The Curse of the Living Corpse (1964)

The Curse of the Living Corpse is a 1964 low-budget American horror film written, directed, and produced by Del Tenney. In the film, a series of murders haunt the family of a man who died leaving extensive instructions in his will to avoid his being buried alive. The film marked the feature film debut of actor Roy Scheider. It was originally co-billed with The Horror of Party Beach (1964). Both movies were filmed in black-and-white in Stamford, Connecticut by Iselin-Tenney Productions, a short-lived production company the director formed with Alan V. Iselin, the owner of a chain of drive-in theaters.

Synopsis

In 1892 New England, Rufus Sinclair suffers from catalepsy and lives in fear of being prematurely pronounced dead and buried alive. To prevent this, he leaves detailed instructions to the family and his staff in case he is believed to be dead. But when he is found seemingly dead one day, his greedy family--eager to claim their inheritance--have him quickly interred. Rufus leaves specific instructions on how to be buried...which are violated by all involved. The family lawyer, while reading the will, lets them all know they will die from what they fear most:

Actors