The defence The Arthouse Gremlin
“Its refusal to behave is the point.”
The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.
Back to trending 
The Man They Could Not Hang
Science Fiction · Horror · Crime · 1939
Dr. Henryk Savaard is a scientist working on experiments to restore life to the dead. When he is unjustly hanged for murder, he is brought back to life by his trusted assistant. Re-animated he turns decidedly nasty and sets about murdering the jury that convicted him.
Movie details
The Man They Could Not Hang
“TRANSFORMED BY THE HANGMAN'S NOOSE... from a doctor serving humanity, into a demon filled with hate and terrorizing blood-lust!”
1939 Science Fiction · Horror · Crime 1h 4m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
6.6 / 10
Community rating
Dr. Henryk Savaard is a scientist working on experiments to restore life to the dead. When he is unjustly hanged for murder, he is brought back to life by his trusted assistant. Re-animated he turns decidedly nasty and sets about murdering the jury that convicted him.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over The Man They Could Not Hang?
For the defence
The Arthouse Gremlin
“The stranger, the better.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Popcorn Loyalist
“Big screen, big feelings, no apologies.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
Island of Lost Souls
Sci-fi · 1932
An obsessed scientist conducts profane experiments in evolution, eventually establishing himself as the self-styled demigod to a race of mutated, half-human abominations.
Son of Frankenstein
Horror · 1939
One of the sons of late Dr. Henry Frankenstein finds his father's ghoulish creation in a coma and revives him, only to find out the monster is controlled by Ygor who is bent on revenge.
The Quatermass Xperiment
Sci-fi · 1955
The first manned spacecraft, fired from an English launchpad, is lost from radar before roaring back to Earth and crashing in a farmer's field. The rocket is found to contain only one of the three men who took off in it; and he is unable to talk but appears to be undergoing a torturous physical and mental metamorphosis.
Tarantula
Sci-fi · 1955
A rogue scientist near a small desert town arouses the suspicion of the town's doctor when his lab assistant is found dead from a case of acromegaly, which took only four days to develop. As the doctor investigates, aided by the scientist's new female assistant, they discover that something is devouring local cattle and humans in increasingly large quantities.
Bride of Frankenstein
Horror · 1935
Dr. Frankenstein and his monster both turn out to be alive after being attacked by an angry mob. The now-chastened scientist attempts to escape his past, but a former mentor forces him to assist with the creation of a new creature.
The Invisible Man
Horror · 1933
After experimenting on himself and becoming invisible, scientist Jack Griffin, now aggressive due to the drug's effects, seeks a way to reverse the experiment at any cost.
The Invisible Man Returns
Horror · 1940
The owner of a coal mining operation, falsely imprisoned for fratricide, takes a drug to make him invisible, despite its side effect: gradual madness.
The Damned
Horror · 1962
An American tourist and a troubled young woman are chased by her gang leader brother to a top secret British government facility that conducts experiments on children.
The Earth Dies Screaming
Horror · 1964
A crack test pilot lands to find the planet has been devastated by unknown forces. There are a few survivors, so he organizes them in a plan to ward off control by a group of killer robots.
Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man
Horror · 1943
After being resurrected by grave robbers, Larry Talbot searches for Dr. Frankenstein in the hopes of being cured of his lycanthropy. The mad scientist may turn out to be dead, but his monster is just waiting to be found…
Where it lives
Watch in your region.
Cinema release signals and current streaming, rental, and purchase options for your region.
Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.
Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Nick Grindé
Written by
Karl Brown · Leslie T. White · George Wallace Sayre
Boris Karloff
Dr. Henryk Savaard
Lorna Gray
Janet Savaard
Robert Wilcox
'Scoop' Foley
Roger Pryor
District Attorney Drake
Don Beddoe
Lieutenant Shane
Ann Doran
Betty Crawford
Joe De Stefani
Dr. Stoddard
Court is in session
Put The Man They Could Not Hang on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist
“Oddness is not depth.”
A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.