mark.waltz
Some second string actors of the 1930's and 40's get to chew the scenery in this supernatural thriller about Satanists gathering together for an annual celebration of the dark moon and the rivalry of two witch brothers (John Carradine and Lon Chaney Jr.) of who will take over the coven. Andrea King ("The Beast With Five Fingers") plays a doctor (it is never mentioned if she is Christian, but she obviously isn't a Satanist) who comes to take care of Chaney's son (Tom Drake, "Meet Me in St. Louis") who is suffering from the same disorder Chaney Jr. suffered from in "The Wolf Man". The ironically named Dolores Faith is the ingénue here who has Satanic leanings but is fighting with herself to escape the dark side of her existence. A spooky set with practically everybody wearing monk robes and some scary moments make for an interesting, if often disturbing supernatural drama. Of course, every time the horrible Chaney speaks, it just becomes laughable. Everybody else seems to be speaking with some sincerity or wisdom, but Chaney is totally one-note. Nobody delivered bad dialog more badly than Chaney. Carradine at least gets to show some vulnerability in his performance, and even if he is on the side of the prince of darkness, you do find yourself rooting for him in his quest to squelch Chaney. But one thing is for sure. This film will never be a threat to the memory of the big budgeted witches coven picture, "Rosemary's Baby".
dbborroughs
Sue me I liked this. perhaps seeing it late at night with the lights out and being half a sleep the film came across as a twisted dream. Perhaps I had to eventually like a film that Jerry Warren was involved in. What ever the reason I liked the film. (Actually I think its the fact that Sinister Cinema's print is dark and shadowy and very moody) The plot has a white magician getting involved with two warring brothers who are black magicians. Lon Chaney is one John Carradine is the the other.Its a strange film that has a rhyming opening intoned by Satan, a plot that wanders all over the place and plot holes that you could drive a rampaging demon through. Its not by any real normal sense a good film, but it has mood and a sense of place and a reality that is sort of bent, I liked it.I have no idea if anyone else will but its a dark tale that clicked with me.
Robert Archambault
Unfortunately I can't comment on the movie as I have never seen it, but I just thought I'd let people know that yes, it is based on a book! The book is the Widderburn Horror and from what I've been reading here, it's considerably better than this movie.I had always felt that it would make a good movie so I did a search on it and ended up here only to be sadly disappointed. If someone would do it properly, I still think it would make a fine movie. The book has it all, witchcraft, devil worship, werewolves - actual transformation into a wolf, not some horror film monster, and a family of witches going back centuries that could be the inspiration for Anne Rice's witches in the Witching Hour. Not to mention a story of unrequited love.Considering how old the novel is, there is no indication of the time period and it could still work very well if it were set in the present day. If anyone is interested, you can find the book on amazon, used of course. It's the Widderburn Horror by R.Warner-Crozetti aka Lora Crozetti. As far as I can tell, it's the only book she ever wrote and it seems that it was meant to be the first of a series but never went any further.Considering all the remakes being produced today that are pointless and inferior to the original, this is one book that cries out for someone to do it properly.
John Seal
If not for the coupling of horror icons John Carradine and Lon Chaney Jr.--who don't share a single scene together--House of the Black Death would be completely worthless. As it is, it's ALMOST completely worthless, being badly shot, appallingly lit, and poorly written. In a plot reminiscent of Roger Corman's version of The Raven, our two stars play brothers and dueling masters of the dark arts, with Chaney sporting a fetching pair of horns that mark him as the bad guy. (He's also called Belial, which doesn't help matters.) The endless exotic dancing sequences echo A.C. Stephens inept Orgy of the Dead, a film that, thanks to its colour photography, is a masterpiece in comparison to House of the Black Death.
AD
