Black Friday (1940) - Arthur Lubin

This movie has a masterful mix of old-style gangster pictures and a mad scientist horror film. It's great! You get both Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff doing their usual thing. Giving the movie some street cred. It plays out really smoothly and packs a big punch. It's the kind of quality I have grown to love from Universal.

A criminal with a secret stash of hidden money is paralyzed and dying after being involved in a hit and run during a get-away from a heist. A surgeon, and friend to a victim of that hit-and-run, performs a very risky operation. He transplants the brain of the criminal into that of his friend in hopes of recovering the location of that hidden money. However, he awakens a murderous and treacherous fiend that has a love for murder!

It can be argued that this has too much action to be a horror movie. Some parts feel like No Country for Old Men but others are thrilling and suspenseful enough to definitely be horror. People argue that this movie has serious flaws. Mostly with Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff not sharing any scenes. Apparently, Karloff was hard to work with. However, none of that seems to take away from the entertainment value.

This isn't the best horror movie and it's really not that scary but I highly recommend it. It's a quality picture that shouldn't get swept under the rug or forgotten about. Not just because it is a Karloff/Lugosi movie. But also that it's a really absorbing and fun.

Director: Arthur Lubin
Starring: Boris Karloff, Stanley Ridges, Anne Nagel, and Bela Lugosi
Style: Action Horror - Mad Scientist
Studio: Universal
Country: USA

Did ya know...

Of the eight films featuring Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi the two stars have no scenes together in this film and also "Gift of Gab."
Shooting lasted from December 28, 1939-January 18, 1940, released March 21.

Comments

Ju-On (2000) - Takashi Shimizu

Watching Japanese horror is similar to watching British comedy. If you enjoy dry whit then you probably enjoy the boys of Monty Python in drag. That's the joke, they're dressed like women. Get it? Well, that's British humor. But if you're like most Americans you probably prefer Adam Sandler farting his way across a football field and hooking up with chicks that are way out of his league. Americans usually prefer this more in your face, crass brand of humor. My point is funny in England is different from funny in the US. The same goes for J-Horror. What the Japanese consider scary is very different from what Americans consider scary and it shows in this horror film. Japanese horror is generally slow (a little too slow sometimes), suspenseful and creepy. Ju-On is a creepy effing film. The movie has almost no soundtrack. It is incredibly suspenseful and the pay-offs are pretty awesome, but I think that it was done better in the American version (cultural t...

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Sleepy Hollow (1999) - Tim Burton

Tim Burton's take on the old Sleepy Hollow tale is really interesting. He adds his own flair of course. He delves very deeply into the original story by Washington Irving. The casting is usual for Burton. Johnny Depp of course in your lead. Helena Bonham Carter, thrown in for some flavor. The score is done by Danny Elfman. It's literally just the Ichabod Crane story run through the Tim Burton machine. But in a good way. Sleepy Hollow has a problem with a guy, running around, taking people's heads. Like, a lot of people. The town sends word for assistance and the nervous Constable Ichabod Crane reports. He starts to unravel clues that take him down an incredibly strange path. With the Horseman still murdering patrons, Crane tries finding who's next before they lose their head. I've always been a big fan of the Disney cartoon, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad . This movie is a far cry from Bing Crosby and quaint animations....

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Le Manoir du Diable (1896) - George Melies

According to Wikipedia in August of 2011, Le Manoir du diable by Georges Melies is the first horror movie. Well, actually its a short film (about three minuets or so) but film was really hard to come by in that time so this counts as a film to me. The plot of the film is basic, you have your hero being tormented by demonic things in a crazy castle room... However, that plot isn't what brought the crowds. The thing that drove the popularity of these films was the fact that you were seeing motion on screen. I suggest going and seeing Hugo. That film is spectacular. It answered so many questions that I had. It really sets the scene and the tone. The film has strong christian overtones and actually ends with Christianity prevailing over the "tides of darkness". I provided a link at the bottom of this review for anyone that would like to see this pioneer in Horror Film. The movie uses very, very early "movie magic" that is an abundance of smoke and m...

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