An irritating, but at least cat-loving, undertaker sprouts some nonsense until his cat gives him the idea to tell his unlucky viewers a story about the inhabitant of a grave.
Medical student Lewis Moffitt (George E. Mather, in the first half of his Forties at the time, a typical age for students in this movie) seems to be a man without any fear. In truth, a very unpleasant childhood experience with his grandfather's corpse and darkness has left him deeply afraid of (you'll never guess) corpses in darkness. The wacky young people with the receding hairlines who comprise a fraternity he wishes to join, have the bright idea to torture him to death with a supposedly living corpse. In darkness.
The End.
As my plot synopsis demonstrates, Ring of Terror just doesn't have enough plot to fill its whopping running time of 62 minutes. The whole set-up could have worked as the episode of a TV series or one story in an anthology film, as a full feature it's somewhat hard to bear. I could even imagine some ways to make it work as a full length movie, turning it into a psychological horror film by deepening the characterization of our "hero" (from non-existing to shallow), or actually motivating anything that happens. Or having something, anything happen.
The producers of Ring of Terror of course give us half an hour (and I'm generous here) of filler. Watch the wacky fat comic relief people dance! Watch the wacky fat comic relief people be totally wacky! They're not thin, so they have to be funny, right!? Wait, where are you going?
Oh, look, the students are waiting for a call. The phone rings! A student answers. The student repeats all that is said. Then the student repeats all that was said again. They have to assemble the others for the autopsy! Let's listen how the plan to assemble them! A cut, a cut!
Now we can watch the students standing in front of their university. They are repeating the address of the local morgue. They are actually getting into their cars! Look! I am so thrilled! They are driving away!
And the autopsy is even better. Look at the students' crows-feet! My, the professor may even be older than some of his students! What an interesting clock this room has! And so on, and so on.
And of course there are great moments of "emotional intensity", when Moffitt's girlfriend Betty wants to leave him because they say he's strange, wanting to become a doctor and not fainting during an autopsy being his deepest offense. It makes as much sense as you think, while I am quite sure that it's even more boring and affectlessly acted than you could think.
Did I already mention that there just isn't anything happening in the movie?
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