My review was written in January 1990 after watching the film on a Shapiro Glickenhaus video cassette
A meager attempt at black humor, "Beverly Hills Bodysnatchers" makes little use of its title locale in spoofing "Burke & Hare" antics. Pic briefly played in Phoenix last September ahead of home video.
Jo Mostow's pic actually is more a mafia spoof than fantasy film, giving it an archaic early-'70s feel. Vic Tayback plays a funeral home owner assisted by mad scientist Frank Gorshin who has young kids imposed on him as workers by mobster Art Metrano. They're Rodney Eastman and Warren Selko, Metrano's nephews, who use the grim workplace to throw ghoulish parties for their friends.
Plot sickens when the current mafia don, Seth Jaffe, is killed on a golf course and Gorshin foolishly re-animates the corpse in one of his experiments. It escapes and unfunny mayhem ensues.
Lack of solid laughs is a big defect (e.g., an oriental mobster played by Keone Young is named "Don Ho") and pic does nothing interesting with its zombies subplot. Cast becomes increasingly agitated to ill effect. Even Gorshi, who one would expect to do an impression (Colin Clive, maybe?), simply walks through this one.
Jo Mostow's pic actually is more a mafia spoof than fantasy film, giving it an archaic early-'70s feel. Vic Tayback plays a funeral home owner assisted by mad scientist Frank Gorshin who has young kids imposed on him as workers by mobster Art Metrano. They're Rodney Eastman and Warren Selko, Metrano's nephews, who use the grim workplace to throw ghoulish parties for their friends.
Plot sickens when the current mafia don, Seth Jaffe, is killed on a golf course and Gorshin foolishly re-animates the corpse in one of his experiments. It escapes and unfunny mayhem ensues.
Lack of solid laughs is a big defect (e.g., an oriental mobster played by Keone Young is named "Don Ho") and pic does nothing interesting with its zombies subplot. Cast becomes increasingly agitated to ill effect. Even Gorshi, who one would expect to do an impression (Colin Clive, maybe?), simply walks through this one.