The Black Cat (1934)

Director: Edgar G Ulmer

Starring: Boris Karloff & Bela Lugosi

More Info: IMDB

Tagline: Things you never said before or even dreamed of!

Plot: Peter (David Manners) and Joan Allison (Julie Bishop) are honeymooning in Budapest when they meet mysterious scientist Dr. Vitus Verdegast (Lugosi) aboard a train. When the trio's bus from the train station gets into an accident, the young couple accompanies Verdegast to the castle of the spectral Hjalmar Poelzig (Karloff), an architect and the leader of a Satanic cult. Poelzig's treachery in World War I caused the deaths of thousands of his and Verdegast's countrymen, as well as Verdegast's own internment as a prisoner of war. While Verdegast was detained, Poelzig married first his wife, who later died, then his daughter. Now Verdegast has come back for retribution, and the honeymooners are trapped in the two men's horrifying battle of wits.

Sidebar: Who THE FUCK are the Coors twins and why are they given ANY face time about this movie? I'm sure the closest thing they've come to seeing The Black Cat is they're not true blondes and they once went without a bikini wax for a couple of months. OH!

My Rating: 6.5/10

Would I watch it again? Likely


It's a slow go for the first 20 or so minutes of this 65 minute film. But it doesn't take too long before the plot thickens and things get a little tense between Karloff and Lugosi (their first of several films together). The tension really kicks into high gear during the last 15 and this is the best and ghoulish part!



The performances tend to feel stagy at time but it's really about seeing K&L in the same picture going head-to-head. The art direction (no doubt director Ulmer's doing, a German expressionist then working in the States) elevates the picture even more, adding to the creepiness of the castle. I would have liked to have seen more....but alas...I'll take what they give me and like it.


The final act with Lugosi going chimpshit on Karloff is worth the wait. The scene where he starts to cut open Karloff's face to peel it off genuinely gets under your skin (no pun intended).


There's one good thing about many of these early Universal horror films and that's their length - generally just over or under an hour. As we'll find out later on when I talk about the FANTASTIC Karloff picture, THE BLACK ROOM (1935), a taut 70 minutes is used to its fullest effect. If only Hollywood could understand that not all movies have to be 90-140 minutes long. Sometimes the best ideas only requrie a few.