This was originally entitled Abbott and Costello Meet the Killers, until Boris Karloff was cast only a few days before filming. Despite the presence of the great man this is not so much a horror spoof as an old fashioned murder mystery in the style of Who Done It? Abbott’s a hotel detective, a nasty lawyer is found dead, and the body is discovered by Costello. All the suspects get together and decide to hang the blame on Costello, which is pretty full on. Even more full on is the scene where Karloff, as a swami, tries to hypnotise Costello into killing himself (a hilarious scene), and a quite scary climax with Costello is chased around an underground cave system and almost falls to his death in a pit of sulphur (a set worthy of Frankenstein).
There is lots of other good stuff here: Costello in drag (being sexually harassed by a bald middle aged hotel employee), Abbott and Costello playing cards with corpses bath, Costello continually finding corpses everywhere he goes. A strong entry, heavy on the atmosphere, where most of the comedy is carried by Costello solo. Karloff’s role is quite small but he does have that excellent scene.
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