The Dead Talk Back (1994 Video) User Reviews

Bad in some ways, but does display some interesting interrogation techniques

[Aaron1375 · 3/10 · 31 January 2006]

I saw this film as an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 as I am sure most people did. What is interesting is that this film may have been made in the 50's, it was never officially released until 1993 by one of those video companies that released more obscure stuff back in the day. This film caught the eye of crew of MST3K for obvious reasons and this film probably became more well known and famous than anyone who worked on it ever thought it would be. It is bad, do not get me wrong, but I did find it very amusing and at times even interesting. As far as fodder for MST3K this is more watchable than more of few films they have done in the past. The movie contains horrid acting for the most part as the police officers were the best actors and that is not saying a lot. The scientist, Henry Krasker, put in an over the top performance that made him very amusing and the film was more awesome when he was in it! What is more interesting is the ways they try to illicit confessions in some of the scenes, the ones that did not just kind of stop suddenly.

The story, Renee, a woman who lives in a boarding house is going to be murdered. This is in no way a spoiler as a voice over is going to literally keep informing you of her diminishing time to live. He nearly calls it down to the second! Afterwards, the police try to figure out who could have killed this young lady with a crossbow and they suspect nearly every male in the boarding house, except Henry Krasker who is working on a way to talk to the dead. He will assist the police as they try and track down the killer and hold a wacky seance or two while they're at it. Who could the killer be and will Krasker's radio to communicate with the dead be used by Renee to identify her killer?

This made for an excellent episode of MST3K. The only weak part to this episode is the short that precedes the film about ice cream freezers. Never a really big fan of the shorts they did, though there were a couple of good ones. The jokes for the film itself were great as every time Krasker was on the screen they had plenty of fodder to riff on. Not only him, nearly every character was done in such a cartoon like way that there was not shortage of jokes they could make as you had the very suspicious German man with a dark past, the self proclaimed preacher man, the cool cat who wanted to work as a radio DJ and several more!

So this was not a good film by any means; however, they had an interesting enough story so that the thing made for a great MST3K episode throughout. The film also featured crossbow killings, models with secrets, record store clerks with secrets, everyone with secrets and did I mention the bongo players? In the film for maybe two minutes max and they get in the opening credits! So, if you want to see this film, watch the MST3K version and you will not be disappointed and remember, you too may only have 37 minutes left to live!

An amazingly bad and totally obscure film

[editor-299 · 2/10 · 26 July 2006]

A most inept film, about a dull loner who "invents" a radio that can communicate with the deceased, is supposed to be a lesson in alternative methods of solving crimes, but ultimately has nothing whatsoever to do with talking to the dead.

Opening credits introduce someone named "Aldo Farnese" (as "Mr Krasner"), as if he were some exciting, new, highly-talented discovery - he wasn't. He's just a bearded, big-headed geek with glasses a whiny, high-pitched voice and the weirdest hairstyle this side of Atlas King. He also spouted things like, "If Krueger ever tries anything with you," "That explains his no-work policy," and "We're trying to reach someone on the 27th megacycle range."

Krasker lives in a depressing boarding house run by an old lady (Rose Gorman) who is constantly trying to force people to eat. Other boarders include the slutty murder victim Renee Coliveil (Laura Brock), the horse-faced Hope Byington (Janeanna Prichard), lisping disc jockey Don Harris (Don Parker), the self-righteous Bible-spouting Christy Mattling (Kyle Stanton), single mom Sarah Stroil (Betty Ruth), sullen record store employee Raymond Milburnand (Myron Natwick) and Curtis Roberts as Fritz Kreuger, a mostly homely man sporting one of the worst German accents ever.

Despite a clumsy, badly-shot opening sequence (in which SOMETHING takes place, we're just not sure what), the movie then shifts gears and zeroes in on this untalented group who mostly sit around a dinner table and eat. We are told, numerous times by a lame voice-over, that Renee has only a certain amount time to live, and, sure enough, she is whacked with a crossbow.

Enter two inept detectives, the calm, mature Lt. Lewis (Scott Douglas, "The Amazing She-Mosnter," "Kolchak: The Night Stalker"), and the hotheaded young Harry (Earl Sands), who just wants to beat the Hell out of everyone until they confess. The questioning of the suspects takes longer than the crust of the earth did to form, with most of the scenes just petering out with no conclusion whatsoever. It's during these scenes that the nerdy photographer Tony Pettini (Sammy Ray) makes his long-awaited appearance.

Also look for a quick but unintentionally-hilarious sequence involving a couple of bongo players.

Meanwhile, in an effort to help solve the crime, Krasker informs Lewis that he just happens to be working on a radio (it looks like a soggy wad of paper stapled to a small satellite dish) that can contact Renee and find out who killed her. He demonstrates this amazing technological device to the assembled group by placing a razor blade (attached to a speaker) inside a wineglass.

Of course, nothing happens.

Krasker also invented a car horn that is built into to a casket, just in case you're ever buried alive, but Lewis seems to think he's perfectly sane enough to help him on this case. Gathering everyone together in his sub-basement laboratory, the outcast "scientist" somehow frightens the real killer into confessing Perry Mason-style, while the radio that has been so highly-touted throughout the movie proves to be nothing more than a red herring; a straw dog, if you will.

As amateurish as any elementary school production, director Merle S. Gould (who directed the lame 1961 pseudo-documentary, "Mystic Prophecies And Nostradamus") reached an artistic peak here and was basically never seen again - on film, at least.

A vivid example of the concept of a "Pointless Waste Of Time"

[lemon_magic · 3/10 · 2 July 2005]

How useless is this movie? Think Ed Wood, without the manic silliness and conviction. Think Coleman Francis without the Americana and the airplanes, but with better sound sync. Think 60's exploitation movies and biker films without the tits, wah-wah guitar licks, and goofy clothes and hair. More competently made than any of these examples, but less energetic or entertaining than all of them...to call this movie 'dreary' is an insult to 'dreary'.

First of all,no one in this film can really 'act', and very few of the players are even able to "be themselves" on camera. The blond murder victim ("Renee") is especially bad in this respect - her line readings are so stiff and flat that you almost cheer when she gets a crossbow bolt in the neck 10 minutes into the film. And it's hard to say how bad Aldo Farnese really is because he plays such a self-important goof-ball in the film, and is given most of the really stupid lines.

Secondly, the people who put this stale jawbreaker of a film together decided to have TWO different narrators - Krassner(Aldo) and the detective - describing the events of the movie, filling in back-story and supplying exposition. So we start out with metaphysical inventor Krassner greeting us and going on at some length about various bizarre concepts, only to have ANOTHER off camera voice-over cut in and start another plot thread (a police procedural/murder mystery) describing the events leading up to the murder of the blond bimbo. After another endless pile of exposition, the 2nd voice-over stops long enough to actually introduce himself as a police detective in charge of the case, but the camera doesn't actually cuts to a closeup of the actor. So structurally and narratively, this movie starts out completely hosed, and pretty much goes downhill from there.

I shudder to think what kind of budget this movie had, or what kind of casting call they used to recruit the players. And I really hesitate to think what this poor bunch of saps were thinking while they were making this thing. The movie has the look of one of those projects where the minor actors never actually got paid. It also has the look of one of those homemade movies where the cast got together on weekends and holidays to shoot the group scenes, and the director settled for the first or second take he could get that had no actual goofs or botched lines. Bela Lugosi in the nadir of his life,in the worst throes of formaldehyde addiction, could have acted everyone here under the table.

Special mention goes to the soundtrack, which sounds as if someone put a gun to the composer's head and forced him to cough up a turgid, lifeless, badly muffled 5 minute loop of trilling flutes and off kilter violins. I am not kidding when I suggest that the movie would have been better off with dead air in most of the scenes in place of this miasma of a soundtrack - all by itself, the music saps any sense of momentum and forward drive from the plot and the action. It's quite a remarkable accomplishment, really.

Background info on this movie says that the producers and editors wisely decided that the original version of the film was better off never being released. This indicates at least SOME good judgment of someone involved with the movie. But one of the cult movie revival outfits got hold of TDTB some years ago, and decided to share it with us. Lucky us.

MST3K brought this movie some notoriety when they savaged it during season six, and it was fertile ground for their brand of pop culture mayhem. If you can't get the MST version, don't bother with it unless you are absolutely STARVED for low-quality pulp from this era, or unless you just plain like this sort of thing. 2.5 stars out of 10 - half a star added for the attempt at a clever ending and HItchcock like final shot of 'The End' spelled out in spilled pencils.

Entertaining in its absurdity

[MartianOctocretr5 · 5/10 · 18 September 2006]

At the opening, you see some guy in a trench coat running around in the dark, watching two people on a date. Soon, this detached scene makes way for some recluse masquerading as a "scientist" who welcomes you into his quasi-Halloween type laboratory. He demonstrates for you an array of inventions here, such as a fog horn you can take to your grave, in case you wake up in your coffin after being buried. He also shows you a pebble that he uses to tune into dead peoples' radio stations. He has hair that looks like Don King on steroids, and he sounds like Pee Wee Herman's evil twin.

A brutal murder of a woman at a boarding house where a crossbow is used (!) is counted down to with a stop watch, as you meet the other tenants, who are the suspects in the killing: the elderly landlord, the victim's friend, a bible thumping zealot, a toothy-voiced DJ on a 5 watt radio station, a stereotypical German guy, a wimpy underweight peeping-Tom, and the landlord's daughter and bratty grandchildren. The characterizations are wonderfully and comically over-emoted and strained to the breaking point, especially by the wimp, the German, and the zealot. These guys are hysterical, but then, so is the bizarre version of a seance, where the goofy scientist tries out his invention to contact the victim. I love the red herring conclusion, which absent-mindedly ignores the whole premise of the movie.

The odd thing is how seriously the movie takes itself, as it endeavors to portray psychic investigations, and mix it with a murder mystery. The acting, scripting, and editing make this "strange case" come off as ludicrous camp. The MST3K gang had a field day with this one, and any connoisseur of humorously inept film making needs to see this movie.

Aldo Farnese Rules!

[thebigsee · 21 December 2004]

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!

I Hear Dead People... Or Maybe I Don't

[geminiredblue · 3/10 · 24 November 2014]

Rumor has it this film was shot in '57, but wasn't seen outside the editing booth until it was discovered in '93. MST3K featured this on their show and, PRESTO, instant cult classic! The story: A fiendish murder has been committed. The killer used a crossbow (I suspect Daryl Dixon, teehee). The police chief narrating the story (kinda like Joe Friday, I guess) turns to a weird scientist who's working on a radio to communicate with the departed. The killer is unveiled in one of those all-too-convenient self-incriminating confessions. But no-one ACTUALLY talks to the dead. (Sorry, spoiler alert!) It's an odd mixture, I'll give it that. Some of the acting is good, some wooden, and some over-the-top. Personally, I liked the banter between the police chief and his second-in-command. Other than that, and the occasional stabs at scientific/ supernatural phenomena, this is just a straightforward police story. On its own, I give the film 3 Ghoulish Voices out of 10. To the MST3K version, however, it gets 9!

A lost film that should have stayed lost

[bensonmum2 · 1/10 · 22 July 2006]

It's almost impossible to find out anything about The Dead Talk Back. It was made in 1956 or 1957 (depending on which sources you're look at) and immediately shelved. As far as I can tell, it was never shown anywhere. I'm assuming that sometime around 1993, Sinister Cinema found the film and somehow procured the rights to it and released it on video. I assume 1993 because that's the year listed on IMDb for the movies release. Somehow The Dead Talk Back came to the attention of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and was included on their Season 6 schedule. That's about it as far as the story behind The Dead Talk Back. If it weren't for MST3K, I doubt this thing would have more than 5 votes on IMDb.

As for the movie, it's mind-numbingly awful. It's dull, uneventful, and a total waste of time. The acting ranges from over-the-top to, well, no acting at all. The special effects look like they came from a 1950s Radio Shack equivalent clearance sale. The plot attempts to include elements of horror, drama, mystery, science fiction, and every other genre you can name and fails miserably at each. There's so little entertainment value in The Dead Talk Back that the MST3K crew seemed to have trouble with it. They just didn't seem as "inspired" and, as a result, this is one of the weaker episodes of MST3K I've seen.

How *not* to make a movie

[headbone · 1/10 · 13 October 2002]

The producer of this movie must have been a big fan of Coleman Francis. His choice to put Aldo Farnese (who??) in the lead role of this horrible film was his first mistake. Making the movie at all was his second mistake. Its quite obvious why the film sat on the shelf for 30 years after its making. Whoever made the decision to dust it off and release it must have been insane. Thankfully the fine folks at Mystery Science Theater 3000 got a hold of it and gave it the treatment it deserved, and made this embarrassingly bad movie a fun thing to watch after all.

The Dead Talk Back... unfortunately

[sharktrooper21 · 1/10 · 13 October 2010]

The field of meta-physics or "ghost studying" if you prefer is actually one of the more interesting fields out there. While unproven and with a very high chance of "hauntings" being explained, the occasional event that defies any explanation is quite thrilling. So it doesn't surprise me that the director or whoever was in charge of the the story was fascinated by this field.

It doesn't change the fact that it's a piece of crap.

Frankly the only reason this film didn't haunt the participants was due to the mercy of film obscurity that lasted for 30 years. The only person who truly suffered was the unlucky person who found it and watched it in it's uncut glory. By "uncut" I mean without the MST3K commentary. Definitely one of the funnier episodes of the late Comedy Central era. The funniest part has to be the scream uttered by the woman who finds the body. Definitely one of the funniest screams that I have heard.

If you want to learn more about meta-physics, I suggest the series "Ghost Hunters".

That was pointless

[ericstevenson · 3/10 · 1 October 2016]

This is a movie that was actually made way back in the 1950's, but wasn't released until 1993! That must be some record! This has to be one of the most boring movies I've seen in a long time. The movie starts by saying that this event is based on a true story. I know better than to trust any real life claims about the paranormal. This movie features a woman who's killed by a crossbow and most of this movie is nothing but detectives interviewing people. That's all there is! The characters are annoying and everyone is just so inactive in this film.

I was at least hoping we would see some cool story about ghosts, but there were no ghosts at all! I believe at the end, it turns out that the woman didn't die at all, and the very few paranormal stuff we saw was just illusions. Yep, this movie title lied! It was talking about talking with the dead and it never even did that. I guess there might have been some supernatural stuff in this, but I didn't care to notice. While I don't believe in talking to the dead, this movie should have had some to make it interesting! *1/2

The dead talk back at the end.

[ofpsmith · 4/10 · 16 June 2016]

Although made in 1957, The Dead Talk Back was stored away and forgotten until 1993. And to be fair, those in 1957 didn't miss much. The Dead Talk Back is pretty boring, and the only time that the dead actually talk back is at the end of the film. Henry Krasker (Aldo Farnese) is a scientist working on some kind of machine that will allow him to talk to the recently deceased. He lives in a house with an assortment of other people. When one of those people, Renee Coliveli (Laura Brock) is murdered, Krasker sets up the machine to determine who did it. In the meantime however we focus on the police investigation which I wouldn't really mind so much if the movie wasn't focused on this machine that allows people to talk to the dead. On top of that, the film looks pretty cheap, it isn't very interesting, none of the characters are particularly likable, so it makes a pretty good Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode. So check out the MST3K sometime soon.

Classic BAD movie is one for bad movie lovers to search out

[dbborroughs · 9/10 · 21 July 2006]

I'm coming late to the game on this one,and I'm so disappointed. It was shown as part of the sixth season of Mystery Science 3000 which how most people have run across it. The story is that Sinister Cinema discovered the film at the Headliner offices and promptly snapped up the rights to this 1957 horror/crime drama. Bad movie lovers have been feeling the pain ever since.

The plot concerns a woman living in a boarding house who is murdered. The subsequent police investigation includes a machine to talk to the dead. Everyone the woman lived and worked with are suspects.

What can I say about this movie? Its hysterical. I could almost believe that the film was a joke except that there is too much evidence to suggest otherwise. It opens with a nonsensical silent sequence of a man following a woman at night., It moves on to the criminologist explaining about his invention to talk to the dead. From there we get misplaced voice over narration, dialog sequences that seem to have been randomly cut together, a woman who inexplicably disrobes as she speaks to the police, The murder victim clearly holding the arrow to her chest, differing murder weapons in different sequences, loopy dialog and some of the wildest hair on record. Its a bad movie lovers dream. I'm going to have to watch this again just to see all of the mistakes, miscues and oddball choices for myself.

This is a movie to get your hands on and pick apart. I know MST3K did just that but this movie is so ripe for destruction that odds are you and your friends and loved ones will come up with infinitely better lines. This is a classic bad movie.

If you want to have a good time with your friends find this movie and watch it, just go easy on the popcorn you might just choke to death when you're laughing.

Could Be Worse

[vpmzisi · 6/10 · 20 May 2020]

Better than 2001: A Space Odyssey, or any of that other garbage Stanley Kubrick directed. This film actually has a neat story...it's just not that well done. Follow the portrayal of Krasker throughout the film...arguably a dynamic character, but only in how he's described.

Talk About Amateur... :=8P

[MooCowMo · 1/10 · 26 April 2000]

Dreadful, awful, terrible mishmash that sat on the shelf for almoost 30 years before the Best Brains guys(the loonies behind MST3K) decided to unleash its stench upon an unsuspecting world. A strange goober with weird facial hair invents, among udder things, coffin horns, and a device which transmits radio signals so that the "so-called dead" can cowmoonicate with the living. He's called on to investigate the pointless murder of a female border, killed by a curtain rod. Everyone in the film is an idiot or a caricature. We see the murder toss his shoes in the drink, but hide the murder weapon at the scene under some leaves and newspapers. Another idiot spouts out hilarious religious "testimonials". One character, "Fritz Kreuger", looks like child molestation personified. Several voice-overs, each sounding like the udder, cowtribute to the cowfusion. This is one of those rare bungles that not only looks as though they hired soup kitchen bums to act, but was probably filmed right there at the soup kitchen! The first ten minutes of this film are about as clear as a septic tank, and it goes downhill from there. One funny mooment occurs when one of the dippy children(director's kids!), who apparently live in a closet, remarks "Haaallelujiah!". It doesn't appear that anyone involved with this sorry mess ever worked in the biz again, moooch to our cowlective relief. This stilted, half-baked mess is the responsibility of Merle S. Gould, who wrote, produced, and directed this failure on less than a shoe string budget. No wonder it sat on a shelf unreleased for 30 years! Even for schlock fans, it's pretty heavy going, and not nearly as funny as the MST3K 'bots make it out to be. The MooCow says these "Dead" shoulda' stayed in the ground, where they belonged. Only schlock cowpleatists(such as the MooCow!) need bother with this flimsy flop. :=8P

I Love Henry Krasker's hair

[ticklemetorgo · 3 July 2005]

No budget murder/mystery film at it's best. This film was dug up in 1993 after it was decided that it shouldn't be released to the theaters. Why I don't know since there were decisions to release Manos: The hands of fate and the whole directorial library of cinematic genius Coleman Francis. Granted The Dead Talk Back is a crappy film but nothing compared to the Coleman Francis trilogy of terror!! We never do find if the dead really do talk back or if they go fishing with Robert Culp. Aldo Farnese plays Henry Krasker, part loopy scientist, part assistant to the LAPD who's asked by a local detective to find out who killed one of Henry's neighbors. is it the German perv? The religious fanatic? Francis the talking mule? Naw just the smooth DJ who had a brief fling with Renee. In the end you don't care except how Krasker got those neat grey streaks in his hair!!

Afterwards I felt like taking a shower...

[reup · 2/10 · 10 September 2001]

While watching this movie I felt like a rabbit sitting on the middle of the road about to be hit by a car, glazing senseless into the headlights of the approaching vehicle. I kept watching and watching until the thing was over and I felt like taking a shower. Even the droids couldn't make anything of it. Strange pointless characters, a crossbow murder and some freak with a dreadful haircut... Nasty voice-over counting down the minutes left in the life of the girl... yuck. All in all, not the best ninety minutes of my life

Not as bad as all that!

[[e-mail] · 4/10 · 30 September 2005]

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.

A weird sci-fi/detective murder mystery.

[TOMNEL · 2/10 · 4 March 2008]

Henry Krasker is a scientist, who is dying to reveal his new invention....a way of talking to the dead! Sound intriguing? It's not. Instead of learning about this invention, which it seems the movie would be about, it flashes back to how a woman dies. This is not a spoiler, considering the narrator is constantly saying she will be dead in x amount of minutes. After the murder, it switches to a detective murder mystery where the detective goes around interrogating this woman's housemates and close friends. Actually, this was a pretty original film is some ways. It had an interesting plot (or one that could have been interesting if it was executed better) that had not yet been done. It used a strange formula of flashing back for the movie, and switching narrators. It could've been good. All it needed was a different cast, director, and writer.

My rating: 1/2 out of ****. 84 mins.

Bearded B-Lister Aldo Farnese talks to the dead.

[Idiot-Deluxe · 1/10 · 19 October 2016]

Enter: "The Dead Talk Back"! Hmm........well actually there's really very little to talk about when reviewing this sad, lame little movie. But it's history is easily among the most interesting and unusual in all of cinema.

The basic plot is this, first off it's a murder-mystery/who-done-it type - and NOT a good one. It involves a cast of about 12 people, most of which live in a boarding house, including an eccentric odd-ball scientist named Henry Krasker (played by Aldo Farnese). Dr. Krasker has invented "a radio that can speak to the dead" down in the confines of his small, VERY humble, basement laboratory. Sadly it's only here when the Doc is in his lab that the movie has any entertain value - and that occurs twice, in the beginning and the end. A murder occurs on the front porch of the boarding house, a young woman (a model) is murdered by a crossbow of all weapons. Naturally a couple of homicide investigators enter the picture and a homicide investigation ensues and stay till the movies end, questioning everyone in the house, they are certain one of the lodgers is the murderer and their right about that. As it happens Dectective A and Detective B are old pal's of Henry's and he helps them solve the case and this all eventually happens down in his laboratory. But mind you it's NOT with ground-breaking science that this is achieved, but rather with a few cheap theatrics/parlor tricks (most of which literally have "strings attached") and a woman disguised as someone who she's not. This is when the killer is spooked by all the bogus para-normal activity that's buzzing around in Dr. Krasker's laboratory, the killer cracks under the suspense, breaks down and confesses - and then, well the case is solved.

On a visual basis, you could say that this film looks flat or even "dead", because every single frame of The Dead Talk Back is profoundly bleak, drab, boring and totally mundane - there's NOTHING remotely interesting, let alone stimulating to see here. You could say that The Dead Talk Back offers little in the way of eye-candy or anything else for that matter. As I said all entertaining scenes happen down in the doctor's laboratory and the movies at it's best when he's talking directly to the camera; because his dialog is hilariously ridiculous and the laboratory props seen here are among the cheapest and lamest props EVER seen in any movie. The thought is "so with... this, you're going to talk to the dead, huh?". The Doc's "special radio" appears to be literally nothing more than a grapefruit-sized ball of aluminum foil, tacked onto a circular piece of wood.......wow, just wow. Think of it like this the laboratory is the exact opposite of what you see in the classic Frankenstein films, but like I said the props are so unbelievably cheap that gives the movie a high "camp factor". The Dead Talk Back is the definition of a "shoestring-budget" production.

And now on to the fun part.

The strange history behind this crappy movie is a uniquely amusing and unusual one. I've read different and slightly varying accounts, but the story goes that after this movie was filmed in 1957, it was during the editing phase, that for whatever reason the company behind it abandoned it. I suspect they (quickly) went out of business. And supposedly the film sat half-way edited for over 30 years (36 to be exact, from 1957 to 1993). Then in 1993 the film was found by some people who where cleaning out a musty long-abandoned building. It's been said that this film was unearthed 36 years later when a dust covered film-editing machine was discovered, with the film reels still locked in place. Awesome. My guess is what they stumbled upon was the lone existing print of this anti-climatic cinematic curiosity, which was no doubt covered in many layers of dust, where it had been patiently waiting for it's long-delayed world premiere - more than 30 years over-due. Those who found it saw to it that it was finally edited to completion and shared it with the rest of the world. It was then, possibly less than a year after it was rediscovered, that it was aired on TV as an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000, which is really it's only source distribution and is how most people know of it. The less funny and less extreme account goes, that it was indeed fully edited and ready to go, but for whatever reason the film was simply set on a shelf and left to collect dust for decades to come.

Ironic Timing (so close Aldo, so close):

With a little looking around on the internet, I uncovered a highly ironic fact, the incredibly ironic date-of-death of Aldo Farnese, who died on July 28th, 1994, just -2 DAYS- before the initial airing of The Dead Talk Back as an episode of MST3K on July 30th, 1994. Now here's a movie that had been collecting dust for 37 years and it's "star" ends up dying 2 day's before The Dead Talk Back was FINALLY unleashed upon the world.....................jeez, to bad old Aldo couldn't of hung around for a few more days, he could have watched his one AND ONLY movie.

I guess what I'm saying is, that Aldo could have died "artistically satisfied".

The Dead Talk Back has it's moment's, but really none of it is any good.....

When Basement Dwellers Saved L.A.!!!

[johgaines · 1/10 · 12 May 2017]

Don't you hate those durn millennials, always sitting in their basements and doing nothing? (at least that's what the Times says, and they're right about everything!) Well, this is a movie that shows the amazing power of a basement-dwelling loser with a can-do attitude! The amazing Dr. Krasker, played by Aldo Farnese, has a machine that can talk to the dead...he hopes...after he gets it out of beta status. Can he use it to find the murderer of a low-level clothing model, or will he have to resort to cheap parlor tricks? And will the annoying Bible thumper ever shut up? Who knows? Who cares? You probably don't, for one, and even MST has trouble finding material in a movie this barren (i.e. why they had to do the infamous "Guitar solo" sketch to kill time). As agonizingly slow as a tree sloth trying to run the Boston marathon, the only entertainment to be found is one actor's wretched "German" accent and the strange looking PIE A LA MODE sign in that one restaurant.

Awful Film, Awesome MST3K Episode!

[verbusen · 1/10 · 5 October 2014]

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!

One of the better films featured on MST3K.

[summer1967lovechild · 8/10 · 16 November 2005]

I actually was very entertained by this campy late-50s film, as well as the MST3K version.

** WARNING--MASSIVE SPOILERS** The plot: After an admittedly confusing (and pointless) opening sequence, we cut to a beatnik-like guy in what is obviously a basement laboratory. Beatnik-like guy gives us an entertainingly bizarre monologue about metaphysics and how he has a psychic ability to talk to the dead using a transistor radio. You can't help but notice a dead (or sleeping) woman laying down in the background.

Seems beatnik-like guy (whose name we learn is Henry) lives in some kind of halfway house in Los Angeles with some other odd characters. We have a woman with two small sons (who strangely disappear about a quarter of the way through the movie), a blonde named Renee, a German guy named Krueger who has the hots for Renee, a handsome Bob Dylan-like guy who plays in a band, a shifty guy named Harold who doesn't talk much, a religious psycho who spouts out bible verses, a female friend of Renee, and the old woman caretaker of the halfway house.

One night Renee is murdered with a crossbow (how many people were killed with bows and arrows in the '50s?? Then again, this is L.A. after all), and the rest of the film is dedicated to finding her killer. A smarmy cop narrates the film, profiling each character and their guilt-factor. A red-herring involves the possible guilt of a wormy smut photographer; meanwhile, Henry attempts to pinpoint the killer's identity via communicating with dead Renee and asking her. The film's climax involves a staged communication with Renee, and we learn that the killer is actually the cute Bob Dylan-lookalike (who was Renee's ex-husband).

**END SPOILERS** I really enjoyed this film for its bizarre, off-the-wall flavor. Who could forget the surreal scene with the bongo players, for example? Who can resist the undeniable charm of our beatnik-like lead character? What about all the talk about metaphysics and transistor radios in what is essentially a detective story? I recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys campiness.

Bad Dead, Don't You Talk Back To Me!

[librachild · 12 April 2008]

The Dead Talk Back. Weren't they irritating enough when they were alive? This is a somewhat odd "who done it?" tale of a crossbow murder at a boarding house. The story is basically told through the eyes of one police Lt.Lewis investigating the crime and the amateur sleuth helping out. Mr Krasker, the amateur sleuth, believes the departed can be contacted and communicated with. Therefore his services are highly sought by the police in solving the murder. All boarders are suspect. Who done it? Is it the bible quoting potentate of righteousness, the homely Miss Byington, the withdrawn record clerk, the refined DJ, the landlady, Frits Kreuger, or Mr. Krasker himself?? Marvel as Mr. Krasker devises a plan to nab the murderer. Recommended for murder mystery buffs and those who talk to the dead or are thinking about it.

After 36 years, where else could it appear but "MST3K"?

[lee_eisenberg · 10/10 · 14 December 2006]

In this hilariously idiotic horror flick, a droll, overacting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad-lookalike builds a machine to ask a murder victim who killed her. "The Dead Talk Back" is the sort of movie that even Ed Wood would have considered amateur...and I love it just for that. I should note that probably the easiest place to find this stinker is on "MST3K". On that episode, not only do Mike, Servo and Crow turn the movie into a mixture of Eddie Deezen, "Bewitched", and other things, they dress up like the other dead: the Grateful Dead.

So, it's a delightfully pathetic piece of cinema history. You're sure to love it. Too bad that they didn't show more of Renee in that one scene; she was hot.

An unearthed jem of the undercinema

[rufasff · 27 February 2000]

No film was ever more aptly titled then "The Dead Talk Back". This shoestring stinker was completed by people, most all of whom were never associated with another film, then stuck on a shelf to rot; sometime around 1956. Unearthed by Siester Cinema Video and then shown to great effect on MST3K, if ever a film was called back from the great beyond, surely it was this one. And how lucky we are that it is so. "The Dead Talk Back" is an amazing, funny, arresting piece of garbage that has to be seen to be believed. It stands proudly with the films of Ed Wood, "The Brain That Wouldn't Die" and other such things. The story is about a murder at a boarding house, solved by the police with the help of a weirdo researcher with a smug, self important attitude. The plot weaves in and out of seemingly (and perhaps authenticly) irrelevant details. The murderer dumps his shoes to hide the shoe prints, but leaves the murder weapon close to the body hidden under some newspapers. The whole thing has a weird stiltedness that really does recall Diane Arbus. There is an excellent chase down Hollywood Blvd. that really lets you see what it looked like at the time. I would recommend this movie to any bad film fan or person with a taste for the mindbending.