The Boogie Man Will Get You

The Boogie Man Will Get You is a 1942 comedy horror film, directed by Lew Landers and starring Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre. It was the final film Karloff made under his contract with Columbia Pictures, and it was filmed in the wake of his success in the Broadway production Arsenic and Old Lace. As he had done several times previously, Karloff played the part of a mad scientist, Professor Billings, who is using the basement of his inn to conduct experiments into using electricity to create a race of superhumans. The inn is bought by a new owner, who is initially unaware of the work Billings is conducting.

One night at dinner, the residents hear the sounds of a ghost. Bill suspects that this is part of a plan to scare the new owner away. While investigating, Bill discovers in the basement the dead body of travelling salesman Johnson Eddie Laughton, an experiment subject who died shortly after the sale. He reports this discovery to the local sheriff Dr Arthur Lorentz Peter Lorre. After making inquiries, Lorentz realises the potential for profit and decides to work with Billings on a subsequent experiment. Their initial plan is to use Bill as a test subject, but this proves unsuccessful, so they turn their attention to Maxie, a visiting powder puff salesman Maxie Rosenbloom.Before the experiments can begin, one of the inns guests is murdered. Billings and Lorentz see the primary suspect as another guest, J. Gilbert Brampton Don Beddoe, but the police officers who set out to investigate are intercepted on the way. Maxie scares away an intruder known as JoJo Frank Puglia, who is intending to steal Billingss equipment. Billings and Lorentz decide to begin their experiment on Maxie so that they can use him to stop JoJo from blowing up a nearby munitions plant. Meanwhile, Brampton informs Winnie and Bill that he is visiting as a representative of the Historical Society of America, who are interested in buying the inn. ........

Source: Wikipedia