Tonight on MeTV-we've brought back a 1930s classic that has not aired in a while- featuring Universal's two top horror stars of the era- as Bela Lugosi forces the hand of Boris Karloff to aid him in his horrible acts in "The Raven"!

Though the credits say it was “suggested” by the famous poem by Edgar Allan Poe, it really only has minimal connections to that poem. You see, Bela is Dr. Vollin-a retired doctor who's obsessed with Edgar Allan Poe- so much so that he even has a sort of basement museum featuring various hideous torture devices from Poe’s stories. Though retired and mainly doing research, he is approached by an old friend, Judge Thatcher, to operate on his daughter Jean, a young dancer who has suffered a terrible accident. Bela seems rather insensitive to the plight of others but finally agrees to operate to save the young woman’s life.

And save her life he does- but, in the process, he becomes infatuated with the lovely, much younger, woman. He has hired her boyfriend Jerry as an assistant, but only to provide the poor guy a consolation prize for when he, Vollin, steals his girlfriend! That may not be as easy as he seems to think, when the recovering Jean politely sidesteps his advances, and her dad the judge expresses his disapproval of the much older Vollin’s pursuit of his young daughter.

There is a new arrival- a stranger (Boris Karloff) who turns out to be Bateman, an escaped murderer and thief who has heard of Vollin’s work, and wants him to do some plastic surgery on his face. Tired of his life of crime, he wishes to start anew, feeling that, without his recognizable ugly face, he will be left alone. Vollin says he will do the surgery in exchange for some very illegal acts, but Bateman really does want to go straight, and refuses. So, the doctor finally consents to do the operation- BUT- double-crosses Bateman with hideous results that Vollin will only undo if the criminal does what he asks. Bateman has no choice but to agree.

A fiendish scheme is put into action, as Vollin invites Jerry and Jean to join a group spending the weekend at his house, including Jean’s judge daddy. Thus begins a dark and stormy night of horror, as Vollin carries out his dastardly plan, and utilizes his various Poe torture devices, like the blade from “Pit and the Pendulum” to get what he wants! Will he make poor Jean his own personal "Lenore"?

This 1935 Universal classic- the second to combine the talents of Bela and Boris as headliners- once again shows the creepy richness of atmosphere of that era's Universal horror films. We'll fill you in on the cast- provide some Poe-tential comedy bits including a handy tool for home use, Tombstone trying his hand at classic rhyming and a “Too Drawn Out” game, as well as a tip of the hat to Chicago White Sox legend Ozzie Guillen, and a revisit with our friend “Lost in Space” star Bill Mumy– and another comedic clip from the vaults of “Fractured Flickers”!

This week’s show will revert to our old two-hour format- due to movie length (or lack thereof) and production time demands. We will only be doing this occasionally, for those who have inquired about it.

“The Raven” flies onto MeTV and lands on your TV screen tonight at 8 pm eastern/pacific, 7 central time. Your live-Tweets on Twitter and real time comments on Bluesky can take wing during the show- please use the hashtag #svengoolie. This morning on our Chicago-area main station WCIU the U, you can enjoy our Sven Squad in their descent beneath the Antarctic ice to the dinosaur-ridden tropical terror of the “Land Unknown” at 11 am.

Tonight, please don’t let us catch you napping, when suddenly there will come a tapping, rapping at your TV screen- ‘tis “The Raven”!