OK, so maybe my title line for this review doesn't apply--seeing as how by this point in the Inner Sanctum series, the prologue with the floating head in a crystal ball was not used. "Pillow of Death" was the last of the popular Inner Sanctum series--a series that gave Lon Chaney a chance to act minus arduous monster makeup & I would agree with the sentiments that this is the least of the 6 films that were made--which is not to say it's a bad movie; far from it--but it does have a very slow pace to it.
The story itself is engaging enough to overcome the slow movement of the film & the cast is first rate. Aside from Chaney--who I'm a big fan of--I enjoyed J. Edward Bromberg as "Julian Julian" & George Cleveland was quite the hoot as Sam Kincaid.
POD probably stands out from the rest of the Sanctum series as it's the sole picture where Lon turns out to be a true bad guy. I also enjoyed the dark atmosphere of the film as seemingly all the action takes place at night--making for some interesting visuals and use of shadow.
Overall--while I probably would dock this one a few points--I think it only speaks to how highly I thought of the previous Inner Sanctum mysteries that came before it.
7 stars
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