Mad Monster Party? (1967)

4 / 5 Oct '10
Tagline: At long last, a Motion Picture with absolutely no cultural value!!
Directed by: Jules Bass
Written by: Len Korobkin, Harvey Kurtzman
Actors include: Boris Karloff, Allen Swift, Gale Garnett
Genre: Horror, Comedy, Animation
Length: 94 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
I can't believe I went my entire childhood without ever having watched this, I'd have loved it! Definitely a film for the whole family with musical numbers, many clever little nods to the Universal monsters and an insanely creative production. The concept is that Dr. Frankenstein has invented a new potion that will cause destruction. He's also the head of organization of monsters, so he rounds up all of his monster friends for a mad monster party. He also wants to announce his retirement and his successor! Be prepared to meet adorable versions of The Mummy, Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, The Hunchback, The Invisible Man, King Kong, The Wolfman, Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, The Creature (from the Black Lagoon), Boris Karloff and Phyllis Diller. It's all made with the same style as the old Rudolph and Frosty christmas films (which I love) and even by the same people, this is just spooky instead! Even though it is very entertaining there are several jokes that are just too corny to laugh at and a few song and dance numbers that really could have been left out. Still a very visionary and enjoyable Halloween treat that any child should love (and many adults should like it too).

Availability:  On DVD & Blu-Ray

Corridors Of Blood (1958)

4.5 / 5 Mar '10
Tagline: Tops In Terror!
Directed by: Robert Day
Written by: Jean Scott Rogers
Actors include: Boris Karloff, Betta St. John, Christopher Lee
Genre: Drama, Horror
Length: 86 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
Although it's not really a horror movie in the big picture, it's a depressing drama with horrific elements more like. Oh I should mention this is a period piece, and a rather well made one at that and I'm not sure how historically accurate it is but it's interesting none the less. Boris Karloff is wonderful as Dr. Thomas Bolton, the kindly Doctor who in his free time experiments in order to find a way to make surgery painless. Bolton finally is onto something and sets up a demonstration with the Medical board, only it goes very badly and from then on he finds nobody wants to listen to him. Particularly when he refines his breakthrough and is desperate to help people but isn't allowed. Other issues arise when Dr. Bolton becomes addicted to the substances he's experimenting with and well things go more downhill from there. He ends up being forced to deal with scummy folks similar to Burke & Hare (one is played by Christopher Lee in one of his earliest roles). I was truly surprised what a great actor Karloff really is, this proves it. Although this may not appeal to every horror fan I think fans of good movies should definitely enjoy this.

Availability:  On DVD

The Raven (1935)

3.5 / 5 Mar '01
Tagline: While this mad surgical genius chanted "The Raven," horrible screams rose up from his torture chamber below!
Directed by: Lew Landers
Written by: David Boehm, Edgar Allan Poe
Actors include: Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Lester Matthews
Genre: Horror
Length: 61 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
I think that calling this film "The Raven" was perhaps not the wisest choice as having read the poem I wasn't sure what they'd make a movie about. Having now seen the movie I know it has little to do with the poem aside from the fact that our lead character is obsessed with Poe and has a statue of a Raven. If anything it shares a lot more in common with The Pit and the Pendulum and various other mad scientist plots. At the time this really freaked out audiences because it does have a lot of disturbing material (if you aren't used to that sort of thing). The plot is about Dr. Vollin (Bela Lugosi) a brilliant yet sadistic scientist who loves Poe so very very much. After he's begged to help out a Dame who was in a car accident (silly women can't drive) and of course he ends up falling in love with her. She's got a fiancee and her Father disapproves of the idea of her being with Vollin. For some odd reason they (along with several others) accept an invitation to Vollin's house for a party sleepover. What they don't know is that Mr. Bateman (Boris Karloff) came to Vollin earlier to ask for a facial reconstruction (because he feels ugly) but instead to blackmail him into doing what he wants he disfigures him. Oh and did I mention that Dr. Vollin has a torture chamber and a house full of amazing technology? It's interesting, it definitely has some evil ideas and I like that, Bela is great as an evil madman and Karloff as the sympathetic monster (hmmm where have I seen that before?). The Women in this film are seriously annoying, I know the whole equality thing didn't come until much later but wowsa...dumb. Still worth watching but just don't expect much to do with The Raven. Oh and I should mention that the '50s film of the same name is completely unrelated to this film.

Availability:  On DVD as part of the Bela Lugosi Collection

Targets (1968)

4.5 / 5 Jan '10
Tagline: TARGETS are people...and you could be one of them!
Directed by: Peter Bogdanovich
Written by: Peter Bogdanovich, Polly Platt
Actors include: Boris Karloff, Tim O'Kelly, Arthur Peterson
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Length: 90 minutes
Banned: Nope

Review:
I definitely liked this a whole bunch, even though parts of it seemed unimportant...the great moments more than made up for any lulls. Boris Karloff plays aging horror star (what a stretch) Byron Orlok who is working on retiring because he feels he's irrelevant. Also we have a story with a fellow named Bobby Thompson (who looks like a cross between Bobby Kennedy & Matt Damon) who seems very square, has a very nice family yet something is very clearly wrong with him. He gleefully shoots and collects guns...and rounds of ammo and gets weirder and weirder. He snaps, goes on a huge massacre spree that winds up at the drive-in where Byron is showing one of his films. It's actually a very cold and evil feeling picture, I can't help but wonder if it helped inspire any of the shooting tragedies that followed in real life unfortunately. This is one dark and strange film, the tension is great as one can tell something bad is about to happen for much of the movie. I'm surprised they got away with this sort of thing back in '68 but heck I'm glad they did. Something that you've really got to see, shocking and disturbing probably Karloff's best late film that I've seen.
 
Availability:  On DVD