Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Paul Magne Haakonsen I like the work of Vincent Price, as any avid horror fan would do. However, I have not seen "The Comedy of Terrors" before recently, and I wasn't even familiar with its existence. I found it, saw that Vincent Price was in it, so of course I had to sit down and watch the movie.This is a dark comedy with a twist, and the movie is driven by both having a fair enough storyline, which differs from Vincent Price's usual work, but also by having a good gallery of characters.While this is not the best of Vincent Price's work, for sure. the movie did still entertaining enough. And it was interesting to watch him in a movie such as this."The Comedy of Terrors" had a good cast ensemble, which performed quite well and brought their characters to life nicely on the screen.Hardly a Vincent Price classic movie, but still entertaining enough for what it turned out to be.

Leofwine_draca Despite a couple of minor flaws, it's impossible to dismiss this comedy movie as a failure thanks to the sheer pedigree behind it. Everything looks in place at a first glance: the script is written by one of the most famous horror writers of all time, Richard Matheson. The film is directed by that master of horror, Jacques Tourneur (NIGHT OF THE DEMON). And of course the film has been released by AIP, who made the hugely successful Corman/Poe series at the same time. THE COMEDY OF TERRORS is similar to THE RAVEN in that it teams up a number of major horror stars for a creepy tale with lashings of comedy. This film follows a template that some people may find off-putting; for instance the dialogue is unrealistic and "purple" all the way through, with characters speaking totally unrealistically. The emphasis is on comedy throughout and there are lots of hijinks, pratfalls and plentiful banter between the characters.The film looks relatively cheap with a few exceptions and takes place mostly in a single location. The special effects are limited and cheesy, but there are some nicely Gothic images of carriages rattling through the countryside and a fog-enshrouded graveyard. In fact the film manages to be pretty atmospheric and/or spooky in a number of spots, especially the graveyard scenes with Irish comedian Joe Brown which expertly mix the comedy and horror genres with ease. However, this is more of a comedy film with horror trappings. Despite on screen death and violence (swordfighting!) the emphasis is on bizarre and amusing characters and the way they interact.Every character is flawed in this film and loathsome in some way, even the pretty blonde heroine (the buxom Joyce Jameson) who vainly imagines herself as a talented opera singer when in fact she can't sing for tuppence. Vincent Price is utterly hammy in the lead and seems to be totally enjoying himself as a drunkard who doesn't mind smothering people in their beds. Despite his horrible character Price is great as always in a role that doesn't require him to be totally serious, thus suited to his acting style. Peter Lorre is also on hand as Price's put-upon assistant, Felix, and typically Lorre is abused both physically and verbally through the course of the movie. Then we have the delightful Boris Karloff as a hilarious old man who's lost his mind (Karloff gets some priceless dialogue at the dinner table: "Alexander the Great was embalmed in honey" "Edward the 3rd was buried standing up!"), the best thing in the film. One cannot go without mentioning Basil Rathbone, excellent as a victim of catalepsy who cannot die and goes around solemnly quoting Macbeth all the while. It cracks me up every time. Although the film is slow-paced and without a lot of incident, it showcases four of the best actors ever and is fun viewing just to see them together on screen.

Robert J. Maxwell The title is a ripoff of Shakespeare's first play, "A Comedy of Errors", which wasn't funny, and neither is this, alas.It's not a terrible film but nothing quite comes together. The individual facets are okay but when you assemble them you wind up with a lump of carbon, not a diamond. I liked the performances though. Vincent Price is loud and treacherous. Little Peter Lorre is a greasy mouse. Boris Karloff is a deaf and somewhat senile old man, and Basil Rathbone does a turn as the impatient landlord. The production values are above what we might expect too.It's the script that doesn't quite make it. The screenplay is by Richard Matheson who had done quite a few "Twilight Zone" episodes, some of them good and punchy. And this feature sounds like a "Twilight Zone" episode. Characters use the grandiose language that Rod Serling was so fond of. People don't just speak if they can "spew." And nobody is broke, they're just suffering a spell of "pecuniary embarrassment" -- that kind of thing. Matheson had a splendid imagination but it didn't run to comedy. The gags here could have been written by Bob Hope's fagged out staff. The corpus is already embalmed."You never were any good at anything -- except BUMBLING." Really.On the plus side, it was directed by Jacques Tourneur, who brings nothing to the style and pacing of this attempt at comedy,. but who evidently had a good time during shooting, reminiscing about the days at RKO under Val Lewton. Tourneur directed three of the best of Lewton's productions, and Karloff had played in others. Twenty years earlier.They look pretty shabby now, and it's certainly not a gladdening experience to be old, but the troopers enjoyed themselves. Peter Lorre, for instance, slowly opening the casket, peering into it, and gasping, "Why, Jack WARNER!" Too bad more of the fun didn't get on screen.

vincent-bernd So this film is not the greatest film ever made. This is no Casablanca or Lawrence of Arabia,this is a film for those who love film history and nostalgia of horror cinema from Vincent Price's House of wax to Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes. There is no doubt that this film has an all star cast. Another film which had Rathbone,Price and Boris Karloff was Tower of London, which was about Richard Duke of Gloucester and how he became king of England through murder and manipulation. The film was a great showcase of talent by all three actors. So now for this film, This film starts off with Vincent Price and Peter Lorre finding out that they have run their funeral parlor into the ground,and need to come up with cash to pay their landlord played by Bail Rathbone. So to do this they go out at Midnight to kill a former colleague of Price's. This does not go as planed however and soon Price decides to Kill Rathbone,the only problem is he never can die. The humor of the film is dark and it is what we expect from the masters of horror. I would have been happier had they been able to have had peter Cushing and Christopher Lee in this film,but I would have to see House of the long shadows for that to happen. So this film is not Ben Hur or To Kill a Mockingbird,but it is made for the fans of the Gothic horror and who loved the classics like Nosferatu or Phantom of the opera. I enjoyed this film so much because it brings back a time when you could see a movie that did not have to be great,but you could have fun watching it and this film succeeds in that portion. The acting as I said was good. The cat in this film is the beloved Orange from breakfast at Tiffany's. The atmosphere is dark and murky and the sets and art direction really show good background ,and foreground in the film. So is this a good enough film to take its place with Dracula or Frankenstein? No,but it is a fun ride.