Eureka Entertainment recently gave three Boris Karloff classics
their UK blu-ray debuts with
their 'Universal Terror' set, and have announced a further three Karloff movies are coming in
October.
Titled 'Maniacal Mayhem', the upcoming set features the UK blu-ray debuts
of 1936's The Invisible Ray, 1940's Black Friday and 1951's
The Strange Door. The set will be available from October 17th.
Bonus features include new audio commentary tracks on The Invisible Ray and
The Strange Door with author Stephen Jones and author/critic
Kim Newman; a new audio commentary track on Black Friday with Kevin Lyons
and Jonathan Rigby; “The Sire de Maletroit’s Door” radio adaptations; stills galleries;
trailers; and a Limited Edition Collector’s Booklet featuring new
writing on all three films by film writers Andrew Graves, Rich Johnson, and
Craig Ian Mann.
Check out Eureka's trailer and artwork below.
The official synopsis reads:
Three more tales of terror from the vaults of Universal Pictures, all starring the iconic Boris Karloff.
Boris Karloff and Béla Lugosi both star in The Invisible Ray (dir. Lambert Hillyer, 1936), which sees Dr Janos Rukh (Karloff) exposed to a mysterious element that turns him into a deadly luminescent maniac who devises a plot to bump off his personal and professional rivals.
Then, in Black Friday (dir. Arthur Lubin, 1940), Karloff is the amoral brain surgeon, Dr Sovac, who transplants part of a gangster’s brain into the body of his dying friend, creating a terrifying Jekyll-and-Hyde figure who starts murdering his former criminal associates (including, again, the wonderful Béla Lugosi).
Finally, the incomparable Charles Laughton plays the sadistic Sire Alain de Maletroit in The Strange Door (dir. Joseph Pevney, 1951). Maletroit has kept his own brother locked in a dungeon for twenty years, and now wants to ruin the life of his niece by forcing her to marry a violent rogue. His plan is upset when the “rogue” is unexpectedly noble-hearted and attempts to rescue the girl, aided by an abused servant (Karloff).