Who is this generation's Boris Karloff?

Cafe Society
1

Of all of the actors who made their reputations and careers primarily acting in horror movies during (and after) the Universal monster era, I consider Karloff to be the most gifted; his presence and delivery always seem spot-on and powerful. Watching him in The Body Snatcher, I wondered if there was a modern actor who could have pulled of such roles as well as Karloff.

I thought maybe Anthony Hopkins or perhaps Jack Nicholson would be good candidates; of course nowadays a very good actor is far less likely to be typecast as badly as actors used to be.

2

Robert Englund?

3

I was gonna say Robert Englund (who’s acting is just horrible) or Christopher Walken (who hasn’t had enough horror roles, but the ones he has had, he’s nailed.)

4

Gary Oldman.

5

I agree with Christopher Walken - you can just “feel” the evil come off the screen.

(Needs more cowbell…)

6

Brad Dourif, maybe? His reputation is based almost totally on horror movies and creepy roles.

7

Christopher Lee has done his share of evil, creepy characters (but he’s done a whole lot of other stuff, too.)

8

Not in Christopher Lee’s league as far as number of scary movies goes, but Anthony Hopkins deserves at least a mention.

Gary Oldman’s least convincing scary role was that bad hairdo Dracula hoot. Otherwise, Oldman can be very scary, just not a Karloff kind of scary.

9

Not Horror, but how about Alan Rickman? He’s often cast as the baddie - Hans Kruger, The Sheriff of Nottingham, Severus Snape, etc - and is brilliant in the role, though he’s been a hero a time or two (Colonel Brandon).

10

I don’t know about Karloff, but Rom Perlman is definitely our generation’s Lon Chaney/Rondo Hatton. Every time I see a big, buff ugly guy in a lot of makeup I assume it’s Perlman. I was surprised that Mickey Rourke got a typical Perlman role in Sin City last summer.

11

I’ll go with Rickman, his OTT acting is brilliant, I like the guy :smiley:

12

My vote goes to Ron Perlman. Like Karloff, he has the ability to convey menace and pathos simultaneously. I think this guy is one hell of an actor.

13

Jeffrey Combs

14

Another vote for Ron Perlman. I have to admit I have up untill now often confused him with Tom Waits for some reason.

I also think an honorable mention should go to 7 ft. tall Dutch actor Carel Struyken.. He played many silent roles (which hid his Dutch accent), the most famous of which is the butler Lurch from the movie the Addams Family.

15

James Earl Jones maybe? He’s got Karloff’s presense. He doesn’t usually play a villain but he’s effective when he does.

16

And if we get to choose a female Karloff, how about Christina Ricci?

17

I’m going to take a gamble, and say Crispin Freeman.

18

I say Max von Sydow comes closest. He’s an excellent actor. He’s been in a heckuva lot of movies, most of which I haven’t seen, including all his Swedish films. But many of the ones I’ve seen are scary/horror movies, and he often plays the villain.

19

One of my favorite actors even though I haven’t seen much of his horror work, but can he be called “this generation’s” anything? Lee is in his mid-80s.

20

I’d say he qualifies as “this generation” to the extent that he’s still alive. True, his heyday was decades ago, but he’s still effective whenever he’s in something.

I’m going to hop on the Max von Sydow wagon, though. He may be the man.

And I like the Christina Ricci concept for females.