewton movies is Robert Wise's (yes, the Sound of Music, West Side Story, Day the Earth Stood Still, Robert Wise) The Body Snatcher.
This has what is truly an incredible performance by Boris Karloff. Quite possibly his best. He really should have received an Academy Award for it. The Gothic, suspenseful, very well written, acted, and directed film based off of a Robert Louis Stevenson short story, should be recognized as one of THE classic horror films. However, if you ever read a book on the history of horror films, you'll rarely see this mentioned, and if it is, it'll be a footnote with the rest of the Lewton films.
