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The Black Room

Play trailer Poster for The Black Room Released Jul 15, 1935 1h 10m Horror Play Trailer Watchlist
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Tomatometer 4 Reviews 64% Popcornmeter 250+ Ratings
In Tirol in the late 19th century, when twins are born to the ruling Baron de Berghman, the youngest, Anton, is sent away due to a family legend that the youngest twin will kill the oldest. Two decades later, the elder twin, Gregor (Boris Karloff) arranges for Anton's (also Karloff) return so that the brothers may rule their country jointly. Upon Anton's arrival, mysterious disappearances and murders occur -- and when the local peasants accuse Gregor, he assumes his more popular twin's identity.
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The Black Room

Critics Reviews

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Meyer Levin (Patterson Murphy) New Yorker Karloff in a dual role, the Bluebeard theme, very competently done. Apr 17, 2020 Full Review Matt Brunson Film Frenzy This offers not one but two Boris Karloffs, and both are excellent. Rated: 3/4 Mar 13, 2023 Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews Eerie, atmospheric, hokey B-film Gothic melodrama. Rated: B- Oct 28, 2008 Full Review Ken Hanke Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC) In the running as one of the best horror pictures of the '30s. Rated: 4/5 May 14, 2008 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Blobbo X Short but memorable. Karloff top notch. Early evil twin plot. Blobbo enjoy gothic format. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 11/14/24 Full Review Audience Member The most original horror movie (about twins played by Boris Karloff), LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/28/23 Full Review Matthew D A well done Gothic thriller. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 08/04/21 Full Review Audience Member The Black Room is arguably one of the darkest stories I have seen from this era, as the amount of indiscriminate evil by Baron Gregor could easily put him up as true movie monster (of course Karloff will always been known as a different cinematic monster). Speaking of Karloff, his turn as identical (yet very different) twins is a remarkably varied performance, nailing small subtleties that highlight their personalities. On top of that, the editing and shot composition does a great job at hiding the fact only one actor is playing both characters. This is a masterfully done film with a delightfully dark and twisted story. It's remarkable this one doesn't have as much of a following as many other films from the same time. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/17/23 Full Review Audience Member Karloff stars as twin brothers. While the elder of the two will rule as the local Baron, the family prophecy states that the younger will kill the elder in "the Black Room" ... a room in their house called that for not entirely clear reasons. Their father tries to thwart the prophecy by sealing off the Black Room. (Since he doesn't take the more obvious route of demolishing the Black Room entirely, you know his plan will not succeed.) Fast forward 20 years ... the elder Karloff is the Baron, and is a cruel and hated man. His subjects want to murder him. The younger Karloff has been elsewhere, enjoying life with a really big dog he's always with. Karloff the Younger returns home at the behest of Karloff the Elder, at which point Evil Karloff preemptively murders Younger Karloff and takes his place, claiming to have died himself. He feels this will prevent the prophecy from coming true and solve his "my subjects want me dead" problem in one fell swoop. As I'm sure you guessed, no horror film prophecy is ever thwarted. This horror film from Columbia Pictures lacks the atmosphere of a top notch 1930's horror film from Universal, but it has a nice central performance (or pair of performances) from Karloff. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/01/23 Full Review Audience Member Stylish gothic horror film with Boris Karloff playing twins, one god and one evil who will stop at nothing to take possession of the family estate. There are also ancient family curses to deal with, which complicate matters. Karloff gives a terrific performance and the film has excellent atmosphere that's greatly enhanced with moody photography and good production design. It's a must see for fans of Karloff and classic horror. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews
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Movie Info

Synopsis In Tirol in the late 19th century, when twins are born to the ruling Baron de Berghman, the youngest, Anton, is sent away due to a family legend that the youngest twin will kill the oldest. Two decades later, the elder twin, Gregor (Boris Karloff) arranges for Anton's (also Karloff) return so that the brothers may rule their country jointly. Upon Anton's arrival, mysterious disappearances and murders occur -- and when the local peasants accuse Gregor, he assumes his more popular twin's identity.
Director
Roy William Neill
Screenwriter
Henry Myers, Arthur Strawn
Distributor
Columbia Pictures
Production Co
Columbia Pictures Corporation
Genre
Horror
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jul 15, 1935, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Jul 30, 2013
Runtime
1h 10m
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