Nestled deep in the countryside of pastoral New England sits a beautiful historical building, which has been the home of many fascinating people over the years. However, it is currently occupied by Professor Billings, a gentle but eccentric scientist, who has decided to sell the house, under the condition that he can maintain his laboratory in the basement. A recently-divorced young woman decides to purchase the house with the intention of turning it into an inn – but neither she nor her newly minted ex-husband realise that something sinister is afoot, particularly since Billings is secretly more daft than his soft-spoken demeanour would suggest. This is all the foundation for The Boogie Man Will Get You, in which director Lew Landers (a terrific journeyman filmmaker responsible for helming quite a few tremendous films during this era, as well as being a pioneer of early American independent cinema) works with writers Paul Gangelin and Edward Blum to craft this unforgettable blend of horror and comedy, which falls right in line with a number of very effective satirical thrillers produced at the time. As we’d expect, the film is an offbeat and slightly scathing indictment on themes very familiar to audiences at the time, and which remain relevant to us today, even if some of the specific content is slightly more dated, which is entirely to be expected considering it was designed for audiences at the time, rather than looking towards the future and being too overly concerned with how it will age. A wonderfully odd film that blends many different genres together to create this delightfully irreverent dark comedy that never wavers in its steadfast support of certain themes, The Boogie Man Will Get You is an absolute triumph, and takes an audacious approach to several different aspects of the artistic process, emerging a truly spellbinding and outrageously funny examination of human nature and our relationship to the unknown. 

As with any film, it’s worthwhile to take a gander at the era in which it was made, considering some of the real-world events transpiring around this time, since they often provide keen insights into the process of putting these stories together, particularly those which were not based on existing material. Two genres that have often held the foreground in this regard are horror and comedy, so it’s hardly surprising that they would be paired together quite frequently, becoming unusual bedfellows – after all, both laughter and screams are extreme reactions to stimuli designed to stir some kind of strong emotion. The Boogie Man Will Get You is not the kind of satire where its core themes are all that prominent – if anything, it’s quite a vague work in terms of connecting this story with recognisable themes, but there are nonetheless present, and become more prominent as we venture further into this film. There’s a tendency to look at comedies produced in the 1940s as some response to the Second World War – I’d argue that this isn’t one, since the United States had only been in the war for less than a year by the time it was released. Instead, the core of this film is the Great Depression, which becomes quite clear when it is revealed that the elderly owner of this home is forced to sell it due to rising costs of living, and that even in their old age, he and his employees are forced to keep working. This is only a facade used for the film’s more eccentric narrative, but it is difficult to look at The Boogie Man Will Get You and not see how this was a film very much inspired by the economic plight of ordinary people. It certainly does not intend to be entirely focused on this theme, as it would be more dour and frankly not all that interesting, but it does have a firm foundation on which the narrative is eventually built, becoming the source of a lot of the story’s more intriguing elements.

Every studio is going to prioritise the entertainment of their audience, and the rise in the comedy-of-manners genre is one of the most effective, as nothing makes audiences laugh quite as much as having a proverbial mirror held up, reflecting their adorable flaws and charming shortcomings, granted it is done with affection and attention to detail, rather than punching downwards. The Boogie Man Will Get You is quite effective in that it resists going for the low-hanging fruit, and intends to create something that is actively engaging, while also not being too heavy-handed in what it aims to say. It’s not particularly scary (although it does have quite a few unsettling moments peppered throughout – and I’d even argue its a film that does tend to skirt the boundaries of good taste frequently, deftly navigating the edges of decency in a way that is honestly quite exhilarating for something produced over eighty years ago), but it still does lean into the horror in creative and engaging ways. It was clearly designed to be primarily a comedy, and we can find everything from witty wordplay to scathing satire to off-the-wall slapstick throughout – and while this could be disastrous if not handled properly, Landers is undoubtedly a professional and someone who knew how to approach certain elements with tact and sophistication, while also not neglecting to make the experience enjoyable and fulfilling. Ultimately, it is all quite neatly defined, and running at only an hour, there isn’t much space for The Boogie Man Will Get You to be particularly daring – but at its core, there’s something quite magnificent about its simplicity and how it extracts an equal amount of laughs and scares from something seemingly so pedestrian in theory, but thrilling in execution, the blend of the genres being unquestionably effective and frankly quite revolutionary.

Hollywood has always made use of well-known actors to market their films – the more recognisable and beloved a star, the likelier it is for the film to do well. However, there was arguably never an era where this was more important than at the time in which this film was made, with The Boogie Man Will Get You having quite an impressive cast, and one that followed the usual practice of pairing a couple of extremely notable performers, and surrounding them with lesser-known, but not any less talented, supporting players. Here we are handed yet another terrific performance from Boris Karloff, perhaps the greatest horror performer in history (a point that is certainly up for debate, but where only a small handful of other names could hope to stand toe-to-toe with him in terms of both career longevity and impact on the genre), and he reminds us yet again that he was far from being a one-dimensional actor who rested on the laurels of an iconic character. As the soft-spoken, elegant Professor Billings, he’s a riot – equally warm and sinister, and his innate ability to liberally oscillate between the two at a moment’s notice makes this some of his best work. Peter Lorre is his co-star, and is also taking the opportunity to relish in the absurdity of this premise, playing the archetypal small-town authority figure who functions as everything from the mayor to the judge to the local priest – and he’s as delightfully odd as you would imagine. The de facto protagonists are Miss Jeff Donnell and Larry Parks, who have the intimidating task of acting across from the two legendary leads, and yet are just as confident, self-assured and brilliant as their more notable counterparts. It’s a terrific cast that not only are given memorable moments of their own, but also have exceptional chemistry with one another, something that the film consistently draws upon throughout, and which informs so much of its charm.

Perhaps describing The Boogie Man Will Get You as a masterpiece is slightly too hyperbolic, especially since it is essentially nothing more than a well-made genre picture with some good ideas and an abundance of ambition, enough to overtake its more simple and straightforward artistic cues. In addition to having one of the best titles of a film released during the Golden Age of Hollywood (they simply knew how to give their films the most perfect, evocative names imaginable back then), The Boogie Man Will Get You is a film that captures something that we have failed to see replicated in the years since – a kind of chaotic, cartoonish charm on which some of the most absurd, boundary-pushing narratives could be explored, being done in such a way that it becomes widely appealing and genuinely very captivating in ways that we may not initially expect. It’s not seen as a classic of the horror comedy genre in the same way as something like films made at the time, such as Arsenic and Old Lace (the success of which was the primary reason to cast Karloff in such a similar role, particularly since he was not cast in the film adaptation that was made a year later, despite his celebrated performance of the stage show) or Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, but its every bit as entertaining and compelling, with a strong sense of direction, a good script and fantastic performances. It’s a masterful work, and a truly exhilarating comedy that never falters for even a moment, and becomes a wholeheartedly engaging film from its first moments to its very last.