Critique: The moral sacrilege and resultant punishment of snatching the dead actor Conrad's body is a great set up. The Film within a film idea is problematic in that the entire film begs a surprise ending that never comes, thus we have no idea how Conrad transcended death. The running film narration is a non-starter. The later installments are totally unexplained, evoking unpleasant associations with such flops as Orgy of Death (and Beyond the Door II?). It is also unclear how a B-horror film ham actor could have the kind of connection with the occult that would allow him to wreak the kind of havoc he does after death, yet not save his career in life. This is a copy of "Arnold" without the elegant and logical continuity. It also bears a resemblance to One Dark Night in ways innumerable, particularly in that a dead Slavic psychic with a goatee telekinetically kills teens trapped in a mausoleum, which remarkably occurs in both, but once again this time without the cohesion. On the other hand, when the dead actor is stalking the horror film club, the movie shines and the number and length of the chilling scenes is considerable. Conrad is really scary. The lighting, sets, colors, costumes and actors are wonderful. Watch for the reunion of Nita Talbot and Leon Askin who were regular guest stars on Hogan's Heroes (General Burghalter and?). The end, however, is a copout (opt to fade) and leaves only questions. The fogginess of what is real and what is art is quite out of the director's control and that, as playful and clever as it sometimes is, is frequently a drag.

Plot Summary: Horror legend Conrad gets a hard time from the director. Clearly, he doesn't take criticism well, as he gives the precariously perched director a little shove off a balcony, and the commercial shoot is at an end. It's all a film--Conrad is introduced after the showing and the students at the film school go crazy. The aged actor Conrad crumbles on stage with a heart attack, and can not be resuscitated. Later, he wants to set up his final scene in grand style, but he dies without warning. As his director smirks over the dead man, Conrad springs to life and smothers him. Conrad then enters his coffin, apparently quite ill. Soon we are at the funeral, so the murder was Conrad's last scene. Conrad left plans that he is not to be cremated: he claims he will be coming back. A prerecorded video allows Conrad to star at his own funeral. Members of the film club climb the wall to the mausoleum, insisting on seeing him. One of the persistent students breaks a skylight and enters the mausoleum. Immediately, they are welcomed by Conrad, once again on video. The film says that if the listener has broken in, he will be here forever. They open the coffin and have a look at Conrad. He does appear to be dead still. They smuggle the body out of the mausoleum and bring it home with them. Conrad is given pride of place in the living room and the party begins--masks are donned and wine consumed. Meg doesn't think the whole thing is much fun. They dance with the corpse and a good time is had by all, photos are taken. One gets the impression that Conrad wouldn't have appreciated this as his last scene. They put Conrad in a coffin and all go to bed. The next day, Conrad's wife wonders what can be done to recover the body. A mystic friend calls for articles of his clothing and his "pyramid". She tries to locate his body. She screams as his body rises. The students hear a strange bellow from Conrad's coffin, but when they get up there, he appears not to be alive. It appears they're not entirely correct. He wants an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. When Conrad says through the medium that he's been to hell, she tells him to send those who stole his body to hell as well. Donna thinks she sees Conrad and Oscar has to go out to check and see who it was. Oscar thinks he hears something in the attic, and is soon locked up there. He pokes around, hearing a raspy breathing. Bending over Conrad turns out not to be the safest thing to do. Donna goes upstairs to check on Oscar, and now she hears the breathing. She goes outside looking for Oscar and Conrad sets her on fire pyrokinetically. The rest of the kids are baffled about what happened to Oscar and Donna. Meg screws up the courage to go to the cellar. Noises start up as she pokes around down there. Evie hears a voice calling for help from the attic. Soon she joins the collection of disappeared people. Stu is reluctant, but with all the disappearances, they decide the best thing is to return Conrad to the mausoleum. Soon Stu gets the point as Conrad runs him through. The remaining couple are the last ones in the house, wondering what's happened and whether perhaps Conrad is behind it all. Saint jimmies the door and brings Conrad's body back to the mausoleum, setting off Conrad's videotape once again. Once he's back in the mausoleum, Conrad rises again, but Saint manages to escape into the grave yard. Saint has the final confrontation with Conrad in the crematorium.