Ranking ‘Frankenstein’ Actor Boris Karloff’s Scary-Good Movies
Like any genre, horror has a lengthy list of names attached to it, whether in the form of filmmakers, writers, artists, or actors. In the case of the latter, it’s difficult to think of a star more universally recognized than the horror icon Boris Karloff. One of the mainstay faces of horror next to his contemporary Bela Lugosi, Karloff starred in over 170 films throughout his illustrious 50-year career, many of which remain classics to this day.
While Karloff earned renown for providing the definitive portrayal of the lumbering Monster in the 1931 adaptation of Frankenstein, Karloff also figured into a number of other fantastic films.
From his momentous collaborations with Bela Lugosi to his later roles in family-friendly holiday films, find here Boris Karloff's greatest movies ranked from best to worst.
Frankenstein
Every horror icon has one or two films the public will remember forever. For Boris Karloff, that movie is 1931’s Frankenstein. The second entry in Universal’s expansive line-up of horror movies after Dracula, Frankenstein proved another significant financial and critical success for Universal, confirming the public’s interest in the company’s rogues’ gallery of horror monsters.
Frankenstein features many memorable elements, though Karloff’s iteration of the Creature accounts for the movie’s longevity almost 100 years later. Far from being a mere rampaging monster, Karloff embeds enough heartfelt emotion and sincerity into his Creature to create a tragic anti-villain. Inhabiting an infantile-like mindset, Karloff’s Creature takes his first tentative steps into the brave new world around him, only to meet fear, resentment, and frequent scorn for his appearance and the complex circumstances of his creation.
The Bride of Frankenstein
A rare sequel that rivals the esteem of its predecessor, 1935’s The Bride of Frankenstein ranks as yet another incredible entry in Universal’s catalog of horror movies. Often touted by film scholars as one of the greatest horror movies of all time, The Bride of Frankenstein‘s narrative progression from Frankenstein makes it a sequel as emotional and thought-provoking as its precursor.
As with Frankenstein, Karloff infuses plenty of warmth and humanity into his portrayal of the Creature. Sensing his inability to coexist alongside people, the Creature instead turns to the idea of having a female companion by his side, remedying his profound loneliness and sense of isolation. With a far more intelligent and introspective view of himself than the initial Frankenstein, Karloff continues his ability to construct a nuanced personality around the Creature through a handful of sentences and pained facial expressions alone.
The Mummy
Next to Frankenstein, people often remember Karloff for his appearance in another successful Universal horror movie: 1932’s The Mummy. Taking advantage of the exposure from Frankenstein, The Mummy casts Karloff as another prosthetic-heavy performance, albeit one as weighty and layered as the actor’s celebrated role as the Monster one year earlier.
In contrast to the sympathetic qualities of the Creature, Karloff’s role as Imhotep provides the actor with one of his chilling characters. Equipped with a tragic backstory, Karloff’s Imhotep attempts to resurrect his ancient forbidden love, even at the cost of an innocent young woman (Zita Johann) standing in his way. With his eloquent speaking voice, towering height, and inexpressive facial features, Karloff deftly gets underneath viewers’ skin, creating a villain as dangerous and hypnotic as Lugosi’s Dracula.
The Black Cat
After establishing themselves with Universal’s takes on Dracula and Frankenstein, Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff teamed up for eight films, their first collaboration coming with 1934’s The Black Cat. A shocking early entry in the psychological horror genre, The Black Cat also ranks as one of the best films to feature either Lugosi or Karloff in a prominent role.
With Lugosi cast as the traumatized veteran Dr. Vitus Werdegast, Karloff appears as Werdegast’s traitorous World War I commander, Hjalmar Poelzig. A devilish occultist responsible for ruining Werdegast’s life, Poelzig takes every opportunity to mock his former comrade-turned-archnemesis, exploiting Werdegast’s familial losses and his crippling fear of cats to his advantage. A loathsome addition to Karloff’s rich assortment of roles, ranks as one of his most transformative performances.
Targets
By the late 1960s, Karloff had become synonymous with horror, his achievements in the genre granting him a respected reputation in the larger film industry. Recognizing his iconic status amongst moviegoers, Karloff signed on to play a self-referential role in 1968’s Targets – one of the very last roles in the actor's filmography.
The feature debut for up-and-coming director Peter Bogdanovich, Targets finds Karloff portraying a philosophical elderly horror actor on the verge of retirement. Reflecting back on his lengthy career, Karloff’s actor wonders about how the world has changed since his professional heyday, the average person growing from fears of ‘30s horror monsters to crazed gunmen and mundane-looking serial killers. It startles as a film from Bogdanovich, giving audiences one of Karloff’s most inspired roles.
Black Sabbath
Despite Karloff’s lengthy tenure in horror, the actor appeared in a marginal number of anthology films. As the ‘50s transitioned into the ‘60s, however, Karloff agreed to star in Mario Bava’s 1963’s Italian horror anthology, Black Sabbath, playing the lead role in the movie’s second segment, “The Wurdulak.”
Set in 19th-century Serbia, “The Wurdulak” revolves around the ominous title character – a vampiric monster originating from Slavic folklore. With his addled appearance, sallow facial expression, and grim attitude, Karloff does a phenomenal job establishing the fact that something is very off about Gorca, a once-kindly patriarch to a rural peasant family.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
Despite Karloff’s influence in horror, one of his most recognized performances comes courtesy of the 1966 holiday special, How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Adapted from Dr. Seuss’s well-loved book of the same name, Karloff provides the narration for the film, as well as the voice of the Grinch himself.
Accompanying Chuck Jones’ indelible artwork throughout, Karloff’s voice suits the cohesive story and visuals of The Grinch remarkably well. Capturing the emotional growth of the Grinch from outward hate to more jubilant positivity, Karloff underscores the greater importance of the holidays in general – all through his comforting voice and the subtle inflection of his line deliveries in the film.
The Body Snatcher
The final film that Lugosi and Karloff appeared in together, The Body Snatcher also pairs Karloff in the first of three films he made with prominent producer Val Lewton. While Lugosi has a minimal role in the film, Karloff has free rein to prance across the screen as the eccentric John Gray, a seemingly jovial Victorian cab driver who moonlights as a grave robber.
A self-serving opportunist motivated only by personal gain, Gray is a frightening psychopath able to go from entertaining ailing young children to prowling Edinburgh’s streets in search of fresh cadavers for his employer’s supply. A sinister conman, blackmailer, and remorseless serial killer, he’s one of the most underrated characters Karloff ever portrayed.
The Old Dark House
Despite receiving top billing, Karloff doesn’t play a meaty role in 1932’s The Old Dark House. Instead, director James Whale casts him in the fairly minor role of Morgan, a disheveled silent butler with a vicious temper and a chronic drinking problem. Working for the mysterious Femm family, Morgan harnesses his character's weaknesses whenever the family calls him to serve, handling his role with genuine care and gusto.
Though he hardly appears in the film, Karloff still uses every second of his screen time to leave an impression on his fellow characters and (by extension) the audience. A massive, lumbering figure who alternates between tempestuous rage and complete devotion to his employers, he’s like a more inhuman version of Frankenstein’s Monster, right down to the rampaging fits of anger.
The Raven (1935)
After the ahead-of-its-time frights of The Black Cat and a small cameo in Gift of Gab, Karloff and Lugosi met again to work on the 1935 horror film, The Raven. Though Lugosi has the more prominent role in the movie, Karloff once again uses every opportunity to elicit fear and sympathy from viewers, delighting as the misunderstood bank robber, Edmond Bateman.
The unwitting ally to Lugosi’s Edgar Allan Poe-obsessed neurosurgeon Dr. Richard Vollin, Karloff’s Bateman shares plenty of thematic similarities to Frankenstein’s Creature. Ostracized throughout his life because of his physical features, Bateman’s journey into a life of crime is motivated not out of a wanton love of violence, but a desire to blend in. It’s a thoughtful, heartrending performance from Karloff, and one that’s every bit as tragic as the Creature’s.
Bedlam
The final collaboration between Karloff and Val Lewton, Bedlam also ranks as one of the best additions in both Karloff and Lewton’s individual filmographies. Sharing several thematic similarities to The Body Snatcher, Karloff again appears in an antagonistic role, this time as the authoritative master of a Georgian London psychiatric facility.
Adhering to the grim historical realities of its period setting, Karloff’s George Sims views his duties at the hospital with fanatical simplicity. Rather than treating the hospital’s patients through warmth and human understanding, Sims takes to imprisoning his wards, intermittently releasing them only as sideshow performers for his own perverse amusement. A stomach-churning character for Karloff to play, it’s a role as bone-chilling as The Body Snatcher’s John Gray or The Black Cat’s Hjalmar Poelzig.
Son of Frankenstein
Reuniting with his professional rival Bela Lugosi once again, Lugosi and Karloff went on to appear in the 1939 Universal horror film, Son of Frankenstein. An ambitious sequel to 1935’s The Bride of Frankenstein, Son of Frankenstein seldom rivals the popularity of its earlier predecessors, but it boasts plenty of thematic strengths as well.
Above all else, the movie benefits from the presence of Basil Rathbone, Karloff, and Lugosi as the three prominent leads, each of whom gives fantastic performances in their respective roles. As with The Raven, Lugosi again outshines Karloff’s performance, enlivening the screen as Frankenstein’s vindictive assistant, Igor. As impressive as Lugosi is to watch, Karloff’s return to the role that helped make him famous is nothing short of phenomenal, the actor once again portraying the Creature with the humanity and baffled confusion he displayed in the original films.
Isle of the Dead
The second film Karloff made with Val Lewton, Isle of the Dead acts as a loose as a stylistic precursor to The Thing. A claustrophobic horror film with elements of a whodunit interwoven into its script, it’s yet another powerful film from Karloff and Lewton, thanks in large part to its paranoid atmosphere and the performance of the cast involved.
Within the context of the film, Karloff plays the wizened Greek commander, General Nikolas Pherides, a patriotic military leader participating in the First Balkan War of 1912. Contending with the war effort, the downtrodden morale of his men, and the growing fears of plague and a demonic vorvolaka in camp, Pherides struggles to maintain order in his isolated military outpost. With his statuesque demeanor and reserved personality, he appears as the personification of military etiquette – a man whose nerves and constant responsibilities slowly drive him to madness.
The Raven (1963)
Not to be confused with his 1935 collaboration with Bela Lugosi, 1963’s The Raven pits Karloff against his genre successors, Vincent Price and Peter Lorre. A gothic horror comedy from legendary horror director Roger Corman, Karloff appears in the film as the devilish sorcerer Dr. Scarabus.
As with most of his films with Lugosi, The Raven sets aside far more screen-time for Vincent and Lorre, each of whom are wonderful as a pair of mismatched wizards seeking something from Scarabus (revenge from Lorre, Price his supposedly deceased wife). Matching Price in his eloquence and air of sophistication, Karloff can hold his own against his contemporaries, with audiences’ eyes gravitating towards the charismatic Scarabus every time he’s on screen.
The Terror
The Terror’s troubled production history overshadows the film's final quality. With five uncredited directors filming segments of the movie, Roger Corman withstood a hectic shooting schedule to ensure the finished film came to fruition. As an extension of its chaotic production, Corman and company filmed all of star Boris Karloff’s scenes over two days – a dramatic feat in Corman’s budget-savvy career.
Opposite a young Jack Nicholson, Karloff plays Baron von Leppe, an elderly aristocrat residing at a decrepit coastal castle amid the Napoleonic Wars. As the film draws on, it becomes apparent the Baron is withholding multiple secrets about his past, eluding inquiries from Nicholson’s French officer. Atoning for his indiscretions in life, the Baron’s enigmatic background supplies The Terror with a bulk of its story, playing to Karloff’s strengths as an actor who thrives on mystery and subtly in each of his performances.
