Uriah43
Upon his death "Lord Arnold Dewellyn" (Norman Stuart) makes arrangements to be married to a woman by the name of "Karen" (Stella Stevens) even though he leaves behind a widow named "Lady Jocelyn Dewellyn" (Shani Wallis). As it turns out, the reason he does this is because he wishes to settle some old scores with everyone who supposedly loved him but were only interested in his money. Think of it as a kind of sick joke which he continues to play upon with the reading of the will in which he mandates certain instructions intended to cause even more problems for all concerned. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that I didn't particularly care for this movie that much due in large part to the absence of humor and the morbid circumstances surrounding everything. To be sure, there is some mystery here and there and Stella Stevens was definitely quite attractive. Even so, I found the overall plot to be somewhat distasteful and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Below average.
john22900
I really like this movie for a number of reasons.First it delivers the shocks and the laughs almost at the same time.It does not pretend to be high art.This movie is fun in a lot of ways. If you have not seen it, you know right at the start that the greedy bunch of relatives and hangers on are going to be dispatched one by one. Part of the fun is guessing who is going to be next on the list. Stella Stevens has seldom looked better than she does in this movie. She has a terrific body and that alone is worth the price of admission. But there's so much more. The cast is comprised of mostly character actors who have had some connection with the bizarre and macabre cinema before. Among the cast members are Victor Buono, Elsa Lanchester, Roddy McDowell, Jamie Farr, Farley Granger, John McGiver and Bernard Fox. Needless to say everybody in the cast gets what they so richly deserve. But the final supreme joke involving Bernard Fox and John McGiver is the topper!
Nina Lincoln
I remember seeing this movie when I was all of 10 years old with my older sister (who should have known better!) I couldn't sleep for days after. This movie is really really scary in a campy, early '70s way. Com'on, who wouldn't get scared with a dead body lying in its coffin, in the middle of the living room, while tape recordings arrive each morning detailing the gruesome events of the previous day -- and, in the corpse's own voice, no less!!??? It's like something out of Agatha Christie wherein relatives of the deceased must survive night after night in a creepy, booby-trapped house. The last one alive gets to keep all the money left behind....the location of which is to be revealed in one final tape! You just gotta have a ghoulish sense of humor to enjoy the cheeky macabre aspects of this horror flick send up. Plus, it really is funny the way these greedy, money hungry people die and, in the end, you kind of feel they all deserved it.
David Carter
I was lucky enough to see this movie in the theatre in 1973 when it was shown. Then I saw it on television in 1986 and recorded it, which now I am really glad I can watch when I want to. But I can say this that Roddy MacDowell shines throughout this movie as does Stella Stevens. Norman Stewart as Arnold was really great, how'd he keep his eyes open all the time like that ? Jamie Farr's performance as the silent oriential servant was hilarious ! Let's say he lost his head over the serving part (ha, ha).Elsa Lancaster was excellent as Arnold's sister, who get's all the solitude she needs at the climatic end. Bernard Fox as the bumbling policeman kept you wondering if he'd ever keep that bicycle standing up ever. I give it a 10 on the scale of rating because as a child I remember how scared I was when I left, seeing a nervous eye looking out of Arnold's picture every-so-often. Watch it if you can see it on TV again.