The Return of Doctor X1939
“HE ROSE FROM THE DEAD...TO HAUNT THE LIVING!!!”
Directed by Vincent Sherman
🏆 1 nomination
The premise
When news reporter Walter Garrett arrives at the hotel room of bombshell actress Angela Merrova to conduct an interview, he finds her dead from multiple stab wounds. He returns with the police to find the hotel empty and the body vanished. Garrett writes about the incident but is fired when Merrova, alive and well, goes to the paper to complain. Now his only chance to get his job back is to find the truth, which involves the grisly scheme of a madman.
Horror Vault's take
A fast-talking newspaper reporter finds himself out of a job and out of his mind when the dead woman he reported on turns up very much alive — and very unhappy about the coverage. Digging deeper to salvage his career, he uncovers a chilling conspiracy rooted in twisted science and human desperation. This late-1930s Universal-adjacent chiller pairs whodunit intrigue with genuine macabre atmosphere, and features a memorably unsettling turn from an unlikely screen legend. Fans of classic-era horror will find its brisk pacing and gothic undertones rewarding.
Content: Depictions Of Murder, Themes Of Human Experimentation
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