Customer Reviews

Icons of Horror - Boris Karloff (The Boogie Man Will Get You/The Black Room/The Man They Could Not Hang/Before I Hang)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This four-movie set contains one almost forgotten Karloff classic, two quite watchable B-thrillers and a comedic misfire noted only for the performances of Karloff and Peter Lorre.

THE BLACK ROOM (1935) - One of Boris's best. He plays twin aristocrats who grow up under a prophecy that says the younger will kill the older in order to fulfill a family curse. The curse apparently began in the "black room," hence the title. Karloff is at his best, playing the brutal older brother, Gregor, as well as his cosmopolitan younger twin, Anton. There are some nice twists and turns during the course of the film, and the pacing helps to hold our interest.

THE MAN THEY COULD NOT HANG (1939) - During his tenure at Columbia, Boris starred in a number of B-programmers playing a mad scientist. Here he plays Dr. Savaard, a med scientist obsessed with bringing the dead back to life, specifically by using a mechanical heart he has invented. Needing a suitable subject, he experiments on a medical student who is assisting him. This upsets the assistant's girlfriend, who tips off the police. Savaard is arrested for murder, tried, convicted, and sentenced to hang, vowing revenge on the judge, jury and prosecutor. His body is released to his right-hand man, who restores Savaard to life. Suddenly, it's noticed that six members of his jury have committed suicide by hanging and that the remaining jurors, along with the judge, prosecutor, police inspector and the girlfriend who blew the whistle have all been invited to Savaard's house.

BEFORE I HANG (1940) -- A fast paced B-movie using the old chestnut that blood has memory and that the tissues and bones of the criminally insane throb with a life that makes them who they are. Boris plays Dr. John Garth, a scientist who is seeking the cure for the ravages of old age. Being a mad scientist, of course, he performs a "mercy killing" on one of his subjects, which land him the death sentence. He is given a chance to redeem himself through medical research in prison, where he and a colleague (Edward Van Sloan) inoculate Garth with an experimental serum. Unfortunately, the serum was developed from an executed killer, and, while it works, it turns Garth into a homicidal maniac. He kills Van Sloan and a prison trustee while tricking the authorities into granting him a pardon for his medical efforts. Once he gets out, he really goes to town..

THE BOOGIE MAN WILL GET YOU (1942) - This psychotronic take-off on Arsenic and Old Lace finds Karloff , as nutty professor Nathaniel Billings, working on creating a race of supermen in the basement of his New England house along with his equally batty assistant, played by Peter Lorre. He sells the house to a naïve woman and her ex-boyfriend to run as a hotel. Karloff and Lorre then hit upon the idea of using the guests for their experiments.

Sony's new Icons of "Horror - Boris Karloff Collection" consists of four films Karloff made at Columbia between 1935 and 1942. Quality varies from film to film but with Karloff on board these films are all worth watching.

Perhaps the very best and most interesting film included is 1935's "The Black Room" a first-rate costume drama in which Karloff delivers a tour-de-force performance as twin brothers. This film is reminiscent of the fine historical spectacles one might expect from a studio like MGM. It also offered Karloff an opportunity to play a more mainstream dramatic role (or roles to be precise) before he got completely pigeonholed into the roles of monsters and mad scientists by the mid-40s. "The Black Room" is considered one of his all-time best films and should be a pleasure to all Karloff fans.

As for the other three films, well, they're not his best but they do offer some fun and entertainment. My favorite of these three is 1939's "The Man They Could Not Hang." In this one Karloff is a mad scientist sentenced to death who is brought back to life and seeks revenge against those who sentenced him (including the judge, DA, witnesses and jurors). He sets up a dinner party inviting his enemies in order to imprison them and kill them one by one every 15 minutes. This is Karloff at his most maniacal best.

"Before I Hang" (1940) recycles some plot points from "The Man They Could Not Hang," including the concept of the scientist being brought back to life after a death sentence, but isn't quite as entertaining as its predecessor. In this one Karloff is a kinder more gentle scientist who turns evil through the blood of a killer. It's also nice to see Karloff and his "Frankenstein" co-star, Edward Van Sloan, together again. Karloff even gets to kill Van Sloan's character one more time.

"The Boogie Man Will Get You" (1942) is a B comedy which doesn't have too much to offer although it is interesting to see Karloff on screen with Peter Lorre in comedy shenanigans. It makes me wonder how the two might have interacted had Karloff been cast as Jonathan Brewster instead of Raymond Massey in Warner's film adaptation of "Arsenic and Old Lace." Karloff did not get the film role, which he had originated on stage, because he was playing it on Broadway at the time. He would have made a great Jonathan Brewster on film.

Sony doesn't offer anything else other than the four films in this collection. Unlike Warner Brother's releases of classic films there are no trailers, no scene selections, no commentaries and no featurettes. This is a shame as a nice little documentary about Karloff's films at Columbia would have been interesting. The DVD menus are pretty basic (almost amateurish) and the packaging is nice and compact with two slimcases tucked into a cardboard sleeve. The packaging graphics try to simulate a movie poster look with Photoshopped images of Karloff. It would have been more attractive had they used real movie poster images instead.

If you want to complete your Karloff collection of Columbia horror films I'd suggest acquiring "The Devil Commands" (1941) and "The Man With Nine Lives" (1940). These two had been previously released as single DVDs.

All in all, Sony's "Icons of Horror - Boris Karloff Collection" will surely appeal to Karloff fans, like myself, and allows us to own some rarely seen performances from a truly gifted and underrated screen star. It also makes a nice companion piece to his more famous monster roles and Universal's own recent "Boris Karloff Collection."

No sooner had I finished writing a review of THE BORIS KARLOFF COLLECTION saying that someone should release THE BLACK ROOM on DVD when lo and behold here it is. The fact that it's being issued by Sony means that it will use the best prints available which is great considering how often Boris is badly served by substandard prints of his non-Universal films. Sony has already issued a couple of the Columbia Karloff "Mad Doctor" films on DVD (THE DEVIL COMMANDS, THE MAN WITH NINE LIVES) and while they were devoid of any real extras, the visual quality of the films was an improvement over the old VHS copies. This will complete the set and give us THE BLACK ROOM in the bargain which is the finest of the films he did for Columbia. Directed by Roy William Neill (known for the modern day Sherlock Holmes films with Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce) THE BLACK ROOM gives Boris one of his best acting opportunities in a double role as twin brothers one good the other evil (a triple role when you consider he also plays one brother impersonating the other).

The other films are THE MAN THEY COULD NOT HANG, BEFORE I HANG, and a comedy THE BOOGIE MEN WILL GET YOU. Although I haven't viewed the set yet I assume that Sony will do the same for these titles as they did for the others with hopefully a few extras thrown in although it's a shame that they didn't include the previous two on a third DVD to have all the films in one package. So Karloff fans rejoice even more so than for THE BORIS KARLOFF COLLECTION as overall the quality of these films are better. Thanks to these, THE VAL LEWTON COLLECTION, and the British films THE GHOUL and THE MAN WHO CHANGED HIS MIND, virtually all of Karloff's 30s and 40s films are now on DVD. That just leaves THE WALKING DEAD which Warners should have issued in their upcoming HOLLYWOOD LEGENDS OF HORROR COLLECTION.... ADDENDUM: I have now seen the set and the picture quality is excellent. Unfortunately there are no extras whatsoever not even chapters for the various films.

Columbia's Karloff collections presents four of the studio's horror films starring Boris Karloff, all of which were released between 1935 and 1942. The first film in the series, THE BLACK ROOM, is an underrated gem in which Karloff plays aristocratic twins, one good and one evil, in one of his most interesting roles. It's worth the price alone, but unfortunately the rest of the films in the collection are far less interesting. THE MAN THEY COULD NOT HANG is the best of the lot, featuring Karloff as a kindly inventor wrongly executed for his experiments involving an artifical heart. His assistant revives him, but Karloff is now posessed with a thirst for vengeance against those who convicted him. There are some nice moments, particularly Karloff's statement before the court, and a great cast of Columbia regulars, but the film is far-fetched and too rushed thanks to its brisk 65 minute running time. BEFORE I HANG features Karloff in an almost identical role as yet another wrongly condemned scientist, only this time his sentence is commuted and he winds up injecting himself with an experimental youth rejuvenation formula, one tainted by the blood of a murderer, which somehow turns him into a homicidal maniac. By this point in the series, it is obvious Karloff has lost interest in this sort of role, and while the film re-teams him with Edward Van Sloan from the 1931 FRANKENSTEIN, the results are underwhelming. It is clear that no real effort is being made by the filmmakers, as they clearly wrote this one off as just another B thriller. THE BOOGIE MAN WILL GET YOU is at least a change of pace, a comedy ripoff of Karloff's then-current Broadway smash ARSENIC AND OLD LACE. Here Karloff is a dotty old scientist in a crumbling country home stuffed with corpses. Peter Lorre is great as the Mr. Haney-ish local banker/sheriff/doctor who runs the hayseed hamlet, and his bits of business with Karloff are welcome. But other than their scenes together, this film is staggeringly unfunny.

The Columbia Karloff Collection doesn't even have chapter stops or illustrated menus, making it look like a cheap Public Domain disc you'd buy for a buck at your local convenience store. There are no extras, and the best two Columbia mad doctor flicks, THE MAN WITH NINE LIVES and THE DEVIL COMMANDS, are inexplicably absent from this boxed set. If you are a Karloff Kompletist, then you gotta get this set. Otherwise, go watch something else. RATINGS: THE BLACK ROOM *** 1/2 THE MAN THEY COULD NOT HANG ** 1/2 BEFORE I HANG ** THE BOOGIE MAN WILL GET YOU * 1/2

This set is a winner from the moment you lay eyes on it! The designers of the package did a very good job; there's a very nice moody look to the slipcase, as well as the art on the individual disc cases. They have a nice "retro" feel to them that is great to behold.

The movies are basically arranged in order of quality; "The Black Room" is easily the best film in the set, while "The Boogeyman Will Get You" is far and away the weakest. "The Black Room" features one of Boris Karloff's most celebrated performances, and with good reason. Without spoiling the plot for those who have yewt to see the movie, what begins as a dual role for the master actor becomes considerably more complex as the film really gets rolling. This performance ranks right up there with the like of Cabman Gray in "The Body Snatcher," Imhotep from "The Mummy," and the Frankenstein Monster as some of Karloff's very best work.

"The Man They Could Not Hang" kicks off the often overlooked, yet much-maligned "Mad Doctor" series. Each film in the series featured a very similar basic plot, with Karloff portraying a scientist who performs experiments for the betterment of mankind, is forced for some reason to cease them, only to resume his work at the earliest opportunity, with disastrous results. This is the best film in the series, with Karloff's Dr. Savaard returning to exact revenge on those who condemned him. He gives a marvelous performance, elevating a script that is merely decent to the level of riveting entertainment. If you only watch one film from the "Mad Doctor" series, make it this one!

"Before I Hang," the third film in that series, is not on the level of it's predecessor in this set. It still has plenty to offer the fan of films from this era, as a very atmospheric thriller with a few truly great scenes. Karloff's performance as the reluctant murderer is obviously the highlight, and his metamorphosis before each murder is wonderfully done. He repeats the same little ritual each time, allowing the tension to build in the viewer, until the actual murder is almost a sweet release. The feeling of impending doom mounts until the final act.

"The Boogeyman Will Get You" seems to be very much in the vein of "Arsenic and Old Lace," without the same level of quality. Karloff's absent-minded, accidental murdering scientist and Peter Lorre's jack-of-all-trades Sheriff are a great pair, however, and honestly make the whole affair worth watching. They display the kind of chemistry in this film that made their future teamings in films such as "The Raven"(the 1960s version, with Vincent Price and a very young Jack Nicholson) and "The Comedy of Terrors" (with Vincent Price and Basil Rathbone) so enjoyable.

For fans of classic horror movies, there is no shortage of DVD collections out there. It can be tough to decide which ones are worth adding to your collection. This release from Columbia is certainly a worthy purchase, and a bargain at this price. Devotees of Karloff, in particular, can't go wrong!

The main reason for owning this collection is the superb, yet surprisingly underrated "The Black Room," a period film in which Karloff plays twin brothers, one good, the other evil. Karloff is exceptionally good in this 1935 film, which never received the recognition of his "Frankenstein" or "The Mummy" films. Production values of "The Black Room" are first rate, even though the movie was made on a low budget. Karloff makes the material glow. The other films in the collection are fun, but do not achieve the quality of "The Black Room."

Boris Karloff may have been one of the great horror actors, but that did not mean he was always in great movies. The Icons of Horror Collection for Boris Karloff features the actor in some of his lesser efforts, including some of his "mad scientist" roles for Columbia.

Actually, one movie in this four flick set is pretty good: The Black Room. In this film, Karloff gets to play two roles as twins: evil Gregor and good Anton. They live under the shadow of a prophecy that states that the slightly younger twin (Anton) will kill his brother in the so-called Black Room of the family mansion. Anton is exiled, but is called back by Gregor, who has a scheme to take Anton's place; it seems Gregor's homicidal tendencies are too much for the townspeople and he needs to make a hasty escape. Although not a perfect movie (most viewers will know the ending long in advance), it benefits by Karloff's wonderful portrayal of villainy.

The Man They Could Not Hang and Before I Hang are similar movies, both featuring Karloff as a scientist who winds up being sentenced to hang for deaths caused by his work. In the former, Karloff is resurrected by his assistant using an experimental technique; he subsequently seeks revenge on those responsible for his conviction by luring them to his house to be cleverly killed. In the latter movie, he eventually gets a pardon, but his experiments in restoring youth have made him a homicidal killer. Both movies are watchable but completely unexceptional.

The Boogie Man Will Get You also features Karloff as an elderly scientist, but this time the film is played strictly for comedy. He plays a professor doing typical mad scientist experiments in the basement of an inn. Peter Lorre plays the local coroner/justice of the peace/notary, etc. It is a decent enough movie that demonstrates Karloff can do comedy, although there are only a few chuckles in this piece.

This set has no extras and only rates three stars overall. The thing about Karloff is that he's at his best when he plays either monsters or truly evil figures, and only in the Black Room do we get such a role. In his more "kindly" roles, he is okay, but his potential is never realized. But while this set is hardly representative of Karloff at his best, none are really bad; nonetheless, this set is for Karloff completists only.

I won't comment here about the fine picture and sound quality of these films, as other reviewers have done so and very well too, or about the quality of the films themselves. But, as a French buyer, I wanted to warn potential buyers that THERE ARE NO FRENCH SUBTITLES to the films on this set, contrarily to the product description on amazon. If non-english speaking Karloff fans are interested in this box set, they should know what the product is really like. Have a nice day.

I bought this edition for one movie only...The Black Room. Even William K. Everson in his "Classics of the Horror Film" (the book that turned me into horror flicks like no other book) didn't have much to say about this one. But the few photos in the same book spoke a different language though.
And what can I say? The Black Room is sure the gem in this otherwise mixed bag. The Man They Could Not Hang and Before I Hang I find pretty mediocre, with the first being slightly better than the latter.
On the other hand The Boogie Man Will Get You in my humble opinion is a complete failure. How could a movie starring Karloff and Peter Lorre and directed by Lew Landers be such a mess? With all respect to 40s humor, which was of course quite different to what we are used to today, movies such as Hold That Ghost, yes, even King of the Zombies prove that there was much more than this flick could ever offer. A complete waste of Karloff's and Lorre's talents if you ask me.
However, let's get back to The Black Room. An intelligent and atmospheric genre movie of the mid 30s. With Karloff delivering one of his best and most underrated performances as far as I am concerned. The clever editing and special effects plus Karloff's superb acting manage to evoke the illusion of those two rather unfortunate twin brothers...one being evil and one being good. The script delivers a plot that one could even find "real" medieval: the story of a family curse that over the centuries haunts the members of an aristocratic family, and finally destroys the last survivors of the same family, Karloff and ehh.. Karloff. You shall see...enjoy!!!

I love Karloff and have never seen him give a bad performance. That being said I recommend all fans grab this set as the Hang movies are worth every cent. Karloff holds these movies together and it all works through his presence. They are entertaining and I feel you can not go wrong with a karloff film.