Arnold 1973
A black comedy/horror about Arnold, a wealthy man who arranges for his mistress to go through a wedding ceremony with his corpse after his death. The ravishing Karen (Stella Stevens) is the mistress who inherits all of Arnold's money and gets to live in his mansion on the condition that she never leaves the side of his coffin and takes it everywhere she goes. His other greedy relatives aren't happy with this arrangement, but they all end up being killed off in elaborate death traps, which makes Karen feel that Arnold may try and kill her next. Jameson Brewer, the writer for this movie, also wrote scripts for my favorite childhood cartoon, Battle of the Planets ("G-force"). I loved the campy nature of this not very scary but funny movie. The opening show tune "Arnold" song by Shani Wallis, who played Lady Jocelyn Dwellyn, Arnold's wife in the movie, is so catchy that I am still humming it.
The bumbling Constable Hooke and his lecherous father, the Governor were delightful comic relief as was the comely Wanda Bailey, who played a busty barmaid. I love that the Constable continues to report each new death as some kind of accident despite that possibility becoming more and more far-fetched.
The Bride of Frankenstein herself, Elsa Lanchester, plays the cat-carrying daffy sister of the titular corpse, Arnold.
What a cool concept. Arnold speaks to his victims from beyond the grave by means of tape cassettes played from his coffin. He predicts his every victim's course of conduct and then allows each victim to kill themselves by traps that are only sprung by each victim's greedy behavior and only if they intend to oppose Arnold's testamentary will.
I selected this movie because of Brian Bly's interest in collecting rare VHS horror movies. This one is a very rare tape to collect because it was only released on VHS once, in 1985, and through a smaller distributor. This was a Bing Crosby Production (BCP) film. For such a star-studded movie, it is hardly known by children of the 1980's.
The bumbling Constable Hooke and his lecherous father, the Governor were delightful comic relief as was the comely Wanda Bailey, who played a busty barmaid. I love that the Constable continues to report each new death as some kind of accident despite that possibility becoming more and more far-fetched.
The Bride of Frankenstein herself, Elsa Lanchester, plays the cat-carrying daffy sister of the titular corpse, Arnold.
What a cool concept. Arnold speaks to his victims from beyond the grave by means of tape cassettes played from his coffin. He predicts his every victim's course of conduct and then allows each victim to kill themselves by traps that are only sprung by each victim's greedy behavior and only if they intend to oppose Arnold's testamentary will.
I selected this movie because of Brian Bly's interest in collecting rare VHS horror movies. This one is a very rare tape to collect because it was only released on VHS once, in 1985, and through a smaller distributor. This was a Bing Crosby Production (BCP) film. For such a star-studded movie, it is hardly known by children of the 1980's.