After a list of the best of post 1936 Boris, I think it only natural to make a list of his career worst...most of which ARE post 1936. Leading off with the worst Karloff film ever:
1, THE SINISTER INVASION. One of the Mexican horror films (naturally) he ended his career with, this story of an alien possessing Boris and a sex maniac murderer (Yerye Beirute) is the worst of the lot.
2. THE HOUSE OF EVIL. Only marginally better, Boris is mainly in the first half hour and returns to wrap things up and go up in flames one final time as an old man disposing of his mostly greedy, nasty relatives because his family doctor (Quintin Bulnes) has convinced him they've inherited an ancestor's insanity
3. THE SNAKE PEOPLE. Police Captain La Biche (Rafael Bertrand) and would be prohibitionist Annabella Vandenberg (Julissa) travel to the island to Korbai, home to a voodoo cult that's (mostly) harmless until La Biche cracks down on them with the VERY reluctant help of Lt. Wilhelm (Carlos East). Annabella's uncle,Karl von Molder, (Boris Karloff), a plantation owner, is the island's most respectable citizen, so OF COURSE (especially since he's played by Karloff) he's leading the cult. La Biche and Wilhem rescue Annabella from her uncle. It's an insane farrago of cannibal zombies, drug induced hallucinations (Annabella's is a doozy, and La Biche's almost drives the teetotaling cop to drink), and Boris' character overdubbed through much of the climax by a man with a generic old man's voice
4. THE FEAR CHAMBER. The least awful of the Mexican films, Boris plays a scientist trying to communicate with a living rock. The rock requires frightened women to help it grow. When it almost kills someone, Boris temporarily stops the experiments, but he falls ill and his daughter and assistant (Julissa and Carlos East) take over. Even THEY get a clue when the thing actually kills a woman, but another assistant (Isela Vega) and a mook (Yerye Beirute) STILL continue (the mook has been promised diamonds). Boris recovers just in time to destroy the thing. At least Boris isn't at any time overdubbed and gets to be the hero for a change.
5. THE ISLAND MONSTER. The only real distinction in this slow moving Italian made tale of a policeman trying to bust a narcotics ring run by a "respectable" citizen of the Isle of Ischia (Boris, who else?) is that Karloff is dubbed in by someone who only vaguely sounds like him.
6. CAULDRON OF BLOOD. A blind sculptor (Karloff) has been unknowingly been using the skeletons of murder victims provided by his wife (Vivica Lindfors) and her lover. An interviewer (Jean Pierre Aumont) eventually finds out what's going on and the sculptor kills his wife and commits suicide. There isn't enough of Boris in this Spanish made movie to make it worth your while.
7. JUGGERNAUT . Dr, Sartorius (Boris Karloff) poisons a woman's wealthy husband and nearly does it to their son as well, in exchange for the woman underwriting his experiments. It's a dull melodrama with only slight horror elements, and Karloff is NOT at his best here.
8. VOODOO ISLAND The owner of a chain of resorts hires a professional debunker (Karloff) to ascertain whether an island he wants to build a hotel on REALLY has a voodoo problem (an employee came back from there as a zombie). It does. Karloff obviously took this one for the paycheck, a paid vacation to Hawaii, and the opportunity to play a more or less good guy for a change, and the otherwise draggy movie has a fair for the time depiction of an obvious lesbian (Jean Engstrom).
9. FRANKENSTEIN 1970. The current Baron Frankenstein (Karloff) lets a movie crew into his castle in order to finance an atomic reactor for monster making. The result kills some of the crew, and Frankenstein himself sees off his own servant and lawyer to provide the brain and eyes respectively. The movie's "distinctions" are that Boris is promoted from monster to Frankenstein, and gives his all time worst horror performance.
10. THE APE. A Monogram ripoff of Karloff's Columbia Mad Doctor films with a script from Curt Siodmak, Karloff is trying to find a cure for polio, using the skin of an escaped ape to kill people for their spinal fluid. While it was Karloff's worst movie to this point, Boris himself does his damnednest to elevate the film.
"Honorable" mention: THE TERROR. Karloff never forgave Roger Corman for sticking him in this jumbled tale of a French officer (Jack Nicholson) involved with an enigmatic young woman (Sandra Knight) and a tormented nobleman (Karloff)
1, THE SINISTER INVASION. One of the Mexican horror films (naturally) he ended his career with, this story of an alien possessing Boris and a sex maniac murderer (Yerye Beirute) is the worst of the lot.
2. THE HOUSE OF EVIL. Only marginally better, Boris is mainly in the first half hour and returns to wrap things up and go up in flames one final time as an old man disposing of his mostly greedy, nasty relatives because his family doctor (Quintin Bulnes) has convinced him they've inherited an ancestor's insanity
3. THE SNAKE PEOPLE. Police Captain La Biche (Rafael Bertrand) and would be prohibitionist Annabella Vandenberg (Julissa) travel to the island to Korbai, home to a voodoo cult that's (mostly) harmless until La Biche cracks down on them with the VERY reluctant help of Lt. Wilhelm (Carlos East). Annabella's uncle,Karl von Molder, (Boris Karloff), a plantation owner, is the island's most respectable citizen, so OF COURSE (especially since he's played by Karloff) he's leading the cult. La Biche and Wilhem rescue Annabella from her uncle. It's an insane farrago of cannibal zombies, drug induced hallucinations (Annabella's is a doozy, and La Biche's almost drives the teetotaling cop to drink), and Boris' character overdubbed through much of the climax by a man with a generic old man's voice
4. THE FEAR CHAMBER. The least awful of the Mexican films, Boris plays a scientist trying to communicate with a living rock. The rock requires frightened women to help it grow. When it almost kills someone, Boris temporarily stops the experiments, but he falls ill and his daughter and assistant (Julissa and Carlos East) take over. Even THEY get a clue when the thing actually kills a woman, but another assistant (Isela Vega) and a mook (Yerye Beirute) STILL continue (the mook has been promised diamonds). Boris recovers just in time to destroy the thing. At least Boris isn't at any time overdubbed and gets to be the hero for a change.
5. THE ISLAND MONSTER. The only real distinction in this slow moving Italian made tale of a policeman trying to bust a narcotics ring run by a "respectable" citizen of the Isle of Ischia (Boris, who else?) is that Karloff is dubbed in by someone who only vaguely sounds like him.
6. CAULDRON OF BLOOD. A blind sculptor (Karloff) has been unknowingly been using the skeletons of murder victims provided by his wife (Vivica Lindfors) and her lover. An interviewer (Jean Pierre Aumont) eventually finds out what's going on and the sculptor kills his wife and commits suicide. There isn't enough of Boris in this Spanish made movie to make it worth your while.
7. JUGGERNAUT . Dr, Sartorius (Boris Karloff) poisons a woman's wealthy husband and nearly does it to their son as well, in exchange for the woman underwriting his experiments. It's a dull melodrama with only slight horror elements, and Karloff is NOT at his best here.
8. VOODOO ISLAND The owner of a chain of resorts hires a professional debunker (Karloff) to ascertain whether an island he wants to build a hotel on REALLY has a voodoo problem (an employee came back from there as a zombie). It does. Karloff obviously took this one for the paycheck, a paid vacation to Hawaii, and the opportunity to play a more or less good guy for a change, and the otherwise draggy movie has a fair for the time depiction of an obvious lesbian (Jean Engstrom).
9. FRANKENSTEIN 1970. The current Baron Frankenstein (Karloff) lets a movie crew into his castle in order to finance an atomic reactor for monster making. The result kills some of the crew, and Frankenstein himself sees off his own servant and lawyer to provide the brain and eyes respectively. The movie's "distinctions" are that Boris is promoted from monster to Frankenstein, and gives his all time worst horror performance.
10. THE APE. A Monogram ripoff of Karloff's Columbia Mad Doctor films with a script from Curt Siodmak, Karloff is trying to find a cure for polio, using the skin of an escaped ape to kill people for their spinal fluid. While it was Karloff's worst movie to this point, Boris himself does his damnednest to elevate the film.
"Honorable" mention: THE TERROR. Karloff never forgave Roger Corman for sticking him in this jumbled tale of a French officer (Jack Nicholson) involved with an enigmatic young woman (Sandra Knight) and a tormented nobleman (Karloff)
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