The documentary: ‘Boris Karloff: The Man Behind the Monster’ is so darn entertaining and gives you so many “wow, I did not know that” moments that you feel almost lifted up by the experience (and sad that the legend passed away in 1969 at the age of 88).
I’m not the most experienced Classic Horror Fan, but I grew up knowing the name and never the man who was Frankenstein’s Monster, The Mummy, star of countless spooky films of the 30s and 40s and the voice of the animated Grinch, for heaven’s sake.
Karloff was prolific, underpaid, and pigeonholed – all bummers. But he seems to have always loved the art and the process and he didn’t have a 6 decade career by accident. When he becomes the unwitting (and unhappy about it) subject of This is Your Life, he is most pleased to meet the legendary makeup artist, Jack Pierce , that’s the kind of guy he was.
Two things are especially great about the film: interview bits from extremely knowledgeable Classic Horror movies like Directors Guillermo del Toro, John Landis, Roger Corman, and Joe Dante, among other super smart experts, among whom is Karloff’s only daughter.
The second thing is: lots of great archival footage so that you can see what the folks are talking about.
Things I didn’t know (but won’t spoil) that the film taught me:
Why he was bullied as a child in his home country of England
What other films he was amazing in that a casual viewer like me never knew about.
Why there were serious and consequential disagreements between Karloff and Frankenstein director James Whale.
That Karloff ended up on Broadway, much against his initial doubts that he could handle it.
His ethnicity, his journey to Canada and what work that afforded him in the very, very early days of film.
And lots of other stuff. Put it this way, I am now keen to go back and watch those classic films for the first time since childhood.
‘Boris Karloff: The Man Behind the Monster’ | 3 ½ out of 4 Stars |Debuts on SHUDDER Thursday, January 27th. Also available on Shudder CA, Shudder UKI, and Shudder ANZ.
