Dark Dignitaries: When Karloff met Lewton Part I: Isle of the Dead
As part of this week's Boris Karloff Blogathon , I've decided to have a look at the three atmospheric chillers Karloff made with producer Val Lewton in the mid-forties. Given a collection of lurid titles by RKO, Lewton was instructed to craft low budget horror films to compete with Universal's slew of Monster Movies at the time. Lewton created subtle, provocative and tasteful films that became highly influential in the horror genre. When Karloff came on board for three of these films ( Isle of the Dead, The Body Snatcher and Bedlam ) the two men found kindred spirits in one another and this dark union produced three highly effective pictures that proved to be the best amongst both men's work. When Val Lewton was told that Boris Karloff had signed a 3 picture contract with RKO and he had to use the actor, Lewton was initially not best pleased. Karloff had been signed by Jack Gross, who like Karloff, was coming to the studio from Universal. According to director Mark...