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Good movie but grossly overrated

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Horrors of the Black Museum is directed by Arthur Crabtree and written by Herman Cohen and Aben Kandel. It stars Michael Gough, June Cunningham, Graham Curnow, Shirley Anne Field, Geoffrey Keen and Gerald Anderson. A CinemaScope/Eastman Color production, with music by Gerald Schurmann and cinematography by Desmond Dickinson. Thriller writer Edmond Bancroft (Gough) has his own private black museum modelled on the one at Scotland Yard. Needing ideas to spur on his muse, Bancroft hypnotises his assistant Rick (Curnow) to commit increasingly horrific crimes that he can then write about.You can understand why it has become a cult favourite in horror circles, it's so cheese laden and ridiculously lurid it's almost impossible to not have fun with it. Though the much celebrated novelty murder sequences do tend to detract from the many passages of dullness and bad acting on show. The blood beams bright, the girls flash their undies and Michael Gough is a wonderfully demented villain. We are of course asked to buy into the fact that the coppers must be dense to not know who is behind the killings, whilst you would think that anyone would notice that someone has built a guillotine over their bed and that there is a man perched above that as well! But hey, that's just being picky; right?Bonkers, Boring, Brutal, Bloody, all things that make it unforgettable... 5/10

After Hammer (and The Curse Of Frankenstein in particular) had opened the door for grislier and gorier horror films, it wasn't long before more films appeared which sought to capitalise on this new-found cinematic bloodlust. Horrors Of The Black Museum is, for its time, a notably unpleasant chiller in which a demented serial killer does away with a number of London women in various gruesomely imaginative ways. Good film it ain't – the stretches between the murder set pieces are extremely stodgy and dull – but it remains more-or-less watchable thanks to a few interesting touches, more of which will be said later.Superintendent Graham (Geoffrey Keen) of Scotland Yard is trying desperately to solve a series of bizarre and violent lady killings in London. His efforts are further undermined by the ridicule of the press, most significantly crime columnist Edmond Bancroft (Michael Gough) whose scathing criticism of the police in the affair may not help the cause much, but sure sells a lot of newspapers. It soon becomes apparent to the viewer – though not to Superintendent Graham, unfortunately – that Bancroft himself is the killer. His home contains a strange dungeon-like room full of nasty historical torture devices and murder weapons, and he himself seems to have an unhealthy obsession with death. To aid him in his ghastly crimes Bancroft has employed hypnosis to control a young assistant, the weak-willed and unhappy Rick (Graham Curnow). Rick is secretly involved in a relationship with a pretty young woman named Angela (Shirley Anne Field)… when Bancroft learns of this he is furious, believing that Rick's romantic dalliance with the woman may be the one chink in his murderous plan. He sees their romance as something that must be dealt with as swiftly and ruthlessly as possible.As mentioned earlier, there are a couple of touches which raise the film above the gutter. One is Gough's extraordinary unrestrained performance as the madman Bancroft. This may well be Gough's finest hour within the exploitation genre - he enjoys himself something rotten as the fiendish villain of the piece. The other is the imaginative murders, which include such delights as spiked binoculars and a home-made guillotine. Although not especially shocking by modern standards, these killings were probably quite horrifying back in the fifties. It's such a shame that in most other areas the film is a considerable let-down. The characters are boring overall; the dialogue is hopelessly wooden; the plot doesn't hold up to close scrutiny. Worse still, the extended American print incorporates a deadly-dull 12 minute monologue about hypnotism, delivered in monotonous tones by a laughably uptight doctor prior to the "real" film getting underway. This lengthy and wholly pointless segment should be avoided – if you do end up viewing a version that includes it, just skip through to the main feature (you won't miss anything). Horrors Of The Black Museum is generally a misfire - albeit a misfire with occasional points of interests - and is just about worth a look for Gough's maniacal and energetic lead performance.

Horrors of the Black Museum is set in London & starts as woman receives a parcel in the post & opens it to find a pair of binoculars, intrigued she puts them to her eye's to look through & two large spikes shoot out puncturing her eye's & brain. She has become the latest victim of a crazed & sadistic killer who is targeting young women in London, a series of bizarre & senseless murders have left the police baffled & crime writer Edmond Brancroft (Michael Gough) criticizing them at every opportunity he gets in his books & newspaper columns. Another woman is found dead with her head missing, again no clues but at least the police have a description of the killer this time. Each murder seems to use some macabre item of evil from Scotland Yard's notorious Black Museum of crime & punishment but only a select few have access to it, as the net closes in on the killer can the police prevent yet another death...This British production was directed by Arthur Crabtree who had previously made the sci-fi horror film Fiend Without a Face (1958) the year before, while Horrors of the Black Museum is a little dated when viewed today it's still a fairly entertaining film with a few nice moments. Horrors of the Black Museum was apparently inspired by producer Herman Cohen's visit to Scotland Yard's real life black museum where other murder weapons are kept, the spiked binoculars seen in the opening sequence in particular are supposed to be based on a similar item used in actual real life murder case. I suppose the script is just a collection of novelty death scenes strung together with a fairly threadbare plot to justify them, the murder scenes are certainly the films highlight & I doubt many people will remember much about the character's or the flimsy motives behind everything. Even though Bancroft has these huge computer banks in his basement there's never any reason given for him to do so, despite being a so-called genius he makes lots of mistakes like openly buying his murder weapons from an old antiques shop or killing his old girlfriend to whom he could be traced back to & we never know why Rick turns all pasty faced when under Bancroft's control or how much control Bancroft has over him or why Rick obeys Bancroft even when he isn't in his pasty faced look. At less than 80 minutes at least it's fairly short & has a few memorable kills & the odd unintentionally funny line (largely due to the dated dialogue) which kept me entertained if not exactly enthralled or amazed.The original US released version of Horrors of the Black Museum featured an entire 12 minute opening scene spliced in by the US distributors called 'Hypno-Vista' & featured some London psychiatrist explaining hypnosis. Although tame by today's standards the lurid & colourful murder scenes have a certain invention about them, a woman is decapitated in bed with a guillotine, a woman has spiked binoculars pierce her eye's, a man is lowed in a vat of acid & comes out as a skeleton, a woman is killed with ice tongs & there are a couple of stabbings. Shot in full 2:35:1 widescreen the bright colours & late 50's setting give Horrors of the Black Museum a nice lurid & sometimes garish look.Filmed in London this probably had a low budget but it makes the most of it. The acting varies, most of the performances are poor except for Michael Gough who gives a none too subtle acting performance here & shout's & exaggerates & pulls faces whenever he can.Horrors of the Black Museum isn't a classic by any means but it's entertaining enough for what it is, the novelty kills are quite cool & the bright colourful look of the film gives it a certain lurid appeal. Not bad for what it is.

Bitter, haughty, and cynical crippled crime journalist Edmond Bancroft (essayed with tremendous lip-smacking fiendish gusto by Michael Gough) commits a series of gruesome murders in order to create material for his writing and runs a museum showcasing the devices he uses for his heinous misdeeds. Director Arthur Crabtree, working from a tight, but overly talky script by Herman Cohen and Aben Kandel, stages the cheerfully nasty and gruesome murder set pieces with ghoulishly inventive glee (the infamous needles-in-the-binoculars scene rates as the definite grisly highlight), but alas allows the pace to drag and the story to meander in between said murder set pieces. The net result is a picture that fails to gain much momentum and hence only works in fits and starts. Luckily, things really perk up for the lively and exciting, but overly rushed and sloppy climax set at fair ground. Moreover, Gough's gloriously hammy eye-rolling histrionics are an absolute ball to watch; he receives sturdy support Graham Curnow as Bancroft's loyal brainwashed assistant Rick, ravishing redhead Sally Ann Field as Rick's sweet and charming girlfriend Angela Banks, June Cunningham as brash tart Joan Berkley, Geoffrey Keen as the no-nonsense Supt. Graham, Gerald Anderson as concerned psychiatrist Dr. Ballan, and Beatrice Varley as shrewd junk shop owner Aggie. Desmond Dickinson's vibrant color cinematography makes exquisite use of the sumptuous widescreen format. Gerard Schurmann's robust full-bore orchestral score does the rousing trick. A pretty fun, but flawed flick.