The acting career of the mythical and legendary Boris Karloff ended with the production of horror films in Mexican cinema. (Photo by Larry Ellis/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) (Larry Ellis via Getty Images)
In the mid-80s, American horror film lovers were able to see for the first time the latest films by Boris Karloff, a legendary British actor who played the first Frankenstein in the cinema and was a legend of the genre. Thanks to the advent of the VHS format, they were able to obtain video copies and found that his last four appearances were in four Mexican films: The Chamber of Terror, Macabre Serenade, Island of the Dead And dark invasion.
His surprise was greater when he saw that they corresponded to the years 1968 and 1971, one year before and one year after the actor’s death. It took almost 15 years for them to gain access to the materials that were now considered cult due to the mystery surrounding their existence: what it was about, who played and what roles Karloff played.
The morbidity or intrigue was largely due to the actor’s health at the time. After Targets (Peter Bogdanovich, 1968) was released in the US – a film that was considered an exceptional low-budget thriller – it was learned that Karloff was very ill at the time of filming. This work lasts no more than 15 minutes if you add up all the scenes he shot, and the visual degradation is noticeable.
In contrast to the quality of Targets, the Mexican horror films starring Karloff weren’t exactly works of art. In fact, they were far from it. They also dubbed his voice in Spanish! However, due to the background of the aesthetics and stories presented in combat films, they were appreciated as surrealist proposals. That was an acceptable assessment considering the production was a disaster.
Due to Mr Boris’ serious health problems, who had difficulty walking, his sequences had to be filmed in California, his home town, before he returned to England in 1969 to die in the town of Midhurst. Actors such as Andrés García and Enrique Guzmán as well as the actress Julissa traveled to Californian territory for their scenes with him. This filming was carried out by director Jack Hill.
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Victims of lung damage caused by smoking, The man needed rest periods to both protect his back and use the oxygen tank which he used as a respiratory therapy device.
The scenes with Karloff were filmed in the USA, the remaining footage was filmed in Mexico. But not with the same director. Juan Ibáñez, director of the classic Los Caifanes (1967), was responsible for its completion. But he took the license to rewrite Hill’s original scripts to fit his cinematic vision and shoot them in his style. So while Hill suggested something, Ibáñez delivered something completely different from the stories’ original suggestions.
This combination featured Boris Karloff as an evil priest who practices voodoo rites and shares credits with Tongolele himself Island of the Dead, as a scientist who is obsessed with the existence of life in the center of the earth and whose theory is confirmed by his daughter, played by Julissa in “The Chamber of Secrets”, as a millionaire who leaves death as an inheritance to his relatives in “Macabre Serenade”. and as The Scientist who shoots a beam into space, angering aliens, in Sinister Invasion.
Today’s film
also known as Isle of the Snake People
Directors: Juan Ibáñez, Jack Hill
Cast: Boris Karloff, Julissa, Carlos East
The evil scientist leads a veritable army of LSD-crazed zombies.
Published: 1971 pic.twitter.com/8dxy1aBYsk— Thom Carnell (@ThomCarnell) June 13, 2022
Island of the Dead and Sinister Invasion were released two years after the actor’s death. The version of a myth revolves around this anecdote: that Karloff couldn’t even cash the check they gave him for “packaging” the four films to producer Luis Enrique Vergara.
In Mexico the four titles were released and had a commercial exhibition. Later they were part of the television programs of voluntary residencies of the national cinema in the late 70s and early 80s. Instead, American fans learned about them via videotape.
Following the surrealist line with which the works of Boris Karloff were described in the national cinema, surrealism extends to the reality of a man who became famous with classic films such as Frankenstein (1931) and The Mummy (1932). and he culminated his career with Mexican events now valued as “jewels” for their wickedness.
