The Boogie Man Will Get You (1942)
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60% of users liked it
(971 ratings)
In this silly but enjoyable rip-off of Arsenic and Old Lace, Boris Karloff plays an addlepated scientist who is experimenting with bringing the dead back to life. To do this, he has "killed" several travelling salesmen and placed them in suspended animation in his basement. Karloff is… More In this silly but enjoyable rip-off of Arsenic and Old Lace, Boris Karloff plays an addlepated scientist who is experimenting with bringing the dead back to life. To do this, he has "killed" several travelling salesmen and placed them in suspended animation in his basement. Karloff is fiercely protected by his housekeeper (Maude Eburne), who is none too normal herself. Beauteous real estate agent Jeff Donnell approaches Karloff to buy his New England home; Donnell wishes to turn the ramshackle domicile into a rustic inn. Other visitors to the Karloff manse are Donnell's ex-husband Larry Parks, and the local sheriff/justice of the peace (Peter Lorre)! who holds the high-interest mortgage on the house. Travelling peddler Maxie Rosenbloom also shows up, and is promptly made a subject of Karloff's experimentation. It turns out that Karloff has really killed no one--all the salesmen are merely stunned, especially the dimwitted Rosenbloom--but the plot is complicated by a real murder, committed by person or persons unknown. As the convoluted storyline runs down, the Karloff home is invaded by an Italian P.O.W. (Frank Puglia) who is wired with explosives, and finally by representatives of the local booby hatch. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Directed By
- Lew Landers
- Written By
- Hal Fimberg, Edwin Blum
- Genres
- Horror, Comedy
Unrated,
- In Theaters
- Oct 22, 1942 Limited
Critic Reviews
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Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
The joys of the film -- and there are some -- come almost entirely from the interplay of Karloff and Lorre.
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Cast
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Boris Karloff
as Prof. Nathaniel Billings
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Peter Lorre
as Dr. Lorentz
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Max 'Slapsie Maxie' Rosenbloom
as Maxie
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Jeff Donnell
as Winnie Leyden
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Larry Parks
as Bill Leyden
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Maude Eburne
as Amelia Jones
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George McKay
as Ebenezer
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Frank Puglia
as Silvio Baciagalupi
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Eddie Laughton
as Johnson
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Frank Sully
as Officer Starr-ett
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James C. Morton
as Officer Quincy
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Don Beddoe
as J. Gilbert Brampton
