Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Panamint Mainly viewable for fine work by Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre (in charming, comedic-style roles) and an outstanding performance by the talented miss Jeff Donnell. I wish Donnell's work could become more widely known, she was outstanding in a number of obscure and little-seen films like this one. Another good example of her work in a fun role in a relatively obscure b-film is the Tim Holt western "The Stagecoach Kid"."The Boogie Man Will Get You" features a great cast, energetically done and generally well performed and staged in a horror-comedy format popular in the 1940's, but one thing is missing: they forgot to make it funny. It is relentlessly packed with comedy set-ups and bits, none of them funny but some are sort of goofy. Unfortunately, whoever wrote the humor gags really dropped the ball. The high level of talent by everyone involved cannot overcome this one big flaw with the project.Can't recommend that you view this film unless you are a big fan or completist of the actors involved, or you have an hour to kill with lightweight, inoffensive fare.

Michael_Elliott Boogie Man Will Get You, The (1942) *** (out of 4) A nutty doctor (Boris Karloff) plans on creating supermen but his experiments continue to fail. With the help of another man (Peter Lorre) the two start kidnapping folks from the hotel being ran above their basement. This is a pretty entertaining comedy/horror film from Columbia that works best thanks to the performances by Karloff and Lorre. The two work very well together and their comic timing is right on the mark. The supporting players are fine as well in this cash in on Arsenic and Old Lace.

bsmith5552 The title, "The Boogie Man Will Get You" should give you an idea of the sort of film you're going to see. Its basically a minor horror/comedy played out more or less like a Three Stooges comedy with a budget. For stars Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre, it was probably a welcome change of pace from the roles both had been playing. The story is similar in many ways to "Arsenic and Old Lace" a hit Broadway play of the day in which Karloff had been starring.Two eccentrics, Professor Nathaniel Billings (Karloff) and Amelia Jones (Maude Eburne) live in a run down old Colonial Inn which they have put up for sale. A young lady Winnie Layden (Jeff Donnell) comes to look over the place and decides to buy it. As a condition of the sale Billings asks that he, Amelia and handyman Ebenezer (George McKay) be allowed to stay so that Billings can complete his experiments in the building's basement.The mortgage holder Dr. Lorentz (Lorre), who is also the sheriff, the coroner and the Justice of the Peace, among other titles, arrives. Billings gleefully pays off his mortgage and Winnie takes title to the property just as her former husband Bill (Larry Parks) arrives to try for some unknown reason to prevent her from buying the Inn.Meanwhile Billings continues his experiments to try to perfect a super human, but his test subject apparently dies. Bill discovers the body in the basement and he and Winnie report the crime to Lorenz in his role of the town sheriff. On investigating, Lorenz learns of Billings plans and wants in on the action. He also discovers that there are also four other "test subjects" laid out in the next room.A "ballet master", J. Gilbert Brampton arrives at the Inn and begins to snoop around. A traveling powder puff salesman (Maxie Rosenbloom) arrives and Billings and Lorentz plan to make him their next "test subject". An escaped fascist prisoner (Frank Paglia) also drops in and threatens to blow everybody up. Two cops (Frank Sully, James Morton) arrive to investigate a reported murder.Everything manages to get sorted out in the end.The film leaves a few unanswered questions such as "Where did Winnie get all of the cash?, Why were Bill and Winnie divorced?, Who was really making the Indian whooping noise? and What was the "arrangement", if any between Billings and Amelia? And beware of the typical Hollywood Production Code ending. This was Karloff's final film on his Columbia contract and he would be off the screen until 1944's "The Climax" while he continued to appear in "Arsenic and Old Lace", which by the way prevented him from getting a part in the 1944 film version.The two leads seem to enjoy all of this nonsense and both would appear in comedic parts over the years for the rest of their careers.

MARIO GAUCI Obviously inspired by (but certainly no match for) the theatrical success of the legendary black farce, ARSENIC AND OLD LACE (co-starring Boris Karloff) - whose film version, featuring Peter Lorre(!), had been shot but not yet released - the film can also be seen as a spoof on Karloff's "Mad Doctor" cycle of films (which, unfortunately, I've yet to sample myself!) he had just finished for the same studio, Columbia; the film also touches upon the wartime situation by having Karloff's mysterious experiments emerge as a crackpot attempt to aid the war effort! At first I wasn't particularly enthused with it, but gradually the film settled into being a pleasant diversion, with the two stars making a truly wonderful team (a surprisingly bemused Karloff still manages to retain his dignity while Lorre, typically shady and nervy at the same time, gives it his all as the jack-of-all-trades of a remote small town); Lorre has a tiny but intuitive Siamese cat for an assistant, which he carries along in the inside pocket of his coat!Still, the film is more silly than funny: there is, of course, a bland romantic couple (the male half of which is Larry Parks, later to achieve short-lived fame portraying Al Jolson in the two Columbia biopics of the great entertainer!) and the rest of the cast play either goofy or eccentric characters but, alas, none is all that engaging!! Besides, given the low-budget which must have been afforded the production, the laboratory design and the special effects are pretty shoddy!