Roy Scheider’s very first film was a real scream!

Jaws star Roy Scheider may have passed away in 2008, but that didn’t stop him featuring in his final released film, Beautiful Blue Eyes, which debuted on over 400 Regal Cinema screens in the US.

All in the same month as the return of Jaws to screens in ways it had never been seen before, IMAX and Real D 3D.

Beautiful Blue Eyes may have been the double Academy Award nominee’s cinematic swansong, but what of his first big screen debut?

It certainly wasn’t an award-winning performance, or in IMAX or 3D, but it helped put Scheider on the map. That film was part of a drive-in double bill that was called The Curse of the Living Corpse which was released in 1964.

In it, Scheider – here top billed as Roy R. Scheider – plays Philip Sinclair who is the son of a late millionaire. It turns out Sinclair Snr had a terrible fear of being buried alive, so he ensured there was a clause in his will to prevent it.

With these clear rules broken by his family, one by one they meet their own ends in the ways they were most terrified of dying. Are they indeed cursed, and are they meeting their maker by way of a living corpse?

It’s certainly a fun, if not wholly original premise, with its cast of stage actors – Scheider included – entering into the spirit of things.

Filmed in black and white it has the feeling of a William Castle film with its low production values, it only taking three makes to make – a far cry from the ever extending 158-day shoot of Jaws – but is high on entertainment value.

The film was helmed by cult filmmaker Del Tenney, who had previously directed the likes of Zombie and The Horror of Party Beach, which almost sounds like a description of the opening scenes of Jaws with Chrissie Watkins.

The film, although set in the 1890s, isn’t a million miles away from Martha’s Vineyard, the filming location of Jaws, as it is set in Massachusetts.

Look hard enough and there are further Jaws-related links, from a character with sideburns, another character who fears drowning, a host of grizzly deaths and even a head scene to make you jump and character called Bruce.

Plus, is it any wonder that Chief Brody has a fear of drowning when you see the final reel of this film, Scheider meeting his end in a decidedly watery grave.

Sure, it’s more guffaws than the mighty Steven Spielberg shark classic Jaws and has that distinct ‘old dark house’ film feel of one from the 1940s, or even the likes of Murder By Death (1976) and Clue (1985), the latter which briefly featured Jaws and Jaws 2 (1978) actor Jeffrey Kramer.

Just over a decade before Jaws, Scheider was gonna need a better script, as this one certainly has bigger holes than that in Ben Gardner’s boat but it is definitely an interesting watch, even if it is just for Scheider. It may have been Scheider’s film debut but he gets top billing and despite being hammier than a holiday roast is having a barrel of fun.

And – spoiler alert – the killer was none other than Roy Scheider. Ironic then that he would carve out a career for playing good guy cop types in everything from The French Connection, The Seven-Ups, Blue Thunder and 52 Pick Up.

Although it would stand him in good stead for more villainous turns in the likes of Cohen and Tate and on TV in Third Watch and Law And Order.

Watch ‘The Curse Of The Living Corpse’ trailer

Words by Dean Newman

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