I'm surprised at the rather low rating IMDb viewers have given this film, as I rather like the set up for this one. Beautiful young brides wind up dead at the altar just as they are about to recite their wedding vows, and their bodies are stolen shortly after. Mad scientist Dr. Lorenz (Bela Lugosi) is behind the mayhem in this low budget Monogram creep fest; he uses glandular and spinal fluid from the victims to inject into his haggardly wife (Elizabeth Russell) to keep her young and beautiful. Countess Lorenz is rather one dimensional in her role, but at least she mimics Lugosi's speech pattern rather effectively.

Lorenz is surrounded by a veritable menagerie of sideshow outcasts, including the wizened Fagah (Minerva Urecal), and her two sons, one a hulking brute and another a freakish dwarf named Toby (Angelo Rossitto). Hot on the trail of the missing bride mystery is reporter Pam Hunter (Luana Walters), who follows up on her theory that the brides died from inhaling the sweet but deadly odor from a poisonous orchid developed by Dr. Lorenz. When Lorenz becomes wise to the reporter's initiative, he sets out to make her yet another victim, but alas, he's done in by his own sweet Fagah, in revenge for killing her brute son who had a penchant for stroking the hair of the doctor's corpses.

"The Corpse Vanishes" offers just the right blend of atmospheric sets and bump in the night action to keep things interesting, a nifty little vehicle for Bela Lugosi's talents. You can have some fun with this one, made to order for that clichéd dark and stormy night.