Boris Karloff is instantly recognizable as one of the biggest horror movie icons of all time. Best known for his portrayal of the Frankenstein monster for Universal Pictures back in the 1930s, he stared in numerous film and television roles all through his career up until his death from emphysema in 1969. Retromedia, in their infinite wisdom, presents two later era Karloff shockers that pale in comparison to his classic work but still benefit from his presence.

The Island Monster (1953) – This Italian production finds the Rome Police Department doing their utmost to smash a smuggling ring that is bringing hashish into Italy from a remote island. Officer Andreani (Franca Marzi) is assigned to the case and makes his way to the island where he meets up with a nightclub singer who knows who is responsible for the contraband. He also meets up with a philanthropist named Don Gaetano (Karloff), a grouchy sort who just wants to work in his nursery. Things get complicated for Andreani when the gangsters find out who he is and what he's after and retaliate by kidnapping his daughter and holding her hostage.

This very basic crime film is sadly brought down a few notches by the dubbing, as Karloff didn't do his own lines and from the sounds of things neither did anyone else. Cliché after cliché is loaded into the storyline, coupled with poor dialogue and, considering the title of the film, a very obvious lack of 'monster.' Anyone looking for a creature feature will no doubt want their money back on this one. Karloff isn't monstrous at all, at least not in the literal sense, he's merely a cantankerous old man who may or may not be up to no good. At least the girl who played the nightclub singer, Renata Vicario, is fun to look at.

The Fear Chamber (1968) – Made close to the end of his career and not while in the best of health, in this Mexican film co-directed by Jack Hill (Foxy Brown) we find Boris Karloff playing a doctor named Mandel who, after moderating some bizarre signals coming from the Earth's core discovers a living rock that sustains itself on the blood of attractive girls. Mandel and his cohorts bring the rock to their secret lab and build the titular fear chamber and supply the hungry boulder with scores of pretty girls with little to nothing on. When the doctor becomes sick, his faithful laboratory assistant, Helga (Isela Vega who had a small role in Sam Peckinpah's sorely underrated Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia), decides to carry his work to the next level and brings yet even more girls to the rock to feed off of. Will Mandel be able to stop Helga before she goes too far?

Karloff gives about as good a performance as can be expected in a movie about a carnivorous rock and go-go girls. He's still got a certain air of class about him despite the fact that he spends roughly half of the movie in bed and not really doing much. While the movie has some fun exploitative elements what with all the girls being paraded about and subjected to various forms of nastiness it doesn't really go anywhere, instead choosing to attempt to coast by on its sleaze factor alone. Sadly, that's not enough to save this one and it drags and drags when it should be a lot of fun.

Video:

Island Monster is shown fullscreen and looks surprisingly good considering its low budget origins and relative age. There are only mild instances of print damage that show up here and there, nothing too serious. The black and white image shows proper contrast and the darker areas of the image stay dark and don't break up. The Fear Chamber is letterboxed at roughly 1.78.1 though the image is not anamorphic. Some of the colors bleed into each other and the image isn't as crisp here as it is on the first feature. Print damage is mild and the black levels are a little washed out.