There was a pretty basic formula for UNIVERSAL monster movies. Introduce/create a monster, monster rampages a town or two, then the townsfolk work together to kill it. FRANKENSTIEN, CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, THE WOLFMAN, Its pretty standard affair to fans of the genre.
this movie has none of that whatsoever
The Black Cat is a 1934 American pre-Code horror film directed by Edgar G. Ulmer and starring Boris Karloff and Béla Lugosi. Honeymooning in Hungary, Joan and Peter Allison share their train compartment with Dr. Vitus Verdegast, a courtly but tragic man who is returning to the remains of the town he defended before becoming a prisoner of war for fifteen years. When their hotel-bound bus crashes in a mountain storm and Joan is injured, the travellers seek refuge in the home, built fortress-like upon the site of a bloody battlefield, of famed architect Hjalmar Poelzig. There, cat-phobic Verdegast learns his wife's fate, grieves for his lost daughter, and must play a game of chess for Allison's life.
The Black Cat was the biggest box-office hit of the year for Universal. and was the first of eight movies (six of which were produced by Universal) to pair actors Béla Lugosi and Boris Karloff. The film has almost nothing to do with Edgar Allan Poe's short "The Black Cat", though Poe's name is listed in the credits. Instead of making a movie about a Poe short, This movie was made to exploit a sudden public interest in psychiatry in the mid 1930s. In the end this movie has nothing to do with either psychiatry or Poe, but regardless this movie is a fascinating piece of horror history.
Maybe the great depression had something to do with that...
This movie is really bizarre. It essentially involves a deadly game of revenge between Boris Karloff and Béla Lugosi, but neither man is the man character of this movie. Instead we open with train riding Newlyweds Peter and Joan Alison who serve 0 purpose other than audience surrogates to dump exposition onto. Being stuck with these two asshats is the scariest thing i can imagine, but thankfully right away Lugosi ends up sharing a train car with them and i get a tiny bit more invested in this movie. Really wonderful to see Lugosi as a misunderstood good guy in this movie, and although he is unquestionably my favorite character in this movie. He is far more interesting than strictly bad guy Karloff, but i have to say my second favorite character in this movie is Karloff's hilltop mansion
Poelzig's home built upon the ruins of Fort Marmorus (as the movie will keep reminding you), And the hilltop mansion feels more at home in the 60s than anything you would expect from a movie this old. Even today it would be a fairly modern home minus a few small details, and its one of the many reasons this movie was called modern horror upon its release. Among the unconventional elements of this film was the soundtrack, since at the time when movie music was usually limited to the titles and credits. Edgar G. Ulmer had an almost continuous background score throughout the entire film, and it is a large part of why this movie feels so dreadful. its claustrophobic, dream like, and reminds me of a toned down ERASERHEAD type of vibe. the movie moves at a fairly slow pace with its 2 hour run time, and you really get to soak in those uncomfortable vibes in a way i have always really enjoyed. The women in glass cases, the gorgeous shot of them traveling to the mansion, the very sparse decorating, this movie is tailor made to be creepy and uncomfortable.
Upon the film's original 1934 release, The New York Times reviewer wrote:
"The Black Cat is more foolish than horrible. The story and dialogue pile the agony on too thick to give the audience a reasonable scare".
Wouldn't be the first time the TIMES had no idea what they were talking about
9/10
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