Doctor Blood's Coffin

1961
4.9| 1h32m| NA| en| More Info
Released: 15 May 1962 Released
Producted By: Caralan Productions Ltd.
Country:
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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After being thrown out of medical school for ethical violations, Dr. Peter Blood returns home to a small Cornish village, where he sets up a research laboratory in a secluded cave. There, he attempts to revive the dead, using kidnapped humans -- who he views as unworthy of life -- for their body parts, specifically, their hearts.

Genre

Horror

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Director

Sidney J. Furie

Production Companies

Caralan Productions Ltd.

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Doctor Blood's Coffin Audience Reviews

Mjeteconer Just perfect...
Maidexpl Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast
FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
Cristal The movie really just wants to entertain people.
Scott LeBrun The title has more punch than the story ultimately delivers in this mild shocker, yet another variation on the old "Frankenstein" theme. Kieron Moore ("Crack in the World") stars as Dr. Peter Blood, an intense scientist determined that his experiments in extending life will be successful. Unfortunately for him, he's not very good at what he does, either getting caught in the act or leaving critical evidence in his wake."Doctor Blood's Coffin" is mainly noteworthy as one of the horror pictures made in England by under-rated, Canadian-born filmmaker Sidney J. Furie before he hit his stride with "The Ipcress File". The story & screenplay are the work of Nathan Juran (credited as Jerry Juran), himself a famed director of such things as "20 Million Miles to Earth". But, alas, this yarn is lacking in truly interesting features, although the tunnel settings are somewhat unusual. (Said underground tunnels, originally used as tin mines, run throughout much of the locations.)These locations are quite picturesque, and the film does look lovely in colour, although one can't help but think that it would have had even more atmosphere had it been filmed in black & white.The picture also offers its audience an opportunity to watch gorgeous Brit scream queen Hazel Court in a contemporary-set tale, unlike the period pieces from the 50s and 60s for which one might already know her. She's quite a formidable leading lady, obliged to scream at one point, but indignant enough that she and Moore pontificate back and forth on what constitutes the "right" thing to do. The excellent supporting cast also includes Ian Hunter as Dr. Blood Sr., Kenneth J. Warren as the police sergeant faced with baffling deaths, the colourful Gerald Lawson as local funeral director Mr. Morton, Fred Johnson as amiable miner Tregaye, and Andy Alston as one of our demented antagonists' intended victims. You have to give this guy credit for his extended, arduous escape.Overall, this is short on suspense and originality, and spends too much time with Moore as he aggressively pursues Court (not that you can blame him, of course); this doesn't stay on track all that well. Even the finale is underwhelming.Five out of 10.
Leofwine_draca DR BLOOD'S COFFIN bears all the hallmarks of a classic slice of British Gothic horror: it's got an eerie setting in the deserted Cornish tin mines (also put to good use in the similar PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES), it features an actress many consider to be Britain's best scream queen (the delectable Hazel Court), and the Frankenstein-style plot features a misguided scientist who performs experiments on the living and the dead in a bid to become a pioneer heart transplant surgeon. What's not to love?Quite a lot, it actually turns out, and not least the clunky script, which routinely AVOIDS every moment of possible excitement in favour of talky, talky, boredom. A full twenty minutes or so of the running time is taken up with a guy CRAWLING – incessant, repetitive, and yawn-inducing. The potential horrors of the script are diluted and avoided, with a single snippet of bloody surgery the only horror we get until the climax, in which a fine-looking zombie (that would look great in a Hammer or Italian zombie film) shows up for some last-minute action.Before then, we get a staged romance between Kieron Moore and Hazel Court, who can really do better. There are some locals with silly accents and some nice locations in then-contemporary Cornwall, but that's about it. Sidney J. Furie, who later on made the supremely scary THE ENTITY, doesn't distinguish himself in this forgotten outing. Kieron Moore is miscast as the protagonist: we needed someone of Cushing's calibre to make this guy likable, but Moore is just a schmaltzy jerk and Court's the sole decent actor mired in a sea of muddle headed wrongness. Funnily enough, the execrable script was written by Nathan Juran – the director responsible for colourful fantasy classic THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD!
irearly Pretty straight forward little thriller, one I've always wanted to see, that interestingly makes a monster out of a doctor who wants to do heart transplants! And this was about 4 or 5 years before it actually happened for real! I wonder how Christiaan Barnard felt about that! OK I just checked the first heart transplant was 1967.Dr. Blood himself is pretty over the top not hesitating to sacrifice the useless and unworthy to further his pursuits.It's close and a little clammy when down in the mine tunnels but the location work is good and I want to add my praises for Hazel Court who is too attractive for her role. There's a great bit in the first two minutes. She's a nurse and when the village Dr drives up she runs over to help with his packages. He loads her up with an armful of five or six boxes then wanders off to jaw with the locals. Pretty funny bit no matter how you parse it from a period or contemporary perspective.I wouldn't recommend it. It's OK of its kind but the ending, which the whole movie builds up to, is ludicrous and let's all the steam out of the slowly, but effectively, developed tension.
Movie Nuttball Doctor Blood's Coffin is a very good film that has a good cast which includes Kieron Moore, Hazel Court, Ian Hunter, Kenneth J. Warren, Gerald Lawson, Fred Johnson, Paul Hardtmuth, Paul Stockman, Andy Alston, John Romane, and Ruth Lee. The acting by all of these actors is very good. The thrills is really good and some of it is surprising. The movie is filmed very good. The music is good. The film is quite interesting and the movie really keeps you going until the end. This is a very good and thrilling film. If you like Kieron Moore, Hazel Court, Ian Hunter, Kenneth J. Warren, Gerald Lawson, Fred Johnson, Paul Hardtmuth, the rest of the cast in the film, Horror, Thrillers, Dramas, and interesting classic films then I strongly recommend you to see this film today! Movie Nuttball's NOTE: I got this film on a special DVD that has Doctor Blood's Coffin, The Brainiac, and The Fury of the Wolfman from Vintage Home Entertainment! See if you can find this winner with three bizarre but classic films on one DVD at Amazon.com today!