Finding himself a hot commodity after the success of his Bela Lugosi favorite White Zombie, director Victor Halperin moved to Paramount for his next scare outing, Supernatural. What should have been a casting coup with loaned-out-from-Fox star Carole Lombard reportedly made neither the actress or the director happy. Nevertheless, Lombard is great as Roma, a woman who inherits a fortune after her brother dies, then immediately becomes the target of a fake medium, Bavian (Alan Dinehart), who promises a spiritual reunion. Coincidentally, triple murderess Ruth Rogen (Vivienne Osbourne) is fried in the electric chair and the prison releases her body to a scientist (H. B. Warner) for research. Once he attempts to resuscitate her, the electric current releases her soul to immediately possess Roma. Roma’s beau (Randolph Scott) is alarmed at her abrupt change. Forced to believe in the transference, he does his best to free her before Ruth’s spirit can avenge herself on her enemies – especially spiritualist Bavian.
“This is my favorite of the Halperin Brothers’ horror movies… they seemed to put as much work into their movies as their budgets would permit… genuinely eerie and full of good performances.” – Fantastic Movie Musings and Ramblings
Ariel Schudson explores the terrifying tradition of late night spook shows on the New Bev blog.
Ariel Schudson discusses Supernatural on the New Beverly blog.
