‘Boris Karloff: The Man Behind the Monster’ Review (Shudder)
Horror, as a movie genre, has a history that goes to the very beginnings of film itself. All the way back in the 1930s when Universal were creating what would become known as the “Universal Monsters” legends were also being born. One of these was Boris Karloff who is celebrated in the documentary Boris Karloff: The Man Behind the Monster.
To me and to many, Karloff’s version of Frankenstein’s Monster is still the best and is the version that became part of pop culture. What was important about his portrayal was that while he may have looked like a monster, Karloff created a creature that people actually had sympathy for. While he was meant to be some feared monster, the truth was that he was much more, and people connected with that.
An interesting part of the documentary is Karloff’s thoughts on the infamous lake scene with the young girl. Cut for many years, Karloff was against filming it at all, and in many ways his reluctance to film the scene was right. He paid a price for speaking up against this, but this can be seen in the documentary.
The strength of Boris Karloff: The Man Behind the Monster though is that it doesn’t dwell just on the Frankenstein movies, though it does cover them extensively as they were a big part of his career. What we are provided with though is a very broad look at his career, and also his life. We see what a caring man he was, what he did for Hollywood actors themselves, and also the legacy he left behind.
Part of this legacy is the impact he has on Hollywood today. We get to see this with interviews with the likes of Guillermo Del Toro, Ron Perlman, Roger Corman and John Landis. You can even see this in the portrayals of Frankenstein’s Monster and the overall look of the character. He may have changed through more modern versions, but in the end we realise that the so-called Monster isn’t the creature itself, but the scientist who created him.
Fans of horror will no doubt love this documentary and the fact that it is feature length is a huge plus. It allows the audience to be introduced to many films that people probably didn’t even realise featured Karloff. It’s also a good dose of nostalgia for the fans of more classic horror. Importantly though it also makes people realise that there was much more than horror to Karloff.
Fans of both horror and the history of movies will no doubt love Boris Karloff: The Man Behind the Monster and quite rightly so. It feels like a documentary that is pulled together through the love of the career of Boris Karloff and who the man was. It also may work as a good eye-opener to those who didn’t realise just how versatile an actor Boris Karloff truly was.
***** 5/5
Boris Karloff: The Man Behind the Monster is available on Shudder now.
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