Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932 film) Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932 film) Murders in the Rue Morgue is a 1932 American pre-Code horror film, very loosely based on Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Murders in the Rue Morgue". Bela Lugosi, one year after his performance as Dracula, portrays a lunatic scientist who abducts women and injects them with blood from his ill-tempered caged ape. Karl Freund's cinematography and Robert Florey's direction have been praised by critics and characterized as "expressionistic" by Leonard Maltin. Despite the film being pre-Code, violent sequences prompted Universal to cut its running time from 80 minutes to 61 minutes. This
Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932 film) Morgue, "sends your thumping heart up into your throat!" Much praise is also given to cinematographer Karl W. Freund for giving the film a "German Expressionistic" look. A lot of the criticism arises from comparisons to other great horror films from the time period. A writer for the NY Times wrote, "The entire production suffers from an overzealous effort at terrorization, and the cast, inspired by the general hysteria, succumbs to the temptation to overact." A print is preserved in the Library of Congress collection. Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932 film) Murders in the Rue Morgue is a 1932