Horrors of the Black Museum (1959)

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

I enjoy a lurid British thriller when I can find one, but sadly "Horrors of the Black Museum" is not an effective example of one. I was hoping for something similar to "Circus of Horrors" which is from a very similar period, but that film is altogether more grisly and entertaining than this one.The plot sees a string or murders in London, all employing elaborate killing techniques. A famous author of true-life crime (Michael Gough) seems particularly interested in the murders, and although he regularly helps the police...is he actually the killer? The best murder in the story (from a pair of deadly binoculars) appears in the first 5 minutes, which actually does the film a disservice as it's not equalled or bettered by anything else that happens. The rest of the plot does see more murders, but in typical British fashion, they all take place off screen, or just tastefully masked out of shot, which makes things pretty dull for a supposed "horror movie". Now, things can still be rescued by a gripping plot, but there's not much of that either. The real nail in the coffin is the appalling acting. Michael Gough is OK, but Graham Curnow is terrible as his assistant, and Shirley Ann Field is wooden beyond belief. There's an abundance of very grating Cockney dialogue, along the lines of "Oh, ta very much, dearie" from the women and "Cor Blimey!" from the men, and things wind up with a really rubbish climax set in a funfair. If the movie had exploited it's "tools of death" angle more salaciously, then "Horrors of the Black Museum" would have earned a nice place in horror history, but the reluctance to show anything even mildly nasty is a real mistake. Only the opening binoculars death has any shock value, and as mentioned before, it's followed buy a full 90 minutes of running time when nothing else good happens. I'm disappointed when I have to be negative but this film really isn't very good.

I saw this film in 1959 when I was 13. In an early scene something happens that is so disturbing that I was physically shocked and for weeks after I had awful flashbacks. To this day I still am revolted thinking abut that scene. Today we are all hardened to hyper-violent films and yet I would not want to watch that scene again. Bottom line keep children younger than 30 away from this exploitive little film. Repeated to meet 10 line minimum. I saw this film in 1959 when I was 13. In an early scene something happens that is so disturbing that I was physically shocked and for weeks after I had awful flashbacks. To this day I still am revolted thinking abut that scene. Today we are all hardened to hyper-violent films and yet I would not want to watch that scene again. Bottom line keep children younger than 30 away from this exploitive little film.

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.

"Horror of the Black Museum" is incredibly dated, unimportant and overly silly but it remains great fun to watch and watch it again. The opening sequence is delicious and definitely the best part of the entire movie. It involves the supposedly third strange and random murder in the London region and shows a poor woman getting her eyes gouged out by a pair of ingeniously spiked binoculars. A better opening to a colorful horror movie is hard to imagine and you're automatically preparing yourself to see a blackly comical and sadist horror gem. The quality-level of this intro naturally can't be held up throughout the entire movie but the script remains involving and surprising enough to keep you amused for a good 80 minutes. Scotland Yard hasn't got a clue where to begin their investigation and – on top of that – they're constantly annoyed by the vain columnist and pulp-novelist Ed Bancroft. The mysterious killer's identity isn't kept secret for long (I even assume it wasn't meant to be a secret) but his/her insane persona is imaginatively deepened. The "Black Museum" is a technical term to describe the police archive of bizarre and unusual murder weapons that were used in murder cases. The killer here has such a private collection himself which provides the film with a couple of utterly cool gimmicks, like the previously mentioned binoculars, an acid-bath and even a mini-guillotine! Michael Gough is seemly having a great time portraying the cripple cynic Bancroft. His performance is more than decent yet I agree with another reviewer here who already claimed that this role would be even more fit for Vincent Price. This film was the first entry of a Sadian horror trilogy, the others being the 1960 "Circus of Horrors" and "Peeping Tom". "Horror of the Black Museum" is the weakest of the three but still a terrifically odd and sensational genre highlight.