Maniacal Mayhem (The Invisible Ray / Black Friday / The Strange Door)

Collection of three sci-fi and horror films starring Boris Karloff. In 'The Invisible Ray' (1936) scientist Janos Rukh (Karloff) journeys to Africa with a group of fellow scientists including Felix Benet (Bela Lugosi) to locate and study an ancient meteorite. When he is exposed to its unknown radiation, he begins to glow in the dark and finds that his touch brings death instantly to anything living. As his mind is warped by the radiation, he begins to kill the other expedition members. 'Black Friday' (1940) finds mild-mannered professor George Kingsley (Stanley Ridges) fatally wounded. His friend Doctor Ernest Sovac (Karloff) performs illegal brain surgery to save him. After the operation, Kingsley is left with part of deceased mobster Red Cannon (also Ridges)'s brain and, as a result, suffers from a split personality. He tells Sovac about a secret stash of money that Cannon stole. To locate the cash, Sovac hypnotises Kingsley so that Cannon's personality will take over, but this only makes matters worse for the professor. Finally, 'The Strange Door' (1951), based on a short story by Robert Louis Stevenson, sees Karloff star opposite Charles Laughton. Unable to get over losing the hand of his beloved to his brother Edmund (Paul Cavanagh) two decades earlier, malicious madman Alain de Maletroit (Laughton) sets out to wreak his revenge. He plans to force his niece Blanche (Sally Forrest) to marry dishonourable drunkard Denis de Beaulieu (Richard Stapley), who Alain has tricked into believing has committed a murder. Karloff plays Alain's meek, browbeaten servant Voltan, who tries to help Denis and Blanche escape from Alain's evil clutches.