The Black Room (1982)

   

Directed by: Elly Kenner

Co-directed & Written by: Norman Thaddeus Vane

Starring:

Stephen Knight .... Jason
Cassandra Gava .... Bridget
Jimmy Stathis .... Larry
Clara Perryman .... Robin
Christopher McDonald .... Terry

Special Appearance:

Linnea Quigley .... Milly

Release Date: Theatrical: December 9, 1982
(Australia)

 

Rating:

 

A family man Larry (Jimmy Stathis) is bored with his sex life and spots an ad in the paper on a black room to rent in an exotic estate in which he seems to be alot happier picking up people but his wife Robin (Clara Perryman) catches him in the act which makes things miserable for her.
What the two of them don't realise is that the sibling owners Jason (Stephen Knight) and Bridget (Cassandra Gava) kidnap the people renting the space and draining the blood out of them to inject inside of them as they try to live immortally.

 

The beginning seems to show off quite interesting as we spot a black room full of candles as well as artsy shots on two people lusting with one another and then two of the owners named Jason and Bridget come in to attack them in which later on we expose them using a machine to suck out their blood and to have it injected into Jason as this for sure looks shocking to watch all this as this for sure will gross you out. Then we spot them putting them into coffins that they made themselves and burying the corpses as the makers tried to give this a freaky start but it looked quite sick and cheesy too.
Then the scene's in the story seem terribly rushed and going nowhere as we spot many takes on a husband and wife known as Larry and Robin acting flirtatious in bed since it was the main focus with bad writing involved. Then of course we spot Larry spotting an ad and going out and then flirting with his wife again in bed ho hum.
We spot Larry picking up some sort of a teenage prostiatue named Sandy and taking her to Jason and Bridget's estate as this was supposed to draw in a mysterious moment on him cheating on his wife to add some flavor to the plot but yet when we spot them taking and hitting on one another it seemed a little amateurishly done. However later on we spot both Jason and Bridget later on moving in on Sandy after Larry has to do something else in which there's good creepy shots on this moment. Plus it looks even more shocking when they use that machine on her and she's moaning as if she's drugged out of her head. Spotting this wasn't a good feeling at all and pretty gross to watch all of this with all the close up shots especially.
There's many great flashy shots on both Bridget and Larry having their bodies painted and going wild towards one another showing neat surroundings and acting wild which looked a bit entertaining and almost gothic like too.
Plus we spot Sandy escaping and acting weak while running away since she lost alot of blood as this isn't a good feeling at all along with her trying to talk to someone in a vehicle but is too weak along with Jason and Bridget assuring the passenger that all is ok with poor Sandy sobbing in fear. This for sure is a terrifying feeling at all imagining if you were the victim about to have the rest of your blood sucked out of you which is just what happens here. A real squirming and uncomfortable feeling while watching all of this happen delivering plenty of shocks.
Another setting with Jason and Bridget making coffins and putting the corpses in as well as burying them in which everything looked well set and a good creepy dark feeling towards all of this too especially with their discussions towards one another.
There's also dysfunctional moments with Robin spotting by what Larry is doing in that dark room showing upsetting situations as well as having an argument at home as this looked a bit tense and well done.
There's some interesting moments with a teenage couple acting drugged which explains as how Jason and Bridget gets a hold of them so easily to take their blood since there's drinks offered to them with drugs inside of them as this is a clever way on doing their evil deeds.
There's some good shots on the married couple's babysitter Milly looking around the estate as the settings looked good and dark as well as a brief shocking moment on what she reveals in which the terror looked well done here.
There's many shots on Bridget playing games with the kids as well as twisted situations involving Jason against both Larry and Robin in which the timing looked pretty good and dark here.
Good shots on Bridget walking down a staircase with a needle ready to do something evil as this often works in a horror flick in which watching this situation doesn't fail at all.
We expose more shocking situations when Larry goes into a room and spots a corpse on a table with Milly drugged lying there in which this seemed well set in.
Also a good shocking moment on Robin hiding from Bridget and then lunging in to stab her throat with gruesome results and good freaky shots with all of this on what we spot here.
There's nice old fashioned shots on both Bridget and Jason rising up like we see in black and white horror flick with the evil one's having a hard time dying which should amuse those types of fans indeed. Think of Frankenstein, White Zombie or even Night of the Living Dead for example.
Also we have the parents trying to start up the car to get away but it stalls which always seems to be the case in a horror film as well. Plus there's a one liner with one of the kids asking where Milly is since it reminds you of a situation near the ending of the Amityville Horror while the family tries to escape their home but forgot about their dog before leaving.
There's some good one liners at the end when they hear some moaning sounds which is of course Jason and Bridget as well as them wondering if they will live forever. This is memorable for the film for sure.
Bottom line is that the film lacks a good budget as the film looks very dark with the picture quality as well it lacking a strong plot too. It had some shocking and interesting moments as mentioned but otherwise pretty lame and this one was considered an obscure horror flick which I could understand why. It almost seemed like one of those films that try to rip off italian horror flicks and it fails. It's a film for fans who like sick horror for sure. Never made it to theatre's which I can see why as well as this being one of the first films when direct-to-video was starting off in rental stores.

The acting is pretty average. Lead actor Stephen Knight (Jason) seemed to borrow heavily from horror film actors of the 30's and 40's with his own style but can get away with it the odd time. He shows a good expressionless attitude as well as showing energy while using a picture camera or even getting aroused while blood is being injected in him and getting the feel to all of this. He also was great with his seriousness along with his firm attitude too. He also offers a nice, calm and charming attitude in the middle of the plot which shows off nicely too. He shows good energy while attacking others as well as acting like a perfect type of zombie while rising up from the floor.
Cassandra Gava (Bridget) comes across nicely mysterious within her presence and presents herself by acting perfectly wicked too. She reacted nicely with her silent and hissing whenever she spoke along with getting sharp at times which also looked good on her benefit. Plus she does a great job acting neurotic in the black room dancing wildly and acting lustful showing off some good energy here. Also shows off nicely is her deceiving and warm like behavior in certain spots as she shows nice timing with that. However her energy is very weak whenever she shouts out of aggression and needed to improve on that a bit. She does well gagging after being stabbed in the neck which looked impressive as well as doing some nice blocking by getting up and acting out of it.
Jimmy Stathis
(Larry) tries to bring on an outgoing type of charm as the family man but there's stuff that he's fairly weak in such as him acting flirtatious in many scene's as this seemed too planned out and didn't look natural at all. However he does a nice job with his excited behvior while getting erotic in the black room and showed great powerful blocking within all of this. He really got into this big time. He does a nice job acting stern during an argument as well as his struggling reactions in other situations. Plus shows some nice intense energy while strangling someone speaking nice and gruff. plus showed a nice pancking energy while trying to escape the estate as there's some good adrenaline here.
Clara Perryman (Robin) seemed to do okay as the wife in which she speaks clearly when she speaks and shows off a nice beautiful presence with whatever she did here. She laso was good with her shocked and emotional attitude as she brings it out a fair deal while spotting this. Plus she does a nice job getting stern in an argument just rolling with the punches here. Does an impressive job when she acts drugged out and about to pass out which also shows off well.
Christopher McDonald (Terry) seemed to be just a line reader in his supporting role of the story in which he doesn't show so much energy here but yet seemed to have a good eager attitude which is not too shabbily done. However this doesn't say a heck of alot. It seemed as if his voice was overdubbed too. His screaming attitude seemed low too when he was attacked. This was surprising since he did a good job in Grease 2. Yet he isn't remembered for working in this one thankfully.
Linnea Quigley (Milly) was seen for a little bit in the story a quarter way through in which she was working on her way up to a b-film scream queen while doing this one only had a small handful of supporting roles in them. She looked good and stunning in her role as well as acting natural as a teenage babysitter in the flick in which she made her presence worth while. She did other horror film's that were better known to her fans than in this one.

A butt shot is revealed on a guy lusting in the black room as well as abrief breast shot of a woman.
Brief breast shot on someone covered in paint doing an erotic performance in the black room.

Lots of blood being drained out of people (Gross).
Corpses are revealed with their blood drained out.
Bridget is stabbed in the neck and blood splurts out although the shot looked quite dark.

Many heartbeat sounds in the flick when blood is being drained out of a victim in which this sounded superbly dark and fitting making you cringe for sure with what was played here. Also there's low keyboard music which sounded deep and cheesy fitting for a low budgeter such as this one. There's even drum clashing sounds as well as some spanish guitar playing for a wild erotic scene in a dark room as this was brought to life big time. We hear the odd clanging sounds as well as some hissing too which sounds greatly composed as well. Perfect high ptiched screeching eerie old fashioned ghostly type sounds during a scene when we think the two maniacs have died and are slowly rising up which blends in perfectly. We hear the odd whistling types of sounds giving it some feels here and there. Plus there's many low cheesy horror synthesizer music making it seem darkly done especially for the closing credits which really matches the story itself with it's low grade quality. All of this was done by James Ackley and Art Podell.