Halloween season
simply isn’t Halloween season without a regular dose of classic Universal horror (1923-1963). Every day this October, I’ll be giving you a steady IV drip of it by counting down Psychobabble’s 31 Favorite Universal
Horrors!
#18. The Raven
(1935- dir. Lew Landers)
Like Son of
Frankenstein, The Raven gives
Bela Lugosi the opportunity to upstage Boris Karloff, which must have given Lugosi
no end of pleasure. He plays a sadist and Poe enthusiast with his very own pit and pendulum. The
film has nothing to do with the title poem aside from a rather haunting dance
performance inspired by “The Raven. ” So what? Karloff is low key as a criminal
who attempts to skirt the law by getting plastic surgery. Note to Karloff and
everyone else: do not hire Bela Lugosi to perform plastic surgery on you.
