Dr. Death: Seeker of Souls (1973)

Director:

Eddie Saeta

Writer:

Sal Ponti (writer)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

He's a Specialist in His Field!

Plot:

John Considine plays the flamboyant Dr. Death, a thousand-year-old magician who has mastered he art...

Plot Keywords:

Acid | Death | Magician | Soul | Murder

Cast

John Considine	...	Dr. Death
Barry Coe	...	Fred Saunders
Cheryl Miller	...	Sandy
Stewart Moss	...	Greg Vaughn
Leon Askin	...	Thor
Jo Morrow	...	Laura Saunders
Florence Marly	...	Tana
Sivi Aberg	...	Venus
Jim Boles	...	Caretaker Franz
Athena Lorde	...	Spiritualist
Moe Howard	...	Volunteer in the Audience
Robert Ball	...	Old Wizard (as Robert E. Ball)
Patrick Dennis-Leigh	...	Old Man
Lin Henson	...	TV Watcher
Anna Bernard	...	Girl in Phone Booth

Also Known As:

Doctor Death: Seeker of Souls (USA) (alternative spelling)

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | USA:R

Company:

Freedom Arts Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Final film appearance of Moe Howard, leader of The Three Stooges. It was one of his only appearances without the trio since the days of silent movies.

Quotes:

Dr. Death: Now, would you listen to see if there is any heartbeat?
Volunteer in the Audience: Oh, why, certainly!
[Dr. Death holds out a stethoscope, but the volunteer instead puts his ear directly against the dead girl's chest]
Volunteer in the Audience: She's dead, all right. I couldn't feel - uh, I couldn't hear a thing.

Ambitious But Not Quite There

Soap actor John Considine is a bit too pretty and lightweight for the title role, and it's quite surreal to see Moe Howard appear in the first act of the movie, but DOCTOR DEATH is actually an interesting little movie that might have been better. It's very, very much of its time -- not just in terms of the production design but also its treatment of the occult and of horror stories -- but they really try to do a big story on a little budget. And that's nearly always a respectable thing.

For me, one of the highlights of the film is the brief (and silent) appearance of Larry "Seymour" Vincent, the premier Los Angeles horror host of the 1970s. He is part of an amusing movie-within-the-movie that actually makes you wish that you could see *that* movie instead of the one you're actually watching (DOCTOR DEATH)!