Universal Horror Collection: Volume 1

The Black Cat (1934)

Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi teamed up for the first time in director Edgar G. Ulmer's macabre Pre-code chiller that borrows the title (and little else) from Edgar Allan Poe. A Balkan castle, built over a WWI graveyard, is the site for a bizarre battle of wills between psychiatrist Dr. Vitus Werdegast (Lugosi) and devil-worshipping cult leader Hjalmar Poelzig (Karloff). With David Manners, Julie Bishop. 65 min. BW/Rtg: NR

The Raven (1935)

Grand exercise in terror and suspense stars Bela Lugosi as Dr. Richard Vollin, a plastic surgeon obsessed with the works of Poe and a beautiful patient (Irene Ware) who spurns his advances. Vollin invites the woman, her fiancé, and her father to his retreat and, with the aid of a criminal (Boris Karloff), he disfigured, imprisons, and tortures them. With Irene Ware, Samuel Hinds. 62 min. BW/Rtg: NR

The Invisible Ray (1936)

When his time-spanning technology pinpoints the African location of a radium-bearing meteorite, researcher Janos Rukh (Boris Karloff) silences his critics. However, prolonged radiation exposure imbues him with a paranoia that turns him against his inner circle...and a death touch that lets him make good on his demented threats. Bela Lugosi, Frances Drake, Violet Kemble Cooper, Beulah Bondi also star. 80 min. BW/Rtg: NR

Black Friday (1940)

Scientist Dr. Ernest Sovac (Boris Karloff) transfers the brain of a gangster into the body of an English professor injured in a car accident. When the academician takes on the characteristics of the hood and seeks revenge against a rival mobster (Bela Lugosi), Sovac faces the consequences of his well-intended but diabolical experiment. Stanley Ridges, Anne Nagel also star. 70 min. BW/Rtg: NR