Movie Review: The Black Sleep

Dr. Cadman goes to see a convict, Dr. Gordon Ramsey (Ha! Ha! Ha!), and gives him a drug that he calls "The Black Sleep". He's dead before he can be executed. The convict comes to in a wooden coffin, looking up at Dr. Cadman and another man. He explains that it's the day after he was supposed to be hanged. Dr. Cadman shows him his death certificate. They are in the house of Odo, a gypsy body ornamentation artists - known nowadays as a tattoo artist.

Dr. Cadman is strongly against government executions. Deaths should only be done in the name of science or medicine.

Dr. Cadman's butler is a face every horror buff should know. Bela Lugosi. Mungo, a strange mute, brute is played by none other than Lon Chaney (The Wolfman). Mungo can only be controlled by Daphne, Dr. Cadman's nurse and admirer.

Cadman explains to Ramsey that Mundo was once known as Dr. Monroe, a brilliant man, but now he's totally unbalanced. A lot of brain surgery mumbo jumbo, including a Battleship/Bingo type coding of the brain - B3 controls speech. Cadman and Ramsey operate on a man's brain. They control his movement and things with a bit of electricity. When cerebral fluid comes out of the man's brain as Cadman cuts into it, Ramsey realizes that the man is still alive, only under the effects of Black Sleep.

Laurie, Mungo's daughter, reveals that Cadman has already operated on her father and will continue to operate on him until there's nothing left of him.

After Black Rock and Black Sabbath, Black Sleep was definitely a snore. I was so bored that I started working on different new features on the blog. So bored!

Moral of this movie: Bela Lugosi and Lon Cheney are so much better than this. :(