I'm going to start with The Brides of Fu Manchu since it was the more boring of the two and I'd prefer to end on the better one. Really, the name is a misnomer. No one is forced to marry Fu Manchu (Christopher Lee), so I'm not sure why they are called "brides." Fu Manchu decides that the easiest way to convince the scientists of the world to build a super awesome death ray for him is to kidnap their daughters and/or wives and hold them hostage until the scientists comply with his demands. You can tell that this movie was made before women were allowed to be scientists in movies. Anyway, you just can't go around the world kidnapping people like that without someone getting suspicious.
A detective from Scotland Yard, Nayland Smith (Douglas Wilmer), catches onto the pattern. Inspector Smith is determined to figure out who is behind the disappearances before anyone that he is supposed to be protecting is kidnapped. Little does he know that it is his old arch nemesis, Fu Manchu. Will the inspector be able to figure out where Fu Manchu is hiding before his death ray is ready to take out all the major cities of the world? Maybe, but no one made the movie exciting enough to stay awake through to see. The fact that there were 5 Fu Manchu movies in all really blows my mind!
Chamber of Horrors is at least a little more interesting than The Brides of Fu Manchu, and a little bit more of a horror. In fact, it "contains scenes so terrifying the public must be given grave warning." To do this, they created a "Fear Flasher" and "Horror Horn" to warn you before these scenes so that you can turn away if you want to "at the beginning of each of the Four Supreme Fright Points." Seriously. These scenes are so "terrifying" that I couldn't figure out what was supposed to be so scary. I've seen scarier scenes on the kid's show Goosebumps. Even compared to other horror movies of the time, these scenes are quite lame.
Anyway, the movie is about a serial murderer, Jason Cravatte (Patrick O'Neal). Really, he only kills one woman and is sentenced to hang for his crimes. On the way to jail, he jumps off of the train into water below. But he has to cut off his hand with an axe, under water (don't ask me how that's physically possible, maybe Mythbusters can test it because I don't think it is), to free himself from the handcuffs so that he doesn't drown. Presumed dead, he can now start a new life as Jason Caroll, bent on revenge against the men that captured him and sentenced him to die. The "Chamber of Horrors" that the movie gets its title from is a wax museum run by two men who study crime. All the figures in the museum, including the new one of Jason Cravatte, are of murderers. These two are instrumental in helping capture Cravatte, and thus are targets when he returns.
As a general rule, I really do enjoy classic horror movies. These two just fall short of entertaining, though. Considering they're not even digitally remastered, I'm not even sure why they're releasing them right now. If you're dying to see them though, go rent it. I doubt you'll stay awake through multiple viewings.