Documentary: “Boris Karloff: The Man Behind the Monster” a view at the career of the horror legend

It doesn’t really matter how much time goes by, the classics will always be the classics. The first half of the past century was essential to define what a creature movie is. Technology and cinematographic crafts advance in giant steps, but the storytelling remains almost the same. And linked to those creatures there will always be the actors that immortalized them. Lon Chaney Jr. will always be remembered as the Wolf Man, and Bela Lugosi will remain in the eyes of history as the classic Dracula, even before Max Schreck and his Graf Orlok in Nosferatu (1922) or Christopher Lee having played the character in seven occasions. But we cannot forget the indisputable legacy of Boris Karloff, a figure that defined the cinematographic image that we have of the Frankenstein and The Mummy monsters better than any other performer. And that legacy is now getting paid a tribute in the documentary Boris Karloff: The Man Behind the Monster (2021).

This film is the work of Thomas Hamilton, who is better known for the documentaries Leslie Howard: A Quite Remarkable Life (2009), Leslie Howard: The Man Who Gave a Damn (2016), and Leslie Howard – The Mystery of Flight 777 (2016) regarding the figure of filmmaker Leslie Howard, the protagonist of the 1930s classics The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934) and Pygmalion (1938), which he co-directed and got him an Academy Award. Ron MacCloskey, who already produced and co-wrote the documentary Karloff and Me (2006), has also participated in the script in Boris Karloff: The Man Behind the Monster (2021).

As we the fans crave in these sorts of productions, the documentary is filled up with famous faces in the movies industry, oldies and present. Actors Caroline Munro, Ron Perlman, Stefanie Powers, Lee Grant, H.M. Wynant, Donnie Dunagan, and the late Christopher Plummer, Dick Miller, Sharyn Moffett, and Orson Bean appear in the film alongside filmmakers like Guillermo del Toro, Peter Bogdanovich, John Landis, Roger Corman, Norman Jewison, and Jack Hill. It also includes plenty of footage of Boris Karloff and the participation of his daughter Sarah Karloff and Bela Lugosi’s son Bela Lugosi Jr.

Boris Karloff: The Man Behind the Monster (2021) explores the life and legacy of the cinema legend, presenting a perceptive history of the genre he personified.

Shudder has the distribution rights for the film and has scheduled it for release on January 27, 2022. Watch here the official trailer for Boris Karloff: The Man Behind the Monster (2021).