Entertaining horror comedy starring the great Boris Karloff as a scientist who has to sell his colonial house. It's turned into a hotel but the scientist is allowed to keep his laboratory in the basement, where he tries to create super-powered men for the war effort. It's a movie that has quite a bit in common with the superior Arsenic and Old Lace, which Karloff had starred in on stage (but not in the film version). Co-starring with Karloff is Peter Lorre, who would go on to star in the Arsenic film. I would watch these two legends read the phone book (is that an outdated phrase now?). They're both a lot of fun here and easily the main reason to recommend this picture to anyone. The rest of the cast is good, especially Maxie Rosenbloom, but Karloff and Lorre are the highlights. Anyway, it's not a classic in the same way that Frank Capra's Arsenic and Old Lace is but it is lots of fun, particularly for fans of Karloff and Lorre.

I couldn't wait to see this film. After all, it starred Boris Karloff and he's one of my favorites. Imagine my surprise, then, when instead of the typical horror film it turned out this was supposed to be a screwball comedy. I say "supposed to" because the film just wasn't funny.The film takes place in a rotting old Colonial home that's being turned into an inn. The lady who just bought the place knows nothing about running a hotel and she agreed to let the old owner (Karloff) continue to live there and conduct his experiments in the basement. However, she does not know that the experiments have already killed four traveling salesmen and Karloff doesn't seem particularly alarmed about this. Later, the town's big-shot (Peter Lorre) finds out about it but instead of arresting him (since he's, among other things, the sheriff), he quickly goes into business with Karloff. Then, unexpectedly, other people start to die and disappear and all sorts of kookiness ensues.In so many, many ways this film is a bad knockoff of ARSENIC AND OLD LACE--which had been a very successful play for several years and was wonderfully filmed in late 1941 (though shelved until the play ended in 1944). In fact, both Karloff and Lorre were associated with the production (Lorre was in the film and Karloff was in the Broadway play). In many other ways THE BOOGIE MAN is a blatant ripoff of ARSENIC AND OLD LACE--such as the dead bodies in the basement, the disappearing body, Lorre being a doctor (in addition to being a sheriff and several other jobs), etc.. The big difference, however, is that THE BOOGIE MAN is totally unfunny from start to finish due to having absolutely no pacing or decent writing. Instead of subtle or clever (like ARSENIC), the film just comes off as very abrasive and loud and more like a Three Stooges film than anything else. Considering it was made by Columbia Pictures (home of the Stooges), this isn't all that surprising. What is surprising is that Karloff would allow himself to be in such a dreadful film. In fact, I might go so far as to say that this is possible Karloff's worst film of the 1940s--though a few of his later films are significantly worse (if that's possible), such as GHOST IN THE INVISIBLE BIKINI and CAULDRON OF BLOOD.Watch only if you have a very strong stomach and a very, very low sense of humor. If you like the Stooges' shorts, this film might still not be sophisticated enough for you as the average Stooge short is like Shakespeare compared to THE BOOGIE MAN. Wow that's one hour of my life I'll never be able to get back--thanks Columbia!

While the film fails to offer any actual "Boogieman", it does offer up a variety of decent chuckles, courtesy of its then all-star cast. With a goofy set up, likable characters, and some great slapstick, The Boogie Man Will Get You is a decent, fun little romp from yesteryear.The plot follows a young woman who decides to purchase an old Colonial mansion in the middle of nowhere with the hopes of turning it into a hotel, even though it is barely standing. Her ex-husband finds her only seconds after she has made the purchase (a plot device never fully explained) and tried to convince her she's been swindled. She doesn't care, having become fond of the eclectic cast of characters that inhabit the house... but little does she know, the old man who works in the basement is actually trying to create a race of electric supermen! Bodies begin piling up (or do they?), Peter Lorre shows up playing the town mayor/sheriff/notary with a kitten in his coat pocket, and general Hollywood hijinks ensue. The ending is a mess, but it ends up being so convoluted, it somehow finds charms in all of its lunacy. While far from intelligent entertainment, you could do a lot worse for 66 minutes of your life.If you're a Karloff or Lorre fan, its well worth seeing. Others, its hit-or-miss.

This film was quite enjoyable for what it was. A cockeyed optimist(Miss Jeff Daniels) buys a rundown colonial era inn with high hopes and decides to allow the current inhabitants, among them a scientist working on a device that will help the Allies win the war(Boris Karloff)and an old woman who obsesses about chickens, to stay on. Her bumbling ex-husband has followed her. The scientist is soon joined by the sheriff/coroner/justice of the peace (and purveyor of baldness cures),played by Peter Lorre. The big question is: Is there are or aren't there a room full of corpses in a secret room off the wine cellar? They have been experimenting on travelling salesmen who happen by the house,using the standard bulb- and- helmet type of contraption that should be familiar to moviegoers. Lorre's character packs a huge pistol and keeps a Siamese kitten in his pocket, claiming that "she has a incredible sense for crime and corruption." Good thing.