Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf December 1, 2019

Freddie (Lou Costello) is a bellboy just trying to make a living. When he triggers the wrath of a big league lawyer, Freddie is fired, making the mistake of swearing revenge before he surrenders his position. When the legal mind turns up dead, all signs point to Freddie as the culprit, with the panicked man soon joined by private detective Casey (Bud Abbott). Trying to clear his name, Freddie is instead menaced by Swami Talpur (Boris Karloff), one of seven guests at the hotel who are former clients of the dead lawyer.

After testing tonality with the merging of horror and comedy for “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein,” the boys return a year later with 1949’s “Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff,” which goes even darker when it comes to ghoulish encounters. It’s not oppressive in any way, but the feature pushes the stars into creepier encounters, including a few with the titular guest star, who appears intermittently to deliver threats, putting pressure on Freddie to take the fall for the murder. The movie isn’t kidding around either, containing a scene where Swami Talpur tries to hypnotize Freddie into killing himself, giving him ample opportunities to do so. It’s played for laughs, but not entirely, providing unexpected edge to the endeavor.

Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The AVC encoded image (1.37:1 aspect ratio) presentation for "Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff" contributes a reasonably detailed examination of technical highlights, capturing softer but present textures on costuming and set decoration. Close-ups bring out adequate facial surfaces as well, securing Costello's sweat and Karloff's age. Delineation is acceptable. Source has its share of speckling and light scratches.

Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 2.0 DTS-HD MA sound mix delivers an appealing understanding of performances choice, giving dialogue exchanges some clarity, though mild hiss is detected throughout the listening event. Scoring is acceptable as well, handling with decent instrumentation and support.

Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary features films historian Troy Howarth.

• Image Gallery (5:59) collects film stills, publicity shots, poster art, and lobby cards.

• Production Notes (1:51) share information on the making of "Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff."

• A Theatrical Trailer has not been included.

Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Costello goes nuclear trying to make the funny business of "Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff" stand up and shout, and it's a pleasingly feverish performance. As a whodunit, perhaps the endeavor isn't quite as challenging, but the writing dreams up plenty of creative weirdness to carry the endeavor, including a game of poker with Freddie and Casey and the two corpses they're trying to hide from prying eyes. There's not a whole lot of Karloff in the feature, but there's plenty of the comedy team, who keep the movie light when it clearly pulls to the dark.