The trailer for Boris Karloff: The Man Behind The Monster has arrived. The 5-minutes of documentary footage covers a wide range of the Hollywood legend’s long career, but begins with Frankenstein. Karloff is horror royalty after playing the role of Frankenstein’s monster in the 1931 movie, along with Bride of Frankenstein (1935), and Son of Frankenstein. He even played Imhotep in 1932’s The Mummy. Karloff is also best-known as the voice of the Grinch in the animated television special of Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
Boris Karloff: The Man Behind The Monster delves into Boris Karloff and his long career with commentary by a wide range of fans, friends, and family. Guillermo Del Toro, John Landis, Joe Dante, Christopher Plummer, Peter Bogdanovich, Ron Perlman, Leonard Maltin, Sir Christopher Frayling, Sara Karloff, Gregory Mank, Roger Corman, Stephanie Powers, Ian Ogilvy, Norman Jewison, Orson Bean, Kevin Brownlow, Carloline Munro, Stephen Jacobs, Dick Miller, Peter Asher, Virginia Bates, Nehemiah Persoff, David J Skal, Donald F. Glut, Derek Malcolm, Bernie Coleman, Lee Grant, Rick Goldschmidt, Stuart Hersh, Miles Kreuger, Valerie Yaros, H.M.Wynant, Diane Aubry, Anthony Pratt, Renee Glynne, Sharyn Moffett, Neil Pettigrew, Ruth Shiel, Courtlandt Hull, Ron Simon, Jaymz Bee, Thomas Hamilton, Ron MacCloskey and many more all appear in the documentary. As of now, there is no release date set for the movie.
Guillermo del Toro is not shy about his praise for Boris Karloff. In the trailer for Boris Karloff: The Man Behind The Monster, del Toro calls Karloff’s take on Frankenstein’s monster his “messiah.” The 1931 movie had a profound effect on the director, who identified with the outsider status of Karloff’s confused and abused monster. Del Toro claims that the movie and Karloff’s performance have seeped into everything that he’s ever done.
Boris Karloff was the character actor who became a star, as we learn in Boris Karloff: The Man Behind The Monster. He had well over 80 roles before he stepped up to play Frankenstein’s monster in 1931. His movies after Frankenstein were praised and then he started a highly regarded stint as a television personality, who was regarded as everyone’s favorite uncle. While not acting on TV or on the big screen, he would dress like Santa Claus and deliver presents to disabled children in a Baltimore hospital at Christmas time.
Boris Karloff: The Man Behind The Monster sets out to show that there was a lot more to Boris Karloff than just his horror legend status, while also embracing and celebrating it at the same time. Karloff was awarded two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for Street his big screen work, and another for his television work. The United States Postal Service even honored the actor with a Frankenstein’s monster stamp in 1997. You can check out the trailer for Boris Karloff: The Man Behind The Monster above, thanks to the Son of Frenzi YouTube channel.
