What a beautiful movie!

Just perfect...

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

The least you can say about "Arnold" is that it features an incredibly inventive and completely original plot! When I first read the synopsis, I actually didn't understand what was meant! "Upon his death, Arnold marries his long-time mistress Karen…" What? Wait a minute, the titular character Arnold is dead from the beginning of the film but he nevertheless gets married? No worries, though, as the downright phenomenal opening sequences pretty much clarify everything immediately! And I use the word "phenomenal" because the film opens with atmospheric images of a fog-enshrouded and morbidly ancient cemetery where a black cat challenges a vicious raven to a fight! Moments later a depressing funeral procession enters the church, immediately followed by a cheerful white-dressed bride surrounded by her joyous maids! By then you will also have figured out that "Arnold" is, in fact, also a parody next to being an old- fashioned gruesome horror film. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think there exist many other ways for a film to start more promising or peculiar! It turns out that Arnold's shrew of a wife never agreed to a divorce while he was alive, so he arranged to wed his mistress after he died! Arnold was a very wealthy but also eccentric man, and thus he astounds his ex-wife and greedy family members one last time by declaring in his will that his new wife Karen inherits his entire fortune and giant estate! There's one little condition, though… They have to remain married and Arnold needs to remain with her in his open coffin until death do them part (again). Oh, by the way, did I mention that the deceased reads the testament to his family himself? He actually as a tape deck build into his coffin (!) and while the recordings are playing he lays there with a giant evil grin on his dead face! Obviously the testament causes further jealousy and hatred in the family, and even the brand new bride quickly turns out to be treacherous and in favor to put Arnold underneath the ground as fast as possible. But new tapes continue to arrive and illustrate how Arnold is always several steps ahead of his evil family. Although dead, he seemingly sees through their diabolical plans to get their hands on the fortune and prevents them by setting up freakish and painful death traps. I really enjoyed "Arnold" a great deal in spite of some major defaults! Many other reviewers already righteously compared the film with "The Abominable Dr. Phibes". Even though that film benefited from much better direction and a smiling corpse could never replace the almighty Vincent Price, there are indeed a lot of similarities. "Arnold" is basically a throwback/homage to the good old days of dark mansions full of booby-traps, secret peeping holes in paintings and despicable family members fighting over an inheritance. There isn't a lot of tension, some parts are dull & slow-paced and the denouement is very predictable, but still the murders are gruesome and inventive (burning acid stirred into facial cream, shrinking suits, collapsing shower walls…) and – as said already – the set pieces are magnificent. Some of the parody aspects entirely miss their effect, while others are really funny! Personally, I loved the Constable Hooke character (Bernard Fox) and how he persists on reporting the macabre deaths as terribly unfortunate accidents. He also speaks a downright fantastic – in my humble opinion, at least – piece of monologue: "I wonder … Is it always foggy here because it's a cemetery, or did they build a cemetery here because it's always foggy?" Oh, and final note for the avid horror nerds, that's Elsa "Bride of Frankenstein" Lanchester in the role of naive, cat- caressing sister!

This is a great movie. Once you see, it really sticks with you. You almost never forget it. I saw it when I was 5 years old (back in 85') and I still remember it.I even remember the theme song. I found this movie on here, because I remembered the theme song. The tape recorder in the coffin crept me out. The shower scene - gross,lol. I loved it. That theme song was just creepy. The one thing that I think that they should have done was let him have faked his death. That'd have been a great ironic twist. However, I guess the twist was that in most movies like that the person usually fakes his death. This one was different because he was actually dead.

**some spoilers**My parents took me to see this movie when I was 6 and it seriously freaked me out for many years to come - especially the shower squishing scene. At that age, I certainly didn't recall anything funny about the film. After a 30 year hiatus, I watched it again last week and, though I did laugh out loud in a few spots, I would hardly call it a comedy. Granted, the whole wedding sequence was hilarious - especially the performance by Victor Buono (the minister). But the rest of the movie was just a game of which selfish, unlikable, poorly developed character would get killed off next and in what gruesome fashion they'd meet their end - basically just an exercise in sadism. This pattern reminded me a lot of "Final Destination 2", though at least that film had something resembling a likable character here and there. (even if only 2-dimensional) Maybe there's a generation gap at work here, or maybe I just don't like English humor as much as I thought I did. Either way, "Heathers" and "Dr. Strangelove" will always be the apex of dark comedies in my book to which all others are compared - and "Arnold" falls way short.

I was lucky enough to see this movie in the theatre in 1973 when it was shown. Then I saw it on television in 1986 and recorded it, which now I am really glad I can watch when I want to. But I can say this that Roddy MacDowell shines throughout this movie as does Stella Stevens. Norman Stewart as Arnold was really great, how'd he keep his eyes open all the time like that ? Jamie Farr's performance as the silent oriential servant was hilarious ! Let's say he lost his head over the serving part (ha, ha).Elsa Lancaster was excellent as Arnold's sister, who get's all the solitude she needs at the climatic end. Bernard Fox as the bumbling policeman kept you wondering if he'd ever keep that bicycle standing up ever. I give it a 10 on the scale of rating because as a child I remember how scared I was when I left, seeing a nervous eye looking out of Arnold's picture every-so-often. Watch it if you can see it on TV again.