The 2010 season of classic horror viewing opened last night with The Black Castle. As one of the films in the "Boris Karloff Collection" that I rescued from a clearance rack last month, I expected Karloff to play a more prominent role. Instead, his is a supporting part, as a timid but honourable doctor to an evil count. And we know the count is evil because he wears a black eye patch.
The evil count dominates his village in the Black Forest. He collects taxes from the peasants, entertains lavishly, maintains an alligator pit in his castle, and draws up unbreakable marriage contracts when he wants a wife.
Tragically, he once had his reputation as the reigning god of an African tribe ruined by a group of three Englishmen, resulting in both a vow of revenge and his unfortunate eye patch. Two of those Englishmen went missing after a visit to the count's castle. Although why they would visit someone who vowed revenge against them remains a mystery. And now, the third man has come looking for them, cleverly disguised as an entirely different Englishman.
All is unfolding according to plan. Until one of those irrepressible villagers tells the evil count about questions the Englishman had been asking about his missing friends. Clearly, the words "secret identity" meant nothing to him. And his open admiration of the count's wife likely didn't help matters.
The Black Castle is a visual feast of classic horror imagery. The opening sequence alone contains all the necessary elements: the dark and foreboding castle; the old adjacent graveyard; the flaming torches; the stormy night; the swirling fog; the howling wolves. It was beautiful. Add in the evil count, the raucous villagers, the humble servant, the medieval dungeon, and of course, the simple, lumbering assistant, played here by Lon Chaney, Jr.
What more could any classic horror fan ask? Except perhaps a "damsel-in-distress" romantic interest who did more than stand around looking distressed. But at least her screaming was kept to a minimum.