Horrors of the Black Museum (1959)

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Though younger viewers will remember Michael Gough more for his role of Alfred in the 1989 version of Batman (and its sequels), Mr. Gough had a long and distinguished career in film. He played Arthur Holmwood to great effect in Horror of Dracula, and went on to play the villainous lead in a number of other horror films. Horrors of the Black Museum is a very good thriller which Gough dominates from beginning to end with his strong on screen presence and distinctive, rich voice and aristocratic mannerisms. Gough was a consummate professional, but it really seems that he had a lot of fun playing the role of Edmond Bancroft, the arrogant and rather shady crime writer who feeds off of murder like an insatiable parasite. The cast does a fine job overall, including Graham Curnow as Bancroft's assistant, Rick, a young man with great ambitions who can't seem to break out from his boss's stifling shadow. Plus, there are two particularly beautiful ladies on hand: June Cunningham is spectacular as Joan, Bancroft's rather rebellious kept woman, and Shirley Anne Field is pretty and appealing as Rick's girlfriend, the innocent Angela. The story is well-written, takes several twists and turns, and gradually goes from being a straightforward murder mystery to something of a mad scientist's tale. There are many clever touches in the movie, particularly with regards to the several highly creative death scenes, and the climax is genuinely shocking and tragic. Though not especially bloody by modern standards, Horrors of the Black Museum pushed the envelope for explicit violence for its day, and thanks to a well-managed build-up of drama and suspense retains its ability to thrill even in the 21st century.

The plot is deceptively simple. Michael Gough portrays murder novelist Edmond Bancroft who is obsessed with death and the act of killing in various methods especially. His devious acts of violence towards women is perhaps a hidden hatred for them. Perhaps researching murderers from the past, and his obsession with them, forged the way into his demented reasons to kill women. As explained to his hypnotized assistant Rick(Graham Curnow), women were the main culprits in how murderers were caught and executed. Edmond lives and breathes the novels of killing he writes and he will do whatever it takes to make those works continue. So he uses poor Rick as a means to help perpetuate his literary bloodlust by often forcing him to kill or by helping him get rid of bodies he had murdered. Certain characters threaten Edmond's work so he makes plans to do away with them when their not expecting such as an antique store saleswoman for whom he buys merchandise from(she plans to blackmail him after spotting her name on a pair of "spike-lensed" binoculars that stabbed a woman's eyeballs to the very nerves killing her)or a doctor who, through both mental and physical examination, sees what Edmond is turning into(..or has already become). But, the most major threat is Rick's secret lady-love, Angela(Shirley Anne Field).Horrors of the Black Museum has loads of potential, but seems to be devastingly marred by an abrupt ending. I myself felt like this film could've really been something great if we could've understood more about Rick's plight. Why does his face twist into this hideous sight ravaged by an ugly green tint. Sure towards the end we see him receive an injection by his master Edmond Bancroft, but really delving deeper seems to be this film's major flaw. It wants to make the evil Bancroft pay for his crimes rather quickly instead of furthering his abilities to lead detectives on a wild goose chase. He makes too many mistakes at the end which question his credibility to have gotten away with his twisted scheme for so long.I would suggest seeing it for several interesting death weaponry like the mini-guillotine or the aforementioned spiked-lensed binoculars, but Gough's delicious villainy is why I enjoyed it to a point. But, I also felt it needed a stronger ending than the blown-up finale which has Rick faced with the position of killing Angela when Edmond demands it. His descent through the "fun-fair" running around like a maniac is laughable(still his face and how he turns is a mystery to me), and the reasons behind Edmond even going to the "fun-fair" is even more a mystery. And, why would Edmond abruptly try to have Angela killed so soon..and SO PUBLIC! Why not kill Angela like all the others..in some sort of secluded execution. But, the film is colorful and has some fascinating moments..just not enough for a great movie.

Some viewers seeing this movie decades after it was made may never have seen the thirteen minute prologue that was tacked on for American audiences. If at all possible, try to see this version. The lecture/demonstration on hypnosis by Dr. Emile Franchel is more entertaining than anything in the movie that follows it. Dr. Franchel does his best to convince the audience that anyone can fall under the spell of a hypnotist, especially those people who claim they can't be hypnotized. He experiments with making the audience feel cold, then hot, and to resist the overpowering urge to yawn when you see someone else yawning. The actual movie starring Michael Gough is likely to keep most viewers awake, even if the film is dated. The shocking violence that occurs at the beginning sets the tone for the rest of the picture. There are parts that seem unintentionally funny at times, but the overall impact is pretty disturbing. It has less to do with the murders and torture machines than the truly sick and twisted character of Edmond Bancroft, played by Gough. It's hard to define, but he brings this repulsive character to life almost too convincingly. You actually begin to believe that he is the monstrous character he's playing. The film isn't very remarkable, aside from Gough's performance, except as a peek beneath the surface of respectable English life in the Fifties.SPOILERS AHEAD: I don't know if anyone else has ever noticed this, or will agree with my theory, but I get a very strong and uncomfortable suggestion of an unhealthy homosexual relationship between Bancroft and the young man who assists him. The older man's possessive nature, his fury at finding the young man kissing his girlfriend right in the Black Museum that Bancroft has previously described as being their own private world, his raging denunciation after the young woman has left that women can't be trusted with secrets, and especially the scene where Bancroft acts fatherly in a creepy way. He tells his young assistant that it's really his own fault for not having given the lad his injections often enough, and proceeds to dose the passive youth with some kind of drug, telling him it's for his own good. There is something way beyond creepy in these sequences, though whether it was intentional or not, I couldn't say. This infamous cult film should be seen at least once, just out of curiosity, but be warned, it leaves a pretty bad taste in the mouth.

"Horror of the Black Museum" is incredibly dated, unimportant and overly silly but it remains great fun to watch and watch it again. The opening sequence is delicious and definitely the best part of the entire movie. It involves the supposedly third strange and random murder in the London region and shows a poor woman getting her eyes gouged out by a pair of ingeniously spiked binoculars. A better opening to a colorful horror movie is hard to imagine and you're automatically preparing yourself to see a blackly comical and sadist horror gem. The quality-level of this intro naturally can't be held up throughout the entire movie but the script remains involving and surprising enough to keep you amused for a good 80 minutes. Scotland Yard hasn't got a clue where to begin their investigation and – on top of that – they're constantly annoyed by the vain columnist and pulp-novelist Ed Bancroft. The mysterious killer's identity isn't kept secret for long (I even assume it wasn't meant to be a secret) but his/her insane persona is imaginatively deepened. The "Black Museum" is a technical term to describe the police archive of bizarre and unusual murder weapons that were used in murder cases. The killer here has such a private collection himself which provides the film with a couple of utterly cool gimmicks, like the previously mentioned binoculars, an acid-bath and even a mini-guillotine! Michael Gough is seemly having a great time portraying the cripple cynic Bancroft. His performance is more than decent yet I agree with another reviewer here who already claimed that this role would be even more fit for Vincent Price. This film was the first entry of a Sadian horror trilogy, the others being the 1960 "Circus of Horrors" and "Peeping Tom". "Horror of the Black Museum" is the weakest of the three but still a terrifically odd and sensational genre highlight.