MACABRE (1958). I believe this was William Castle's first film to use a Publicity gimmick to sell tickets (In this case, Insurance Money to pay for Your Funeral if You died watching it). A Small Town Doctor receives news His daughter has been abducted and buried alive and only so many hours to find her. Interesting premise is marred by too many sub-plots and a lot of unlikeable characters. Not a great beginning, but Castle certainly gained ground with his later HOUSE ON THE HAUNTED HILL and THE TINGLER. **

Indestructible man

The bat

House on haunted hill

The little shop of horrors

The screaming skull

THE BLACK CAT (1941)>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
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Another variation of THE CAT AND THE CANARY about the reading of the will and mysterious goings on. The film certainly looks good with great sets (re-used in 1942's NIGHT MONSTER and THE MUMMY'S TOMB), a stellar cast (Basil Rathbone, Anne Gwynne, Gale Sondergaard, a young Alan Ladd and Bela Lugosi, who is wasted in his role), a genuinely funny line spoken about Basil ("He must think He's Sherlock Holmes!") and sort of gruesome towards the end.

What drags it down without hope is a horrible script (up to Three writers) that thinks it's humorous when it's far from that. TBC has the set up for an Abbott and Costello feature, but instead of them, We get bumbling galoot Broderick Crawford-and We're supposed to believe that lovely Anne Gwynne would have romantic interest for him. As goofy as BC is, He's a gem compared to Hugh Herbert, whose "Mr Penny" ("Woo Hoo!") will truly bring out hitherto submerged Homicidal tendencies. Watch something, anything besides this. *

13 Ghosts

The brain that wouldn’t die

GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN (1942)