FilmGothic Classic Monsters Psychological

Corridors of Blood1958

Name: Corridors of Blood
Genre: Gothic, Classic Monsters, Psychological
Released: 1958-12-01
Rating: 6.4

“Tops in Terror!”

Directed by Robert Day

6.4

Crypt Score

Blended from 2 sources

IMDb 6.4TMDB 6.2

✍ Review

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Year

1958

Runtime

86 min

Box Office

Budget

$37,500

Revenue (worldwide)

$51,500

🏆 1 nomination

The premise

In 1840s London, Dr. Thomas Bolton [Boris Karloff] dares to dream the unthinkable: experimenting with anesthesia gases to make surgery pain-free. While doing so, his demonstration before a panel of his peers ends in a horrific mishap with his patient awakening under the knife; he is forced to leave his position in disgrace. To complicate matters, he becomes addicted to his own chemical experiments and gets involved with a criminal gang led by Black Ben [Francis de Wolff], and a ruthless killer Resurrection Joe [Christopher Lee]. Unfortunately, this shady partnership leads Dr. Bolton to further ruin, culminating in his unwitting participation in murder — for which he becomes the first victim of a blackmail scheme.

Horror Vault's take

Set against the gaslit grimness of 1840s London, this period horror-drama follows a visionary surgeon whose crusade to eliminate the agony of the operating table leads him down a far darker path than any scalpel could cut. Boris Karloff delivers a sympathetic yet tragic performance as a man of science whose dependency on his own experimental gases makes him easy prey for the city's most dangerous criminals. Christopher Lee looms menacingly as a killer entangled in a blackmail web that ensnares the disgraced doctor. It is a slow-burning descent into moral compromise and Victorian underworld corruption that lingers well after the final frame.

Content: Surgical Scenes Including A Patient Waking During An Operation, Drug Addiction Depicted, Period Violence, Themes Of Murder And Blackmail