Masters Of Horror! (Boris Karloff)

Man, now this is another huge career.
Some definite trimming had to be done to save my sanity, file-space, and typing fingers.
I think I kept the best of it, with a couple special oddities tossed in.

As usual, if you want the whole skinny, go here, and here.


Frankenstein (1931)

See here.

Like Lugosi, his career started in the 1910's, but unlike Lugosi, he did some sorta-almost-horrors before this, but...screw it, we're starting with "Frankenstein", because...Frankenstein.


Scarface (1932)

Yep, the one that the De Palma version was remade from.

And then, that one inspired "Vice City".

So, I'm thinking Rockstar has to bring it full circle, and do a 1930's GTA prequel.


The Mummy (1932)

See here.


The Ghoul (1933)

Up until VERY recently, this was a lost film.

It disappeared sometime after 1938, then, a shitty copy was found in 1969, and that was the one we thought we had to live with, then, in the 1980's, they found a good copy, but when they put it to VHS, it was the shitty copy, and finally, in 2003, they put the good copy to DVD, and now it's saved.

Plot wise...kind of a Mummy ripoff, really.


The Black Cat (1934)

See here.


The Bride Of Frankenstein (1935)

See here.


The Raven (1935)

See here.


The Invisible Ray (1936)

See here.


The Walking Dead (1936)

A police officer wakes up in a hospital, and zombies have taken over the world, and...haha...no, kidding, but wouldn't you just shit to find out TWD was a remake?

Okay, real plot, Karloff is framed, executed, re-animated, and causes his framers to be killed by their own guilt.
The ending punks out with religious bullshit.

Well, what do you expect for the 30's?


The Man Who Lived Again (1936)

A.K.A "The Man Who Changed His Mind", and "The Brainsnatcher".

Karloff builds a mind-swapping machine.
Hi-jinks ensue.


Son of Frankenstein (1939)

See here.


The Man They Could Not Hang (1939)

Karloff has perfected surgical techniques to bring back the freshly dead, and passes them on to a student, before being tried and executed, then revived by the student with his own techniques.

Then, it's time for revenge.

Karloff got re-animated a lot.


Tower Of London (1939)

See here.


Black Friday (1940)

See here.

Damn, didn't really say enough about this one...

A friend of Karloff's is hit by a car, so Karloff repairs his damaged brain with a chunk of another man's brain, but that man is a gangster, so his friend keeps getting taken over by the gangster's mind.

Karloff plays along with it, because the gangster knows the whereabouts of 500 grand.
Lugosi is another gangster trying to find the money first.

Hi-jinks ensue.


The Man With Nine Lives (1940)

Karloff seeks to unlock the secrets of "frozen therapy", what we'd call cryonics today.

Here's the secret, it's never going to work.
So sayeth, I, Future-man.


Before I Hang (1940)

Karloff discovers a serum that reverses aging, but he screws it up, and it makes him a murderer.

I've seen this one, it's actually pretty cool, with some great performances.

Worth checking out if you see it pop up on TCM.


The Boogie Man Will Get You (1942)

A horror-comedy with Peter Lorre.

I'll be damned, a Karloff-Lorre comedy before "The Raven".
Neato.


House Of Frankenstein (1944)

See here, here, and here.


The Body Snatcher (1945)

See here.


Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome (1947)

See here.

Truly, the better of the Dick Tracy movies.
Accept no substitutes.


Abbott and Costello Meet The Killer, Boris Karloff (1949)

See here.


Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr.Hyde (1953)

See here.


Frankenstein 1970 (1958)

See here.

Weird that they picked that as "the future", cuz, 1970 would turn out to be the exact year Karloff didn't live to see...


Black Sabbath (1963)

Yes, indeed, it was the inspiration for the band.

A horror anthology directed by Mario Bava.
Who you may remember from "Black Sunday", and "Dr. Goldfoot and The Girl Bombs".


The Terror (1963)

See here.


The Raven (1963)

See here.


The Comedy Of Terrors (1964)

See here.


Die, Monster, Die! (1965)

You've gotta love that fuckin' title!

A loose adaptation of an H.P. Lovecraft story.

A radioactive meteor sets wacky things in motion.
Hi-jinks and shenanigans ensue.


How The Grinch Stole Christmas (1966)

See here.

I've heard tell that he relished this role as much, if not moreso, than Vincent Price relished "Vincent".


Mad Monster Party (1967)

See here, here, here, and here.


And then there was some crap to pay the bills, and then he died.
So, let's pretend it ended at "Mad Monster Party".


Tomorrow, a triple-decker.
Starting with Tod Browning.