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The Body Snatcher Photos

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Movie Info

Dr. Toddy MacFarlane (Henry Daniell) needs cadavers for his medical experiments, ultimately intended to treat a young disabled girl. However, they are not easy to come by, so he enlists the help of taxi driver John Gray (Boris Karloff) and his assistant, Joseph (Bela Lugosi), to unearth bodies from the cemetery. When Donald (Russell Wade), Dr. MacFarlane's assistant, recognizes one of the corpses Gray delivers, the true source of the bodies is called into question.

Genre:

horror
Original Language:

English
Director:

Robert Wise
Producer:

Val Lewton
Writer:

Philip MacDonald, Val Lewton
Release Date (Theaters):

May 25, 1945 wide
Release Date (Streaming):

Apr 16, 2012
Runtime:

1h 19m
Production Co:

RKO Radio Pictures Inc.

Cast & Crew

Boris Karloff
Cabman John Gray

Bela Lugosi
Joseph

Henry Daniell
Dr. Wolfe `'Toddy'` MacFarlane

Edith Atwater
Meg Cameron

Russell Wade
Donald Fettes

Rita Corday
Mrs. Marsh

Show all Cast & Crew

Critic Reviews for The Body Snatcher

All Critics (20) | Top Critics (4) | Fresh (17) | Rotten (3)

Settings are inexpensive but sufficient for the needs. Production values, in general, however, aid materially in making this picture a winner.

November 14, 2007 | Full Review…

Variety Staff
Variety
The film accelerates to great effect towards the end.

June 24, 2006 | Full Review…

Time Out
Even though this film is taken from a modest stage play of a few seasons back, its humors are as stale and mechanical as those of the oldest such farce.

March 25, 2006 | Rating: 2/5 | Full Review…

Bosley Crowther
New York Times
One of the lesser products of Val Lewton's years as the head of RKO's horror-film unit.

January 1, 2000 | Full Review…

Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader
...a good example of a kind of horror style that we've lost the knack of; intelligent, thoughtful, thrilling and yet subtle in its intention...

February 20, 2021 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…

Eddie Harrison
film-authority.com
Essentially turns the tale of famous Scotland serial killers Burke and Hare into a fictional recounting with altered protagonists, allies, cover-ups, and other elaborations.

August 5, 2020 | Rating: 8/10 | Full Review…

Mike Massie
Gone With The Twins
As much as it's a movie about grisly killings, The Body Snatcher is also a movie about class.

April 17, 2019 | Full Review…

David Bax
Battleship Pretension
Karloff's nothing short of commanding in an unexpectedly complex role.

March 30, 2019 | Rating: 3.5/4 | Full Review…

Matt Brunson
Film Frenzy
A strong, well above-average effort in almost every way, there's no evidence at all that Lewton's first brush with money and success dulled his instincts.

October 28, 2012 | Rating: 8/10 | Full Review…

Tim Brayton
Antagony & Ecstasy
Researchers and healers are closer to the subjects on the autopsy slab than to their living patients in this acerbic chimera of shadow and sacrifice

May 19, 2010 | Full Review…

Fernando F. Croce
CinePassion
there's a fascination with the ultimate futility of ever being something beyond opportunistic and solipsistic.

October 22, 2009 | Rating: 3.5/4 | Full Review…

Walter Chaw
Film Freak Central
Too stuck on being literate to be a great movie ... .

July 25, 2008 | Rating: B | Full Review…

Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

View All Critic Reviews (20)

Audience Reviews for The Body Snatcher

Apr 13, 2011

A pretty interesting little flick that ends extremely well. Odd seeing Bela Lugosi in such a tiny role, but also it's nice to see Boris Karloff being so evil and relishing it.

Tim S Super Reviewer
Oct 17, 2010

I didn't not like it, but I probably wouldn't watch it again.

Sarah P Super Reviewer
Sep 05, 2010

My favourite corpse snatching movie, it stars both Karloff and Lugosi, how could you not like it? It's exciting and creepy.

Aj V Super Reviewer
Nov 01, 2009

Sinister goings on in 19th century Edinburrow as a young medical student, presumably on exchange from America, is initiated into the art of grave robbing. Based on a short story by Robert Louis Stevenson and directed by Robert Wise, <i>The Body Snatcher</i> is not actually one of the better Val Lewton horror movies. The atmosphere is potent enough but the story doesn't really catch fire until the very end and, for such a short film, it tends to drag. Henry Daniell and Boris Karloff, as an anatomist and his resurrectionist respectively, are terrific; Bela Lugosi, on the other hand, is such a waste of space I'd forgotten he was even in the picture.

Stephen M Super Reviewer