Boris Karloff

So in line with Sightseers, I re-watched The Ghoul. Not the 1933 one with Boris Karloff, not the 1975 one with Peter Cushing. The 2006 one, produced by Ben Wheatley, directed by Gareth Tunley, who is in Sightseers. He doesn't get run over in Sightseers, but he is in Sightseers.

And, starring, Tom Meeten, who is the shaman in Sightseers and Alice Lowe, Dan Skinner, or Angelos, as you may know him, like does a lot of stuff with Vic and Bob. Rufus Jones. Niamh Cusack and Geoffrey McGivern. Now Geoffrey McGivern's one of those people who is just, it's Crimewatch. If you know him, you'll recognize him. It's because he is one, he's like, he's like the, he's like the sort of pre-Kevin Eldon, Kevin Eldon. One of those guys who's just in, he's, for example, he is either Biggum from the, standing at the back dressed stupidly and looking stupid party. Oh yeah. In Blackadder the Third. Yes, yes. Oh, I know him. Yeah, him. And he's in Chellmswood 123 and Frying LoRry and loads and loads of shit. And he's, he was in that thing that, Mitchell and Webb did after Peep Show. He was the disreputable grandfather in that or uncle or something like that. But anyway, so The Ghoul is, despite all those names in it, The Ghoul is serious, it's not a comedy film, it's just a straight, well, it starts off as a straight thriller where, it's a detective. He's being called in for an unusual murder that has maybe has some sort of weird properties to it. Like, how does this murder take place, you know, without a supernatural element, shall we suggest? I don't know. and then to sort of find out more about it, he goes undercover with, a psychiatrist. Who is, the psychiatrist to one of their leads. and starts telling her the and goes undercover as a depressed person to try and get more facts and more sort of like info on this other guy. and then possibly the film reveals to you that actually he is going to see a psychotherapist. And he is really depressed and the whole, detective thing might be a fantasy. Or it might not be. I remember you raving about this at the time, and I still haven't gotten round to seeing it, but I definitely. Yeah, it does sound interesting. Yeah. It, it sits under my thing, I've now decided that there might be others out there, but as far as I'm concerned, a hard and fast rule is if a film is called The Ghoul, it's fucking awesome. Yes. Because because the Boris Karloff one's fucking great. The one with Peter Cushing and John Hurt's fucking amazing, I love that film. And this again, I just really. And again, like I say, it's a lot of, you know, it's mostly people from that sort of Mighty Boosh kind of era of comedy, like say it's like Alice Lowe, so it's like Sightseers, you got those same sort of people in there. Deadly serious and you're like, oh, actually this is they're really good fucking actors and it's not a, you know what I mean? I mean it is the classic thing that you have to be a great actor to do comedy. but yeah, they're they're just like everyone in it's fantastic. And as I say, it's sort of vies each way because then he goes to. He first goes to a psychiatrist, gets referred to another psychiatrist, but that psychiatrist is into, occultism and esoterica. And starts talking about like loops, time loops and things like that. And it all sort of feeds together, plus the guy's that, you know, so. Is he a detective pretending to have depression or is he a guy with depression who pretends he's a detective to try and get through his day because it's a fantasy? But also is there possibly something actually supernatural occurring in so much as occult practical magic, basically, you know, could that be in the key and it's like, yeah. It sounds awesome. But it's a great film and I will say this, this is, I don't feel I've spoilt it because I don't think it gives you a clear answer. Yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah. You get to the end of it and it's like that could this could go either way, you know, is this which is the fantasy could go either way if you see what I mean? Yeah. So, you know, because he's talking to the psychiatrist, the depressed person, it's like, oh, so what do you do? Well, I just walk around the streets and what do you do? sort of pretend I'm investigating things like I'm a policeman or something like that. And it sort of, yeah, sort of snowballs from there that you're suddenly like, yeah, shit, which way round is this now? And it's, yeah, and it's really, yeah, and it was you saying about Under the Skin, it's that same sort of vibe, you know, where it's like very sort of, very sort of like a lot of mood and sort of an overall feeling to it, you know, a sort of like a sort of darkness or sinisterness and everything. But yeah, so yeah, that's my, my first recommendation is The Ghoul. Sounds amazing. From 2016, but also any other film called The Ghoul is good. Is probably worth watching. Yes.

Which was, Peter Lorre again and Boris Karloff with Vincent Price.

and I rewatched Roger Corman's The Raven with Vincent Price, Peter Lorre and Boris Karloff, that's his name, wasn't it?

I did read an interesting thing where someone said, because obviously Bella Lugosi, the one thing was is that he got really type cast and would play villains and versions of Dracula and I think he played he has he played other vampires or certainly did in a couple of films and um, and someone actually said that possibly the reason that Boris Karloff didn't suffer in the same way.

I mean, one, I don't think Boris Karloff was as bothered as Bella Lugosi.

I think Boris Karloff was just like, well, we're working, so, you know.

And no, actually Boris Karloff's like Nursie.

Boris Karloff, not Basil Rathbone.

They were going to get Boris Karloff was going to play the Basil Rathbone role.

The Hammer one Christopher Lee, which I did, I did nearly watch that and I was like, no, I'm sure they said it was older and it had Boris Karloff and that doesn't add up, so.

But effectively, yeah, it is it's like they've rewritten Dracula, but gone, right, we can we'll move the camera around a bit more and Boris Karloff's playing Dracula now not Bela Lugosi.

The Mummy, Invisible Man, Phantom of the Opera and so on. And so yes, they've done Dracula, huge success, done Frankenstein, but Bela Lugosi famously doesn't want to do to play the monster in Frankenstein, so Boris Karloff plays it, massive success and at this point Karloff becomes their go-to guy for their monsters, essentially.

Oh, no, we're going back to the original Boris Karloff.

From 1930, whatever, Mummy with Boris Karloff, all right.

Yeah, there was a film, I think when we talked about Get Out, me and Lee both mentioned it, there's a film called The Sorcerers with Boris Karloff and Ian Ogilvy.