Horrors of the Black Museum is a British horror film which stars legendary horror actor Michael Gough doing what he does best- playing a charming, yet sinister villain who is behind a series of murders which he then writes books about them!
In this picture, Michael Gough (Horror of Dracula, Konga, Trog) is Edmund Bancroft, a writer, and a crime expert, who kills people in wickedly creative ways, only to write about it later. No one knows he is writing about murders of his own design that he did himself! The police, led by Inspector Graham (screen legend Geoffrey Keen, Taste the Blood of Dracula, The Living Daylights, Octopussy, A View to a Kill) are unable to find any clues or motives behind the killings, while Bancroft the murdering scoundrel cleverly keeps the body count going under Inspector Graham’s nose, while he continues to write about them for his book! He also buys weapons of torture from his museum which is labeled a ‘black museum.’ The museum contains guillotines, chains, and other sadistic, torturous items!
Arthur Crabtree’s Horrors of the Black Museum is a beloved movie among horror fans, whether it’s due to Michael Gough overacting, the spiked binoculars in the eye sequence or the horrifying face that pops up occasionally from his pupil Rick (Graham Curnow). Rick’s monstrous face is nothing short of ghastly! There is also a fantastic sequence with Bancroft’s sexy mistress Joan Berkley (June Cunningham) who tells him off after he refuses to give her money. She proceeds to strut her way to a bar, as only she could, and thrills us with a provocative dance before her fate is sealed! Director Crabtree throws in a fair amount cheesecake, along with some scenes that could have been much gorier if this was filmed post 1980, but he uses the power of suggestion in his film, allowing us to use our own imaginations. The movie is also noteworthy for being the first American International release to be in both color and CinemaScope.
Originally to be released by Synapse but they are quoted for saying they were unable to find suitable elements, VCI Entertainment has stepped up to give this classic horror a long-awaited Blu-ray release. Advertised as being given a new 2023 4K scan of the original 35mm film masters with AVC encode, Horrors of the Black Museum looks about as good as it will get for the foreseeable future. Colors are bright with light blues and yellows standing out, and the color palette appears to be warmer side of the scale. There are plenty of details to the scenery and of close-ups of the actors faces. The movie does look cleaned up and did not detect any print damages. Film grain appears to be present. It doesn’t appear that any artificial enhancements have been used. VCI did release it on DVD many years ago, so this is the same version as before without any added or missing scenes.
For this release, VCI has opted to go with an English LPCM 2.0 audio track, which to me is outstanding with the dialogue coming in loud and clear, and the action sounds, including the musical score by Gerard Schurmann, and screams of female victims coming in even louder and feels like the audio just explodes whenever some type of activity happens. The soundtrack I thought was exceptionally strong without hissing, choppiness, drop-offs, or other age-old anomalies. English subtitles are offered for this release.
VCI has added a wealth of bonus materials for this release making it worthy of a special edition. There are two audio commentary tracks. Herman Cohen’s commentary is ported over from the DVD, and a new 2023 commentary track by film historian Robert Kelly which has been recorded for this release. The commentaries are what you would expect with information about the movie, the cast and crew. The Blu-ray has a reversible cover with the original theatrical art on one side, with a new design by Robert Kelly on the other.
The Blu-ray also includes supplements that were also ported over from the DVD including the original U.S. Hypno-vista opening featuring psychologist, Emile Franchel, the original USA and European theatrical trailers, a photo gallery, a video tribute to and a phone interview featurette also with Producer Herman Cohen.
I’m glad that Horrors of the Black Museum has finally made it to the high-definition world and this VCI release is recommended for its audio and video quality plus all the extras!
Horrors of the Black Museum
Director – Arthur Crabtree
Cast- Michael Gough, June Cunningham, Geoffrey Keen
Country of Origin-UK
Distributor – VCI Entertainment
Number of Discs – 1
Reviewed by – David Steigman
Date – 11/24/2023