Horrors of the Black Museum (1959) on Netflix
Binoculars fitted with spring-loaded spikes kill a young woman in London, and the weapon resembles one in Scotland Yard's black museum. Crime writer Edmond Bancroft arrives and asks to see them.
- Netflix2.3/5
- IMDb5.9/102,064 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes33%
Trailer
Plot summary
A package delivered to Gail Dunlap contains binoculars with two pointed awls that spring out when the focus knob is turned, and she collapses. Her roommate Peggy runs for help. Superintendent Graham questions Peggy at Scotland Yard and Inspector Lodge escorts her out. Crime writer Edmond Bancroft arrives, asks to see the binoculars, and says the killer must have seen them in the police black museum. Commissioner Wayne calls a meeting at which the police have no leads.
Cast
- Graham Curnowas Rick
- Gerald Andersenas Dr. Ballan
- Howard Greeneas Tom Rivers
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Horrors of the Black Museum (1959)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Before Michael Gough played the killer, producer Herman Cohen wanted Vincent Price for the lead and also considered Orson Welles, but Anglo-Amalgamated pushed for a British actor because it would be cheaper, so Gough was cast.
- Producer Herman Cohen got the idea for the film after reading newspaper articles about Scotland Yard's Black Museum, arranged a visit to the museum, and wrote a treatment with Aben Kandel; he said the binoculars and the other instruments of death were based on real-life murder cases.
- Critic David Pirie dubbed Horrors of the Black Museum the first film of Anglo-Amalgamated's "Sadian trilogy", followed by Circus of Horrors and Peeping Tom, a run trading in sadism, cruelty and violence rather than the supernatural horror of Hammer.
- For the US release, James H. Nicholson of American International Pictures added a thirteen-minute prologue featuring hypnotist Emile Franchele and HypnoVista as another gimmick, and Herman Cohen recalled that test audiences "went for it like crazy".
- When the film later aired on television, the hypnotism prologue had to be taken off, Herman Cohen said, "because it does hypnotize some people."
- The 1959 British horror film was later inducted into the Museum of Modern Art at the behest of Martin Scorsese.
