Dead Men Walk (1943) (USA)

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At the funeral for Elwyn Clayton, a woman busts into the church accusing the dead man of being pure evil. She’s hushed and escorted out by the reverend who apologizes to the dead man’s twin brother, Dr. Lloyd Clayton. We later learn that their relationship may have been rocky since youth but everything grew worse once Elwyn returned from India. The man became obsessed with demonology and ancient sorcery. Now, all the kind doctor can hope for is that his brother’s troubled soul is finally at peace. It’s George Zucco in dual roles so I’m highly doubtful of a peaceful and quiet afterlife. Lloyd heads to his brother’s home where he burns his books and is promptly attacked by Elwyn’s hunchbacked servant Zolarr (come on now, like you didn’t know it was Dwight Frye) who accuses the doctor of murdering his own brother. He refutes the claim and insists it was self defense. Yeesh. This is some soap opera bullshit. Anyways, Zolarr runs off, but not before letting Lloyd know that awful things are in his immediate future. That night Zolarr digs up his old boss and Elwyn quickly rises from his coffin to get up to no good. Vampiric deaths greet the small village and Dr. Clayton is reluctant to admit that his brother ranks among the living dead and is feeding on the townsfolk. He assumes a confrontation with his brother may be a hallucination thanks to his tired brain but I’m also thinking he doesn’t want to admit that the Satanic leanings of the dearly departed have allowed him some sort of supernatural power to put a stopper in death. Once his beloved niece is targeted by his dead brother (Gayle grows ill after a visit from the creepy uncle as he attempts to make her his servant), he begins to work with the niece’s beau to put the not-so-dead man to rest for good. Sadly, the man believes the good doctor may be the one who is up to nefarious things and goes to the police for help. Pretty fun vampire flick allows Zucco to play villain and hero and I’m so here for that I basically moved in and started paying rent. Predictable and maybe a tad lazy, it still hits the sweet spot I have for these dusty old horrors.