Feature1949·84m·6.6

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff

MORE GHOULISH GLEE THAN WHEN THEY MET FRANKENSTEIN!

ComedyHorrorMystery

Lost Caverns Resort Hotel bellhop Freddie Phillips gives an empty threat to one attorney Amos Strickland, and is shortly fired. When Freddie visits his guest's suite to apologize, he finds Strickland dead of a gunshot wound. As the investigators file in, Freddie becomes the scapegoat of the guests in the hotel, who all had a bone to pick with Strickland. It's now up to Freddie and Detective Casey Edwards to find out who the real killer is, all the while avoiding the many vigorous and violent villains staying at the resort.

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Cast

Bud Abbott

Casey Edwards

Lou Costello

Freddie Phillips

Boris Karloff

Swami Talpur

Lenore Aubert

Angela Gordon

Gar Moore

Jeff Wilson

Donna Martell

Betty Crandall

Alan Mowbray

Melton

James Flavin

Insp. Wellman

Roland Winters

T. Hanley Brooks

Nicholas Joy

Amos Strickland

Mikel Conrad

Sgt. Stone

Morgan Farley

Gregory Milford

Victoria Horne

Mrs. Hargreave

Percy Helton

Abernathy

Claire Du Brey

Mrs. Grimsby

Harry Hayden

Lawrence Crandall

Vincent Renno

Mike Relia

Murray Alper

Joe, Reporter (uncredited)

Bobby Barber

Dry Cleaning Man (uncredited)

Marjorie Bennett

Second Maid (uncredited)

Details

Status: Released
Original language: English
Languages: English
Budget: $686,000
Revenue: —
Age rating: —
Quality: 4K UHD · HDR10 · Dolby Vision
Production: Universal International Pictures

Crew

Director

Charles Barton

Writers

Hugh Wedlock Jr., Hugh Wedlock Jr., Howard Snyder, John Grant

Rosemary Odell

Costume Design

Milton Schwarzwald

Original Music Composer

Edward Curtiss

Editor

Charles Van Enger

Director of Photography

Gallery

Reviews

John Chard

5/5/2015

7.0

Tidy comedy, great mystery! Bud & Lou find themselves at the center of a murder mystery, the chief suspect? Why Lou Costello of course. As a comedy, Meet The Killer offers nothing fresh to what we haven't seen before from the boys prior to this 1949 offering, not that the comedy doesn't deliver, because it does, very much so. Be it Freddie (Costello) being too stupid to be hypnotised by the shifty Swami (Boris Karloff), or a wonderful sequence of events down in the creepy caverns, it's fun and very diverting. However, the strength in "Meet The Killer" is that it works very well as a whodunit mystery, a ream of characters, all acting oddly, come and go to keep the viewer guessing right through to the cheery pay off. It's entertaining on two fronts and has a cast clearly having fun into the bargain. Super shadowy photography by Charles Van Enger as well. Enjoy! Now, about that Tortoise? 7/10