House of the Black Death
Two brothers, both of whom are warlocks, use their powers and covens of witches to battle over the family fortune.
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- Cast:
- John Carradine , Lon Chaney Jr. , Tom Drake , Dolores Faith , Andrea King , Jerome Thor , Sherwood Keith
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Reviews
Wonderful character development!
The acting in this movie is really good.
One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
With a poll being held on IMDb's Classic Film board for the best titles from 1965,I started looking round for films to view from that year,and I spotted on Ebay a fun sounding Horror starring Lon Chaney Jr. and John Carradine,which led to me getting ready to enter the house of death.The plot:Fighting over the family fortune,warlocks Andre & Belial Desard battle over who controls the fortune.Falling in love for Valerie Desard, Eric Campion and his friend Dr. Kate Mallory decide to go and try to help end the feud between Andre and Belial.Arriving at the Desard's,Campion and Mallory soon discover that they have entered the house of black death.View on the film:Getting passed along between 3 directors, Harold Daniels, Jerry Warren & Reginald Le Borg contributions are each cut in with a hacksaw,as the jarring pause of dialogue and abrupt change in scenes are spread across the movie.Whilst this pulled apart approach does lead to Richard Mahoney's adaptation of Lora Crozetti's novel to feel rather hazy,it also gives the title a peculiar dream-logic atmosphere,thanks to satanic chants being joined by monks and beautiful dancing girls,
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".
This is one movie that probably would have been improved if Ed Wood had directed it instead! The whole thing plays out like a fever dream after you've eating a bad chicken salad. It's impossible to say if Jerry Warren "improved" on it or not; check out the ax job he did on "La Marca del Muerto", repackaging it as "Creature of the Walking Dead". The story of two brothers with Satanic powers dueling it out over the family fortune(and bragging rights over a kitschy-looking standing stone called the "Devil's Saddle") is barely coherent, the direction is barely coherent, the acting is barely coherent, and I was barely coherent after watching it. It was so bad it wasn't even funny--Warren seems to have that magic touch, doesn't he? The only good thing I can think about this turkey is that Bruno VeSota(a reliable Warren alumnus) didn't have to appear in it. Hmmm. Maybe if Warren had taken a cue from "Attack of the Giant Leeches"...but that's just me. BTW: I caught this on the old late-night schlock show, "Fright Night" hosted by "Sinister Seymour". When Seymour did a bumper between commercials, saying "...and we'll be right back with 'House of the Black Death'! Whaddya think of that, fringies?", they cut to John Carradine sitting up in bed and screaming in abject terror! I know how you felt, John, believe me, I do...
Relatives returning to their ancestral home tangle with warlocks and a family curse.If this was based on an actual novel, as the credits claim, it has to be filmdom's sorriest screen adaptation. (Then again, the book angle could have been fabricated by crudmeister Jerry Warren, whose cinematic transgressions include bogus credits.) Like MONSTER A GO GO ('65), this plays like an unfinished film. You pity old hands Tom Drake and Andrea King, clueless that they'll "star" in what amounts to a series of barely connected scenes.On the other hand, Lon Chaney and John Carradine probably knew exactly what type of muck they were standing in. Carradine hams his role of family patriarch so badly, Hormel could sue for product defamation. Chaney, possibly hired because the plot includes a werewolf, plays a horned satanist who limps with an (unseen) cloven hoof...or did he just drop a hooch bottle on his foot? Familiar TV face Jerome Thor is screendom's most pitiful lycanthrope, though he gives it what I guess is his best shot.Master film mangler Jerry Warren attempted to finish the film by randomly inserting new scenes that add nothing but running time. Sparse music cues contribute to the lethargy.