"The Black Cat" has to be one of the great horror masterpieces of all time. Repeated viewings bring out new vistas of curiosities and subtexts. Made on a modest budget in l934 by German genius, Edgar Ulmer, he brought to this project a colorful, brilliant outlook that was steeped from years of working in Germany's UFA studios. He managed to imbue this eerie, surreal project with an ambiance that's brooding, haunting and profound. The gleaming black and silver art deco sets, the extra embellishments (note the presence of white lillies in many of the scenes)the Oriental statuary that decorates Karloff's study (and used in many key horror sequences over the years, especially in "Dracula's Daughter")and equally important the brilliant musical score, composed of German and Russian greats, helps create a profound sense of loss and doom. You can almost sense the bizarre quality of being in a huge mansion built on the graves of thousands of German soldiers. The Devil's Mass is another unforgettable sequence, where white lillies and inverted crosses and worshippers cloaked in black capes and the women in blonde, gleaming coiffures of the early 30s and rich lighting and photography bring you closer to this sinister scene. Karloff and Lugosi's walk down to the dungeon to see the floating corpses of Karloff's past loves is equally iconic. This is a movie that grows greater with every passing year and will long outlive the wretched "Scream" and "Blair Witch" atrocities.
Review of The Black Cat
