14 December 2024
Horrors of the Black Museum (1959)
94 min.
Directed by Arthur Crabtree.
With Michael Gough, June Cunningham, Graham Curnow, Shirley Anne Field, Geoffrey Keen, Gerald Anderson, Beatrice Varley, John Warwick.
Suitable British horror yields a terrific performance from Gough and a handful of exploitative shock murders.

London is ravaged by a series of gruesome and unexplained killings, presumably committed by the same maniac.

Scotland Yard is unable to come up with any solid clues (natch), but loud-mouthed crime writer Edmond Bancroft (Gough) has more than his fair share of opinions about who may be offing various young women around town.

Turns out Bancroft himself may not be above reproach...seems he owns a private museum in his basement specializing in elaborate murder weapons, bizarre torture devices and macabre death appliances.

Is he simply a harmless high-dollar collector...or a deadly terror conspirator?

An inventive (if a bit mean spirited) little murder opens up this enjoyable late '50s thriller; genre semi-regular Gough (1965's The Skull, 1973's Legend of Hell House) is always watchable and clearly immerses himself in a meaty role here, while Curnow is decent in the thankless job as Bancroft's personal assistant.

Nothing superior here, but does make for fun late night viewing.

Also known as Crime in the Museum of Horrors.

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