A rich woman who uses meditation to deal with pain is visited by her niece who returns from Paris. The woman can be a handful and one of her employees suggests to her husband that he kill her freeing them both. When an affair starts between the husband and the niece murder becomes a real possibility. However some people won't stay dead.
The Woman Who Wouldn't Die
USA
Denver, Colorado
USA
Sweden
UK12
Sweden
UK
USA
I knew in my soul it wasn’t gonna be as cool as the sick ass poster :/ Still a fairly decent little thriller though!!
Gary Merrill plays a man under the thumb of a domineering and controlling wife, which is how I like to imagine his marriage with Bette Davis. (In case it needs to be said, I adore Bette Davis.) People keep telling the Catacombs Gary how virile and attractive he is, when I just kept thinking what a dodgy actor he was, unable to summon conviction while looking scheming, randy or scared.
Catacombs is one of those bump-off-the-rich-lady mysteries where strange things start to happen once the deed has been done. Unfortunately it is slung together with such lack of style, acted so indifferently and packed to the rafters with people doing things that you would never do in that situation, that…
Gordon Hessler, the German born film director who died earlier this year was perhaps best known for a threesome of horror movies made with Vincent Price for AIP in The Oblong Box (1969), Cry of the Banshee (1970) and Scream and Scream Again (1970). Prior to these he was placed under contract to Alfred Hitchcock where he was a story reader for the Alfred Hitchcock Presents television series. Here he became a story editor for two seasons at the start of the 60s before graduating to the role of associate producer up until the series’ cancellation in 1965. It was in this role that he came across a novel whose adaptation was rejected for the show, but would soon become…
31 Days of YouTube (March 2017)
A wealthy woman is murdered by her husband with some assistance from her assistant on whom she has some dirt. But despite everything going to plan they start to wonder if she really is she dead after all.
Catacombs sits in the same sort of area as the Hammer psycho-thrillers from the same period, particularly the likes of Scream of Fear or Nightmare. It's the usual thing, someone commits a murder but then strange things happen making them believe that their victim wasn't dead after all or has come back to haunt them. And of course the body goes missing.
Here, although the reasons behind the killing are established they aren't really developed. The…
The most frightening thing about this movie is the sight of Gary Merrill's naked torso, which appears to be blanketed by a large family of somnolent minks.
The title is a real misnomer because this film features no catacombs. Yes, there’s a brief reference to some in a postcard but that’s all. Presumably, Jay Bennett’s novel (upon which the screenplay is based) featured some. The film’s American title, The Woman Who Wouldn’t Die, is far more apposite.
This is clearly a low-budget affair with a very small cast, a limited amount of location filming, some conspicuous back projection used to stage one of the film’s murderous events and a plot that is stretched out a little too much. (The story could comfortably have made a satisfying Amicus portmanteau segment.) Having said all that, and if one ignores the rather obvious dialogue and not terribly inspiring direction, there’s…
31 Days of Halloween 14/31
There are no catacombs in this movie.
ETA: This review made more sense when this was listed under the title Catacombs.
An unscrupulous man's scheme to do away with his wealthy wife proves more complicated than he planned.
British thriller which, as other folks have pointed out, fits right in with the non-Gothic Hammer pics of the era: SCREAM OF FEAR, MANIAC, THE SNORKEL. They all have a distinctly Continental, Alfred Hitchcock Presents vibe to their mood. Classy yet salacious, suspenseful and ultimately lightweight but fun.
In this one we have toady jerk Gary Merrill sick of being married to the rich and annoying Georgina Cookson, so he soons plots her demise. But wifey has a history of psychic/mentalist abilities. Is it possible she could feign death, or come back from beyond to haunt her foes?
The cast of characters is…
the scariest thing is alice throwing herself at ray despite him being 30 years older and her and pretty sleazy
fairly well put together but pretty formulaic
