Boris in the Forest

Plot

A black comedy about a Californian geek in search of his horror hero Boris Karloff. Fresh off the plane from Los Angeles, horror geek Merv Blanco holds forth in reverential ecstasy as he finally finds himself outside 36 Forest Hill Road, London, birthplace of his hero, screen legend Boris Karloff. But what awaits in the run-down kebab shop that occupies what was once the Karloff home, is not what Merv was expecting.

Cast

Mac McDonald has had a sterling career stemming back to the 70's including such movies as Batman (1989), The Fifth Element (1997), Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead (2009) and The Descent Part 2 (2009). It was bizarre seeing him here, but appreciated.

Verdict

British made (Which is always a bad start) it sees our goofy American discussing the horror legend with a kebab shop employee and it's weirdly charming. McDonald is fantastic here, the cinematography is far above what you'd expect from such a short and though the finale looks a bit daft it's certainly interesting and wraps everything up nicely. For what it is you can't fault it, nice attempt.

Rants This could have made for a great Bubba Ho Tep (2002) style movie or maybe even show. Boris Karloff works in a kebab shop, Lon Chaney runs a petting zoo, Peter Cushing is a trolley collector for Asda and Vincent Price works in a call centre. This very rant is making me miss the good ol'days, what went wrong? How did we go from them to Conjuring and copy and paste "Horror" trite. Stop the world I want to get off.

The Good

• Mac McDonald
• Interesting concept

The Bad

• Suffers from a few traditional British tropes
• Not convinced by that ending.

At the first sigh, a black comedy about geeky American in London, looking for the steps of his hero. In essence, wise explore of the difference of two societies, modernisation, apparences and the risks of too much curiosity. Well crafted, ironic and ...refreshing. Boris Karloff near kebab.