Vincent Price and Peter Lorre Put the 'Fun' in 'Funerals'- When an Uncooperative Customer Creates a "Comedy of Terrors"- Tonight!

Sing along- “On the first December Saturday, Svengoolie gave to me- three feuding relatives, two messed-up morticians, and a landlord who wouldn’t stay dead!” On second thought, forget the song- as tonight on MeTV, we reprise a horror comedy with an all-star cast of the genre’s legends that mixes dark humor and deadly deeds. It’s another memorable team-up of Vincent Price and Peter Lorre, with Boris Karloff and Basil Rathbone along for the (hearse wagon) ride- in the “Comedy of Terrors”!

This 1963 America International production begins with mortician Trumbull and his partner Gillie trying hard to keep their funeral parlor afloat- by any means, even reusing a coffin over and over! Trumbull has plenty to deal with-his impending bankruptcy, the lovely wife he continually berates, and her aging father, who he keeps trying to poison in hopes of getting an inheritance.

Things take even more of a turn for the worse when landlord Mr. Black appears in regards to many missed rent payments. He presents an ultimatum- pay the amount owed or get evicted! Trumbull decides the only way to meet the demands is a sinister scheme- create customers by killing off wealthy businessmen, and then offering his services to provide the funeral- at a high rate!

The plan looks good on paper, but as far as executing it, the fumbling duo of Trumbull and Gillie don’t quite make it work out as planned. However, when Black makes a final demand for the money owed, Trumbull amends his original plan in a way to kill two birds ( one being the landlord) with one stone- create a new customer by murdering Black, and removing the threat of eviction!

In the midst of Trumbull and Gillie pulling off the foul deed, the Shakespear-quoting Black has a heart attack -which keeps their hands clean of doing the job…they think! No one is aware that Black suffers from catalepsy- a condition that makes him only APPEAR to be dead!

The hapless duo deal with Black’s constant demises and resurrections- while Trumbull’s mistreated wife Amaryllis decides to act on Gillie’s obvious infatuation with her – while everyone from her dotty father to her pet cat complicate the situation- leading to everyone out to kill everyone else!

This film, written by Richard Matheson, was planned as a follow-up to the Price/Lorre/Karloff comedy-horror story “The Raven”- with some changes in casting that we will tell you about. We’ll talk about the cast, which also includes a pesky visitor to Mayberry- and a classic comedian known for mouthing off in a rather large manner. The Imp and Gwengoolie have their own business scheme to bedevil me- while I’ll bedevil YOU with another round of our drawing game “Too Drawn Out”- plus a song, and we’ll bring back a bonus vintage bit that might be educational, but- we doubt it.

“Comedy of Terrors” begins tonight at 8 pm eastern/pacific, 7 central time tonight. You can join in on the live-Tweeting during the show on Twitter/X or whatever you call it now (I know some people have a few colorful names for it)–please remember to add the hashtag #svengoolie to your Tweet! This morning, our Chicago area viewers will lock their eyes on the usual channel, WCIU, the U, for our Saturday encore of “The Crawling Eye” at 11 am.

NOW is the time to order your presents from our store to make sure you will have them in time for gift-giving! Many of the items are selling briskly, so don’t miss out on the seasonal Sven swag!

For those who loved our October double features, we will have a gift for you next Saturday- tune in for a very appropriate “House of Svengoolie” after our regular show- with Gwengoolie, the Imp, and Nostalgiaferatoo as your hosts (well, one is a hostess…)

Tonight, we hope you’ll attend some funeral fun provided by masters of mirth and horror on METV!