The Dead Talk Back (1957)

not horrible nor great

Brilliant and touching

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Awful film, but oh man what an awesome MST3K episode! This film is kind of in between a Coleman Francis film (Beast Of Yucca Flats the worst ever), and an Ed Wood film (Plan Nine from Outer Space the third worst ever), so it's to me, the second worst film ever made. Now I know, I know, there are worst films out there and yes I am sure they are out there, say a Space Mutiny, man that was bad and it had a load of actors in it. So let me say that in the context of late 50's early 60's films this is a really bad film. But, when you take THIS film and put it on MST3K a show in it's 6th season and really on a roll, this is an AWESOME EPISODE! The riffs in this one are laugh out funny, because there is just so much material to work with here. My only regret is they did not make any Sean Penn jokes because the main character in this junk looks a lot like him and even has his mannerisms! Maybe it was because Penn was still young in the 90's but if you watch this in the year 2014 you must admit, that guy is Sean Penn's earlier incarnation. Besides the riffs being overall great the bits in between are funny too! TV's Frank and Dr Forrester are great and the bit the gang did about the Grateful Dead had me laughing in stitches. Overall I hate when people rate a film like this a 10 straight up because it is pure garbage, but I understand they are entertained by horrible films and want to show their appreciation. But I think fair homage to a really bad unintentionally funny film is to rank it as low as possible so it really stands out to the community who are looking for such bad stuff so I am giving this film a lowest score available, 1. However as far as an MST3K episode goes this is one of their top 10% and I am giving it a 10! Enjoy, and break out the popcorn and dim the lights!

I watched this movie as more of research experiment. I had heard that it was absolutely awful and being both an Ed Wood aficionado and a 50's monster movie fan from childhood, I though I'd check it out. Well, it was pretty bad ... but not awful. "The Alchemist" was awful. I did view the MST version of the movie and I was pretty good entertainment. As far as the Movie; the dialog was bad, the acting was bad, the photography was bad, the cinematography was bad, but strangely enough the plot was pretty good and a few of the scenes were well done. It had a 50's SciFi charm to it. Truly "Ed Woodish". I particularly liked the plot twist at the end and the over acting of the cast throughout the entire show. I'll probably buy the DVD just so I have it.

I LOVE the character of Henry Krasker and after countless viewings of this odd little film I find my curiosity about the actor Aldo Farnese just keeps hanging on. He created and performed some well-loved kiddie shows in Philadelphia years after this forgotten film, and also worked as a cameraman around Philadelphia, particularly at the Spectrum (whatever that is/was!). I corresponded briefly with his son a few years back and was saddened to hear that he'd passed away in the 90s.I also was contacted by the son of the actress who played the murdered Renee in the film. That was many years ago and all he could tell me was that neither his mom nor anyone else was paid for their work on the film (the old, "You get a share of the profits" thing) and that his mom was alive and well and living in Manhattan and that she still had the producer's business card! As her son was a diamond broker as I recall, I like to think of her living in luxury somewhere in a Manhattan skyscraper.Anyone who has any other info about Aldo Farnese or this film, please contact me! Thanks!

For wanting to shelf this turkey of a film forever. Supposedly completed in 1957, this film concerns itself with an inventor that "invents" a radio that can communicate with the dead. He also invents a device to be planted with coffins that would allow anyone buried alive to let the outside world know that they were still alive. (This device was actually invented by a Russian nobleman, Count Karnicki, in 1901, although his version had a red flag pop out of the ground.) This movie has quite a number of offensive stereotypes in it: first, there are two blonde bimbos; second, there's the fundamentalist bible quote-spewing guy who thinks everyone but him is going to hell. Lastly, there's a matronly boarding house owner. These people get involved with a murder committed at the house. By the middle of the film, I really didn't care who committed the murder. The ending where they have another woman dress like the murdered woman as the inventor goes through a "seance" to contact the murder victim is just preposterous.