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Title: Karloff & Lugosi Horror Classics (2009)
Format: DVD
Score:
Starring: Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi
Director: Not available
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Runtime: 127 minutes
Hits: 81
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Review of Karloff & Lugosi Horror Classics

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Comments for Karloff & Lugosi Horror Classics

• Posted on 2009-11-18
  Subtitles info
  
  For French buyers: it's not written on this site or on the box set, but THERE ARE French subtitles, of very good quality, available on these DVDs for all four films.
  Enjoy 4 films of varying quality, every one of them worth watching (FRANKENSTEIN 1970 was a nice surprise), with crystal clear sound and picture, with the exception of THE WALKING DEAD which is a bit fuzzy around the edges, well it is also the older of the lot so it's very acceptable. No reviews of the films here, many users have done that and very well so! I enjoyed it all.
  
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• Posted on 2009-10-31
  Karloff, Bela Lugois, and Peter Lorre! Need I say more?
  
  I urge you to buy this collection for the movie "You'll find Out".
  
  One dark and stormy night... there was this gorgous 40's horror-comedy.
  
  WHO: A beautiful young heiress. A few classic "who-done-it" guests. Plus, swinging "Kay Kyser and his collage of musical knowledge."
  
  WHERE: A huge spooky mansion cramed full of attractive young girl friends, stuffed tigers, african tribal masks, and looming tikis.
  
  WHEN: A dark stormy night, and (of course) the only bridge leading to town, is blown up, or "...struck by lighting" as Boris explains. They are trapped.
  
  THEN: introduce the Unholy Three: the greatest villains of the 40's era silver screen - Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and Peter Lorre.
  
  Lightning! Thunder! flickering Lights! Musical numbers! Spooky high camp fun.
  
  Boris Karloff lurks from the shadows in his distinguished suave menacing best.
  
  Lorre: ultra cool-creepy sleepy-eyed chain-smoking dangerously purrs and doubts the supernatural powers of Lugosi. So, what happens then?
  
  WHAT? A Seance!
  
  Bela: "Very well. For you I will do it. But, I must warn you... for those who scoff at their exsistance, the spirits consider no punishment too drastic!"
  
  The seance is the show stopper scene of the film. Lugosi commands elaborate props, floating objects, the "fires of death", evil spirits! Wonderful!
  
  A beautiful transfer. Some great sets, costumes, and 40's effects. I dare you to watch the seance scene and not smile: Lugosi goes into a trance while Kyser conducts his band with a glowing baton. Before "rock and roll" there was "big band" music. Kay Kyser was big on stage antics. He was the Kiss of the 40's. Karloff glares. Lorre smokes and plays detective. The art direction and "Kitch" factor are well off the scale on this one. Primo stuff for retro-film buffs.
  
  The other big find in this collection is a rousing commentary for "Frankenstein 1970" by Bob Burns, Charlotte Austin, and Tom Weaver. What a delightful special feature! Lot's of behind the scenes stories, Hollywood memories, and even a discussion of the heart pounding "1952 Armed Forces Radio" Halloween "gag-that-almost-went-too-far" that was the core idea for this film. Very interesting stuff!
  
  Well worth the money for these vintage treasures!
  
  Buy it. Watch it. Love it.
  
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• Posted on 2009-10-26
  Horror "Classics" is overstating it.
  
  As others have pointed out, what you're really buying this set for is "The Walking Dead," a very nice little film (66 minutes)from 1936 starring Boris Karloff at the height of his horror-icon fame. The best of the many Karloff-back-from-the-dead revenge films,"The Walking Dead" is actually more of a supernatural mobster movie then a horror vehicle. But it's nicely photographed and is directed by Warner's any-genre ace Michael Curtiz, who later helmed "The Adventures of Robin Hood" and "Casablanca." Karloff gives a heartfelt performance and there are several familiar faces from the Warner stable in supporting roles. It's this film in this 2-disc set, that rates the 4 stars. "Frankenstein 1970" is a low-budget chiller from 1958(don't try to make sense of it)that is actually much better then I had remembered, thanks to a genuinely creepy opening scene and the presence of Karloff in the role of a Frankenstein descendent. The print, like all the prints in this set, is crisp and clean and as a bonus we get it in a striking widescreen version. "You'll Find Out" is essentially a Kay Kaiser comedy that gets a cred lift from the three horror heavies. You don't have to be smarter then Ish Kabibble to figure out who the bad guys turn out to be in this "Cat and the Canary"-ish mystery, but Karloff, Lugosi and Lorre each play it straight and that along with a pretty good seance scene makes it worth your time. "Zombies On Boadway" is like a poor man's version of an Abbott & Costello-meet-a-monster movie. If you like this kind of stuff then you won't be sorry you bought it. Happy Halloween
  
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• Posted on 2009-10-14
  Fun for Fans, Families and Newbies on the Block!
  
  I agree with those who feel that this two disc collection of four films featuring the two horror greats Karloff and Lugosi should NOT be subtitled "Horror Classics." None of the films are true "classics" and only two qualify as strictly "horror" and even that is debatable.
  
  Having said that, these movies are fun! "The Walking Dead" directed by the versatile and famous Michael Curtiz is the best of the bunch and is a moody, thoughtful, quiet probing of the mysteries of Life and Death and Vengeance wherein the vengeance is quite Biblical in that the film actually fulfills the "Vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord" maxim. A greatly acted, paced, filmed, scored film. A quasi-classic.
  
  The much-maligned "Frankenstein 1970" is due for another look-see - and we have it here, in pristine widescreen. Karloff doesn't walk through this one, as many people claim. I think his performance is extremely forceful and by turns frightening and tragic. (His soliloquy in the Frankenstein tomb is magnificent to watch being acted and paced and gesticulated perfectly by the horror Maestro.) The film, sadly, has a lousy, ridiculous monster....but the pluses outweigh the minues: the music score is terrific, the sets are filled with atmosphere and the beginning of this movie is arguably the scariest beginning to ANY horror film ever made. I won't spoil it for those who have not seen it: but suffice it to say, it is scaringly scored, atmospherically set and paced and the camera angles set the heart pounding. It is too bad that the film's frightening opening did not continue throughout the rest of the movie.
  
  The other two films are comedies, more or less. Not side-splittingly funny, but the plotlines are interesting and the settings, again, are perfectly Halloweenish (especially in "You'll Find Out") and there are creepy moments in both films. The seance in "You'll Find Out" is quite weird, indeed. Karloff, Lugosi and Lorre play their parts to perfection and play them straight against the comedy of Kay Kyser and others. The zombies in "Zombies on Broadway" are also weird and could give youngsters nightmares!
  
  Anyway - Halloween is at hand. Buy this set and you won't be disappointed. And these are movies that the whole family can enjoy. Trick or treat? Well, this dual DVD is much more treat than trick!
  
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• Posted on 2009-10-12
  1 out of 4 aint bad ? Total lackluster set still might be worth getting
  
  As a Karloff/Lugosi fan I was curious about getting this set, knowing that 3 of the movies Frankenstein 1970, Youll Find Out & Zombies on Broadway were all given less than stellar reviews..while The Walking Dead is supposed to be a great flick.
  THE WALKING DEAD basically is about Boris Karloff coming back to life after being killed by electric shock in prison. He was accused of a murder which he didnt commit. He comes back to life and gets his revenge on those who have framed him. He is brought back to life from a doctor ( Edmund Gwenn who was Santa Claus in Miracle on 34th Street) This is a very good 1930s horror, where things were booming in the genre. Karloff is great as usual. This was a blend of gangsters with a touch of horror. If youve seen the Indestructible Man with Lon Chaney - it resembles that film in part , but The Walking Dead is much better. Karloff also did similar titles for Columbia like the Man with Nine Lives,etc..The transfer is pretty good - very good - it has signs of specs and age here and there but for a movie 60 years old it has held up pretty well..
  FRANKENSTEIN 1970 - First off the transfer is GREAT and widescreen. In this Karloff is Dr. Frankenstein creating a monster using atomic energy. The cast is a really nothing special past Karloff and the film to me drags a little bit until the monster makes his grand appearance. The ending is pretty comical. This movie has been given some of the worst reviews ranging from Terrible to Awful to * star and well...I personally think the biggest die-hard 1950s schlock fans will enjoy it. I think there is a lot better cheese out there than this one ( Amazing Colossal Man, It Conquered the World)..it would have been a good Midnite Movie..
  ZOMBIES ON BROADWAY - this was a ho-hum unfunny movie with Bela Lugosi as Dr Reanult working on making Zombies with an injection. Its about 2 Broadway agents (Alan Carney and Wally Brown forced to go an island to find zombies for a new nightclub called the Zombie Hut or something like that. The comedy duo gets into all kinds of mischief. They tried to be like Abbott & Costello but failed miserably. Tongue in Cheek with minimal horror elements. The zombies were creepy looking, but it didn't work for me in a comedy movie. The main zombie is the same guy from I walked with a Zombie which is far superior to this..
  YOULL FIND OUT has Lugosi , Karloff and the great Peter Lorre spoofing the horror genre with musicals (no less than 5 numbers). UGH..Kay Kyser is the real star. No horror to be found here either. It's a real shame that this is called a horror set. The word horror is really stretched here (think Fox Horror Classics Volumes 1 & 2 )
  Well overall I did find the transfers to be really good, the packaging was pretty good..2 discs with 2 movies apiece of them. This has some bonus features such as commentaries which these movies might be better to watch with.
  Is it worth getting just to have the Walking Dead ? This is a question I am still pondering because the other movies, unless you are really, REALLY into camp and horror spoofs , these movies just wont capture your attention or hold your interest. I could envision watching these on a cold winter day when you aren't really feeling that good and just want to lie around and watch something that you can doze off on. Karloff/Lugosi completists will want to get this no matter what I would say :-)
  Just like the Fox horror classics in Volume 2 I think the word 'Horror' is getting a stretch again here..
  Basically if audio commentaries along with good to very good movie transfers outweigh 3 lousy movies on a 4 disc set this ones for you
  
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