FRANKENSTEIN 1970 (1958)

  Boris Karloff returns one more time to the Frankenstein role. Instead of playing the monster though this time he's the last of the descendents of the original Frankenstein family of mad scientists. Of course he gets up to bulding a monster of his own with the help of some nuclear energy. The hulking creature starts out looking really cool with a skull head but then spends most of the rest of the movie all wrapped up like a mummy. There is a cool movie-within-a-movie opening scene, a sorta surprise ending and a weird disposal system for body parts that gives this film the classy distinction of being the first movie to feature the sound of a toilet flushing. I'm not exactly sure what was so futuristic about this movie that they had to make it set 12 years in the future except maybe having an atomic reactor in your laboratory. Clearly not up to the standards of any of the Universal classics this is still a decent watch for hardcore monster kids that have seen all the other Frank flicks.

Alternate Frech title = FRANKENSTEIN VERSUS THE INVISIBLE MAN(even though there is no Invisible man at all!):

THE MAN THEY COULD NOT HANG (1939)

 Boris Karloff starts this movie out as a pretty sympathetic doctor whose goal is to help humanity conquer death. Unfortunately to achieve this goal he has to kill a guy to prove out his theory and test out his mechanical heart-thing-a-ma-jig(this movie sorta predicts artificial hearts and heart-transplants way before they actually existed, so that's kinda cool and gives things a bit of a sci-fi feel)). This results in Dr. Savaard(Boris) getting himself sentenced to death by hanging. Now, to be clear, his "victim" did volunteer for all this but I guess he forgot to get that in writing. The second half of the film sees Karloff in his more typical role as a revenge-seeking, back-from-the-dead, murder-crazy monster. A pretty neat and short flick that's worth a look for old-timey horror/thriller fans. This must have been somewhat successful since Mr. Karloff would go on to play a mad-scientist of some sort or another in a whole bunch more films after this.

This is not the trailer despite the title but it is Boris and assistant doing some sciency stuff:



                                                         "Do not see this picture!":

DIE, MONSTER, DIE! (1965)

 So most of this movie is one of those creepy old houses kind of deals which at least has some good atmosphere and you get Boris Karloff(even if he's confined to a wheelchair for almost all of his screentime) which is always good. Then they throw in some radioactive monsters caged up in a greenhouse including a big octopus-looking creature(which I guess makes sense since this was supposed to be based on an old HP Lovecraft story called THE COLOUR OUT OF SPACE). These are not your main monsters though since those turn out to be an ugly radioactive melting lady, who crows like a bird, and finally a clunky(also radioactive) metal man(funny how radiation has such different reactions on certain people). Nick Adams, who I only really know from that Godzilla movie in space, is our hero and he certainly seems like he came from a Godzilla movie with his acting style. This one is pretty dull outside of the few oddball elements that pop up from time to time and is easily skippable except for horror-completists who need to see everything Karloff ever did. AKA MONSTER OF TERROR and THE HOUSE AT THE END OF THE WORLD

 

Originally released on a double-bill with this Mario Bava classic sci-fi epic!:

THE GHOUL (1933)

 If you thought 1932's THE MUMMY with Boris Karloff was too exciting of a movie here's a similar even slower film from '33 with ol' Boris playing a guy who comes back from the dead thanks to an Egyptian curse. Mr. Karloff does a good enough job as the ugly-faced monster but just like with THE MUMMY I had a hard time getting into this one mostly due to its snail-like pace.  You do get a chance to watch the great Ernest Thesinger(Dr. Pretorius from FRANKENSTEIN) as a butler so that's something to see if you can stay awake.




Japanese flavored!:

Known in Argentina as EL VAMPIRO(not to be confused with the Mexican EL VAMPIRO):

THE TERROR (1963)

 Slow-moving Roger Corman-directed AIP horror flick that has that classic feel. This is mainly due to Boris Karloff's presence as a brooding Baron who has secluded himself in his seaside spooky castle but there's also a witch, a young Dick Miller as Boris' servant, a face-meltdown, a bird that eats eyeballs right out of your head and enough other creepy elements to make this one watchable. There's also some twists at the end which make it worthwhile. Jack Nicholson does an OK job as a bewitched French soldier before growing his hair out and heading off to make all those great biker flicks later on in the 60s. The plot itself is just a variation on Edgar Allen Poe stories which Corman had already made(HOUSE OF USHER and PIT AND THE PENDULUM) and which are actually better movies so go watch them first.
 Francis Ford Coppola helped shoot this and it's been claimed that it was all shot in 4 days but apparently that was just the scenes with Karloff.
 Being in the public domain this movie is in just about every cheap-ass horror DVD set out there right alongside NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD.
 AKA THE CASTLE OF TERROR and THE HAUNTING(released-to-TV-version)




There's a bunch of shitty-artwork VHS releases of this:

Here's one from my collection:

CORRIDORS OF BLOOD (1958)

 While this title might make you think you will be getting something pretty gruesome this movie is pretty tame, even for the 50's. There are a couple of surgery scenes with a little of the red stuff but that's about it. Apparently a few of the more graphic shots were cut out by censors before this was released(which wasn't until 1963). The main story concerns Boris Karloff as a doctor who's trying to invent anesthesia which isn't really all that exciting of a concept. Also since alcohol clearly exists in this world people musta known that numbing pain was very possible so it seems so strange that everyone laughs at this idea of ol' Boris'. One neat thing here though is that you get a fight between Karloff and an evil Christopher Lee which is kinda like watching two Frankensteins fight it out. In addition they throw in a sorta-KING KONG ending which I always enjoy(and this time it's a great big fat guy which makes it extra special!). So while this isn't an essential watch at least it's acted well.

Shock!:
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BLACK SABBATH (1963)

 The great Mario Bava goes the horror anthology route here and gets Boris Karloff to introduce each story. Needless to say this is an immaculately-shot, beautiful-looking film as pretty much all of Bava's films are. The three stories are all pretty simple as they usually are in this sort of thing. The first one is about a woman being terrorized by phone calls from a psycho and it has a very giallo-esque kind of feeling to it. In fact it's considered by many to be the first actual giallo to be shot in color. The second story features Karloff and is about Wurdalaks which is basically just another name for vampires and it plays out with not too many surprises. The final story is my favorite and concerns a nurse who steals a ring from a dead patient and either goes insane or is stalked by the dead woman or maybe both. The thing that puts this one over so much for me is the general atmosphere of the story and  the makeup used on this old dead lady. That is some spooky-looking stuff there. This is the order if you're watching the original Italian version. If you go with the AIP English-dubbed release they switch the stories around and you get the ring story first followed by the phone call one and finally The Wurdalak. Personally I think it works way better the original way. There's also some different wrap-around segments in English where you get to hear Karloff's actual voice not dubbed into Italian which is really the only plus of watching it this way. Original title= THE THREE FACES OF FEAR

THE ISLAND MONSTER (1954)

 In between being the iconic Frankenstein from the 30's and being the older icon in Roger Corman's Edgar Allen Poe movies and doing voice-over on cartoons Boris Karloff shot four Mexican horror flicks which are really only remembered today as curiosity pieces. This one came out of Mexico even before those and isn't even a horror film at all. It's got Karloff as a drug-smuggling. murdering, criminal-type and it's pretty dull. There's an annoying little Mexican girl who gets kidnapped and cries a lot and a boring detective story. Very slow-moving and skip-able unless you absolutely need to see everything Karloff was ever in. AKA THE MONSTER OF THE ISLAND

You can find this on lots of cheap-o DVD horror sets and Youtube:

FRANKENSTEIN (1931)

 The most iconic horror movie ever? probably.  The most remade movie ever? very possibly.  What's for sure is it's the one that kick-started(along with DRACULA) the whole classic monster series that led to a zillion monster-obsessed kids including myself.  I first viewed this as a young fellow early one Halloween morning as part of an all-day classic monster movie marathon where some fuzzy UHF channel was showing all the Universal greats in order.  I think that might have been the perfect introduction for me.  Before that I knew about Frank from reading tons of Famous Monsters magazines and any books I could find on the subject of horror films.  Of course even if I didn't do any of that avoiding the imagery of Frankenstein's monster would have been impossible since the character has become as symbolic over the years as Superman or Mickey Mouse.  A poster-monster for awkward youth and alienation.  It's hard not to feel at least a little sympathy for old Frank.
 Reviewing a movie like this today is kinda ridiculous since anyone that appreciates cinema of any sort and has half a brain would have to acknowledge this film as a milestone for what it did in it's era and beyond.  Boris Karloff, Colin Clive and Dwight Frye are all amazing and it's a film that will be around long after everyone who had anything to do with it is long gone.  Also you get to see a little kid killed and that's a rare thing in American films even today.  It's too bad kids today will never get the chance to stumble across this playing on a dark and rainy Halloween morning.  Maybe kids in the future will have it directly downloaded into their subconscious.
 I caught this last night at a big screen showing along with it's arguably superior sequel and felt lucky to finally get a chance to view it closer to the way it was intended.  

Re-release trailer:

THE APE (1940)

Excruciatingly dull, cheaply made Boris Karloff vehicle from the 40's.  Karloff as usual does a great job but whenever he's not on screen it's sleepy-time.  I guess it's healthier than sleeping pills.  I would only recommend this one to fans of very cheap-looking gorilla suit action.  This may indeed contain one of the worst looking gorilla suits ever! First there's what is supposed to be a real ape running around on a kill-crazy spree and then Karloff kills the wild and crazy ape in a nifty fight scene and starts wearing his skin and going on his own killing adventures for some mad scientist reason.  A very slow 60 minutes.

Free movies are always a little better!:

THE BLACK ROOM (1935)

 Two Boris Karloffs for the price of one!  Here the horror legend plays twin brothers in a creaky old 1930's piece.  It's cool to see Karloff actually given the chance to act as the two brothers do have two distinct personalities, one an evil murderous tyrant who rapes and murders various women, also the occasional man who gets under his skin to be fair, and the other a gentleman.  The black room itself is the place where the evil brother disposes of the bodies of his enemies.  Did every castle have a body disposal system back in the day?  I'd like to think so.  The hero of the movie turns out to be a big Scooby-Doo dog.  While not as amazing as the monster movies he's most well known for it's worth watching if you are into the classic era for some prime Karloff.

                                                                Peeping Boris!:

 "He loves them violently!":

TARGETS (1968)

Boris Karloff Vs. Charles Whitman? Well that's the basic idea behind this thriller starring the iconic horror star. Karloff pretty much plays himself and the sniper is a slight variation of Charlie. It is a little dull until the shooting starts and the 2 story-lines meet up at the end. This was considered a B-movie at the time but doesn't really look like one. This is one of Peter Bogdanovich's first films and the only one I've ever seen. The ending is not all that satisfying but overall it's not bad. Bogdanovich's VOYAGE TO THE PLANET OF PREHISTORIC WOMEN with Mamie Van Doren sounds like a winner that I have to check out at some point.

Targets are people!: