DVD Review: Boris Karloff Collection

Boris Karloff Collection
Directors: Roy William Neill, Nick Grinde, Edward Dmytryk, Lew Landers
Starring: Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre, Marian Marchy, Lorna Gray, Roger Pryor, Evelyn Keyes, Richard Fiske
Studio: Mill Creek Entertainment
Release Date: September 19, 2015
Retail: $14.98
ASIN: B011PS51LI
Running Time: 6 hours 43 minutes
Rating: Not Rated
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:

Though Halloween is officially over for this year, it doesn't mean you have to stop watching horror flicks as there are plenty of older movies being released to DVD, such as the Boris Karloff Collection, featuring six classic flicks - The Black Room, The Man They Could Not Hang, Before I Hang, The Devil Commands and The Boogie Man Will Get You.

Directed by Roy William Neill., The Black Room (1935; 69 minutes) stars Boris Karloff playing dual twin brothers, Baron Gregor de Berghmann and Anton de Berghmann, in the early 1800's in Czecoslovakia. Baron is the bad a twin, a man that kills the wives of the local peasants. After the good twin, Anton, returns to the land, Baron lures him into the Black Room and kills him. Baron assumes his brother's identity, so he can continue his madness.

Directed by Nick Grinde, The Man They Could Not Hang (1939; 64 minutes) centers on Dr. Henryk Savaard (played by Boris Karloff), a doctor that is obsessed with bring the dead back to life. After being hanged, he returns from the dead and sees out to revenge the men that convicted him.

Also directed by Nick Grinde is The Man With Nine Lives (1940; 74 minutes) and stars Boris Karloff as another crazed scientist, but this time he's searching for a cure for cancer. He freezes his patients in suspended animation, but accidentally freezes himself. He wakes up ten years later and continues his research. Only this time he uses his enemies for the experiments.

Before I Hang (1940; 64 minutes) was also directed by Nick Grinde and stars Boris Karloff as another doctor, Dr. Garth, who is awaiting execution for killing an elderly friend. Just before his death, he injects himself with a serum that is made from the blood of a homicidal maniac, which has deadly results.

Directed by Edward Dmytryk, The Devil Commands (1941; 65 minutes) stars Boris Karloff as another mad scientist, Dr. Julian Blair, who tries to communicate with his dead wife. He finally makes contact with the dead at an isolated mansion in New England, but his madness eventually take over him.

The last movie on this two-disc set is The Boogie Man Will Get You (1942; 67 minutes). Directed by Lew Landers, Boris Karloff plays Professor Billings, a mad scientist that uses the basement in an Inn to create a raise an army super humans.

Yep, Boris Karloff was definitely typecast as a mad scientist over and over again during his later career, but I guess it kept him working. Many b&w horror flicks don't get any airtime on cable channels anymore, so it's nice to find these six movies on DVD. None of the movies have been remastered, but the picture quality is decent for the most part. Overall, I enjoyed watching all six moves on the Boris Karloff Collection.