The Boogie Man Will Get You (1942)

Directed by Lew Landers [Other horror films: The Raven (1935), The Return of the Vampire (1943), The Mask of Diijon (1946), Inner Sanctum (1948), Terrified (1962)]

Despite the encouraging title, this horror-comedy mix doesn’t really do a whole lot to stand out. Sure, it has some good performances, and some occasionally wacky moments, but I don’t think it’s enough to solidify this as any type of classic. It’s serviceable, but little more than that.

The plot follows a young woman (Jeff Donnell) as she buys an old house, with the intention to convert it into an inn, all while dealing with a doctor doing experiments in the basement, mysterious disappearances, a town official who gets a bit nosy, and plenty of traveling salesmen. Oh, and what seemed to be an Italian fascist toward the end, which was an interesting addition.

Actually, it’s on that note that I should say much of the film’s plot revolves around the then-ongoing World War II – the scientist’s experiments are designed to create a super-soldier, someone seems as though they could be a spy, and there’s even a munitions factory in town, causing a delay when the police are finally called to the hopeful inn.

The central cast – and by central, I mean two – are great, being Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre. Karloff (The Strange Door, The Mummy, Frankenstein 1970, The Man They Could Not Hang) does amusingly as a somewhat absent-minded scientist type of good intentions, and Lorre (You’ll Find Out, Mad Love, The Comedy of Terrors, The Beast with Five Fingers) was even better playing a sheriff/mayor/investor/loan shark. I think Lorre probably brought more to the film than Karloff did, but it was great to see the two of them.

Technically, Jeff Donnell (The Unknown) and Larry Parks might be more the central characters, or at least the primary protagonists, but I didn’t really care for either one’s character. Maxie Rosenbloom and Maude Eburne (The Vampire Bat, The Bat Whispers) provided some of the comedy here, but it mostly fell flat to me. Frank Puglia’s character felt like a random add-on, but I will admit that Don Beddoe’s character did interest me.

Certainly a couple of lines were amusing, my favorite being when Karloff was showing Lorre five bodies of failed experiments, and explaining that there were traveling salesmen, pointing one out as selling encyclopedias, to which Lorre replied “I’m sure he didn’t mind.” There were a few other laughs to be had, but like I said, I personally think a lot of the comedy fell somewhat flat.

It’s not a bad movie, though. Sure, The Boogie Man Will Get You isn’t likely to stand out aside from the fact it has both Karloff and Lorre in it, but it’s still serviceable as a horror-comedy mix. It’s digestible too, at only an hour and seven minutes.

If you enjoy the classics of the genre, and are looking for something you’ve perhaps not seen, this might be worth a look, but I don’t really think it’ll end up being that memorable, all things considered.

6/10