Perry Kate Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Redwarmin This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

TaryBiggBall It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

MartinHafer The plot to "Among the Living" is silly and impossible to believe. However, it does appear to be the inspiration for an episode of "The Simpsons"--the one where Bart discovers that he has an identical 'evil' twin who's been locked in the attic for many years! Homer and Marge feed Hugo fish heads and have kept his existence a secret for years! Who would have thought a film would have dared have such a bizarro plot?!When the film begins, the family patriarch dies and his son John (Albert Dekker) arrives for the funeral. Little does John know that his identical brother, Paul (also Dekker), is STILL alive and did not die as a small child. The family doctor (Harry Carey) divulges the family secret to John...Paul is still alive and insane and has been kept hidden in a secret room in the family mansion! Coincidentally, at this same time, Paul kills his keeper and escapes! Now two identical looking guys are running about town...and one is on occasion unpredictable and homicidal. So it's up to the Doctor and John to try to find Paul...however the heartless Doctor soon tries to stop John from contacting the police by threatening to destroy him! However, Paul is not intend with only killing his keeper...and the bodies start piling up in town. And, soon John is assumed to be the crazed killer by mistake!As I mentioned above, the plot for this one is just insane...so you really have to suspend disbelief in order to watch this one. Despite this, I did enjoy Dekker's performance as he played both characters, particularly Paul, quite well. Goofy and still very watchable.

mark.waltz Where does insanity start? It truly varies from patient to patient, but in many cases, it's obviously child abuse, and that is the theme here as one of two twin brothers ends up in a straight jacket in the family mansion's attic because of abuse he went through at the hands of his evil father. Years later, the old man has died, and now he's out on the street where havoc, death and destruction are sure to follow. Albert Dekker, who the year before played the equally menacing Dr. Cyclops, plays two sides of the coin; The sane brother who managed to escape his father's wrath and the brain damaged twin who only ended up in a straight jacket because he defended his mother against an equally brutal attack by his father. Moving into a boarding house run by spunky Maude Eburne, he fells in love with her daughter (a young Susan Hayward) but after a visit with his brother (whom he viciously attacks in front of sister-in-law Frances Farmer) goes on a rampage, stalking and brutally killing a young blonde he saw in a tavern. The insane brother shows gentility and total sanity when he's with Hayward, but that's most likely going to snap at any moment, especially when Hayward decides she's going to find the mysterious killer on the loose and asks him for his help. Harry Carey is excellent as the family doctor who knows the truth about the troubled family's past and tries to help the insane brother to no avail. Hayward is her typical tough cookie, claiming "For $5000, I'm not afraid of anything, including death", but unfortunately, Farmer (who around this time was dealing with serious mental issues herself) is totally wasted. Her small role does give the indication, however, how great she would have been in the same types of roles which were given to newcomers such as Veronica Lake, Lauren Bacall and Lizabeth Scott with her husky voice and seemingly tough demeanor. The tension builds up as does the pressure with Dekker in getting caught in his own trap, and this makes for a very exciting conclusion. An early example of film noir which mixes in elements of horror, Dekker's insane brother could be described as a live version of Frankenstein's monster as his gentility and madness are mixed to provide him with a very hair-raising performance. This is a forgotten sleeper which very much deserves to be re-discovered.

kidboots Stuart Heisler had been a film editor for over 24 years with one directorial credit before Paramount let him direct a low budget entry "The Biscuit Eater" (1940) - it became the sleeper of the year with the National Board of Review naming it among it's top ten movies. Although he was later thrust into directing "A" movies, none of them found the critical praise that came his way with the release of the masterful psychological thriller "Among the Living". Susan Hayward, poised on the brink of stardom had had mainly nondescript roles, only her part as malevolent Hester in "Adam Had Four Sons" gave any indication of her explosive talent. Now, given the role of the sluttish Milly Pickens, Susan was given something she could really get her teeth into.After the death of his father, Maxim Raden, hated owner of the lately closed Radentown Mills, John (Albert Dekker) is told that his twin brother, whom he thought dead, is still alive. Paul is a hopeless lunatic kept straight jacketed in a secret room at Radenhouse. Many years before, in trying to defend his mother against his father's brutality, he was dashed against a wall and his only lasting memory is that of his mother's scream. When John and Saunders (Harry Carey), who has kept the secret for 25 years in exchange for a share of Maxim's estate, go to Radenhouse they find Paul has escaped after killing Pompey, his keeper. He wanted to see for himself that his father was not buried near his mother and what he finds sends him on a murderous rampage.He finds himself at a rooming house where his gentlemanly ways find favour with Ma Pickins (Maude Eburne) and her sluttish daughter Millie (Hayward). His clothes may be shabby but he is "refined"!!! "If I had a wad of folding dough like that I'd go right out and buy an outfit that would knock this neighbourhood cockeyed"!!! So says Millie when she sees Paul's cash!! but before he take Millie dancing he makes the acquaintance of a "B" girl (Jean Phillips, who bears a strong resemblance to Ginger Rogers). In a surreal sequence he wanders into the swinging "Riverbottom Cafe" where the laughter, music and jitterbugging all combine to send Paul into a frenzy. When the blonde floozy not only rejects him but laughs in his face (after he says he wishes Millie was there instead of her) - it leads to a terrifying chase, she running faster and faster, Paul gaining on her until, down a darkened alley all you hear is a piercing scream.Next day, when out with Millie, who is discreetly taking him for all she can get, news comes over the radio that John Raden is offering $5,000 reward for capture of the murderer. "Yahoo, $5,000!!! I could get a fur coat for that - all for little Millie"!! The town is whipped into a frenzy of mob rule and Millie convinces Paul to go with her to Radenhouse, she is convinced the murderer will be hiding out there and no one will suspect!! But they do and the mob go there too and Millie, excited to a fever pitch, misidentifies the innocent John, turning against Paul as easily as she had turned on to him!!!Albert Dekker really rose to the challenge of playing twins. His Paul was a mastery of understatement and he avoided the leers, ogles and grimaces that actors usually bought out when portraying madness. You felt only pity for him and what he had gone through and also for the fact that the doctor, his so-called friend, had only kept the secret for his own selfish reasons. Frances Farmer, initially one of the most beautiful of starlets, had gone through some severe emotional and alcohol problems. By the time of "Among the Living" she could barely function and later said her mental state was such that she hardly knew what she was doing. Fortunately she didn't need to do much, her portrayal of John's wife only required that she look frightened and scream at different times. Also seen in the cafe and "kangeroo court" scene was Dorothy Sebastian, bewitching beauty of the silents.

bmacv Just what sort of movie is Among the Living? It's not that easy to determine. This short (67 minute) 1941 offering is part thirties gothic and part early noir; in any case it's fairly primitive but it has its moments. Albert Dekker (his screen debut) plays twin brothers, one of whom, presumed dead for a quarter-century, is an infantile psychotic. He's been sequestered away in the decrepit family pile all these years but manages to escape, taking up residence in a rooming house owned by the young Susan Hayward's mother. When it looks like the gibbering idiot has money to burn, Hayward sets her hat for him. The most interesting facet of the film is watching Susan Hayward play her speciality, an on-screen hellion, particularly since Frances Farmer, gets wasted as the proper and dutiful wife of the "good" Albert Dekker. Much mayhem ensues, revolving around the confusion between the brothers (the existence of one of whom, remember, has been a deep dark secret). Toward the end, the film develops an ugly energy as the townspeople coalesce into a lynch mob, but, beware: this is not Fritz Lang's Fury. By modern standards, Among the Living has become a curio.