**Possible Spoilers Ahead**
Herbert Rudley's character is framed for murder, then saved from execution by mad doctor Basil Rathbone who recruits him to assist with radical brain experiments. The hero understandably gets a little nervous when he sees the psycho scientist's living failures. There's a looney shanghaied sailor with a half-disintegrated face. A female throwaway has a luxurious mane on one side of her headand ugly clumps of black hair on the rest of her body. Bela Lugosi is the butler; this character is mute which, at this stage of Lugosi's career, was probably just as well. Lon Chaney Jr. is Mongoonce a brilliant professor, now a murderous retardate. Tor Johnson playswhat else?a 400-pound, muscle-bound, bald-headed lunatic. The stand-out is John Carradine; he thinks he's a Biblical prophet who's fighting a holy war against the Saracens, and he dresses and acts accordingly. Unctuous villain Akim Tamiroff gleefully delivers new specimens to the deranged doctor. If you can't guess the ending, it's because you haven't seen enough of these archaic "house of crazies" pictures. Despite some slow spots THE BLACK SLEEP is a real hoot, especially if you watch it with one or more other schlock-hounds. Rathbone alone makes it worth a few screenings.
Herbert Rudley's character is framed for murder, then saved from execution by mad doctor Basil Rathbone who recruits him to assist with radical brain experiments. The hero understandably gets a little nervous when he sees the psycho scientist's living failures. There's a looney shanghaied sailor with a half-disintegrated face. A female throwaway has a luxurious mane on one side of her headand ugly clumps of black hair on the rest of her body. Bela Lugosi is the butler; this character is mute which, at this stage of Lugosi's career, was probably just as well. Lon Chaney Jr. is Mongoonce a brilliant professor, now a murderous retardate. Tor Johnson playswhat else?a 400-pound, muscle-bound, bald-headed lunatic. The stand-out is John Carradine; he thinks he's a Biblical prophet who's fighting a holy war against the Saracens, and he dresses and acts accordingly. Unctuous villain Akim Tamiroff gleefully delivers new specimens to the deranged doctor. If you can't guess the ending, it's because you haven't seen enough of these archaic "house of crazies" pictures. Despite some slow spots THE BLACK SLEEP is a real hoot, especially if you watch it with one or more other schlock-hounds. Rathbone alone makes it worth a few screenings.