"Horrors of the Black Museum" is a reasonably enjoyable film, though some other films with similar styles of wild murders are certainly a lot more enjoyable such as "Theatre of Blood" and the Dr. Phibes films. There are also a few times where the script could have used a bit of a polish.Michael Gough plays a nasty writer who is creating a museum of crime. The police think he's creepy but also respect his practically encyclopedic knowledge of murders. What they don't realize is that his books and museum are so accurate because he commits crimes...or at least, by proxy. It turns out that he's hypnotized his assistant into becoming a murderer and he does all the crimes for him---presumably because Gough's character has extreme difficulty walking.As for the murders, they're very grisly for 1959 and often very creative. Seeing one person with spikes shooting into their eyes another decapitated and another killed with ice tongs to the throat certainly is memorable!! But in the case of the ice tongs, it's actually VERY stupid and a bad cliché. This is because someone realizes who the killer is and instead of going to the cops, she tries to blackmail him!!! And, there is no one around to stop him from killing her...DUH!!! The ending also seemed a tad disappointing. Still, the craziness of the killing and the typically angry performance by Gough make this worth seeing even if it isn't exactly art and even if you learn almost immediately after the beginning of the film who the guy is who is behind the killings!!

After Hammer (and The Curse Of Frankenstein in particular) had opened the door for grislier and gorier horror films, it wasn't long before more films appeared which sought to capitalise on this new-found cinematic bloodlust. Horrors Of The Black Museum is, for its time, a notably unpleasant chiller in which a demented serial killer does away with a number of London women in various gruesomely imaginative ways. Good film it ain't – the stretches between the murder set pieces are extremely stodgy and dull – but it remains more-or-less watchable thanks to a few interesting touches, more of which will be said later.Superintendent Graham (Geoffrey Keen) of Scotland Yard is trying desperately to solve a series of bizarre and violent lady killings in London. His efforts are further undermined by the ridicule of the press, most significantly crime columnist Edmond Bancroft (Michael Gough) whose scathing criticism of the police in the affair may not help the cause much, but sure sells a lot of newspapers. It soon becomes apparent to the viewer – though not to Superintendent Graham, unfortunately – that Bancroft himself is the killer. His home contains a strange dungeon-like room full of nasty historical torture devices and murder weapons, and he himself seems to have an unhealthy obsession with death. To aid him in his ghastly crimes Bancroft has employed hypnosis to control a young assistant, the weak-willed and unhappy Rick (Graham Curnow). Rick is secretly involved in a relationship with a pretty young woman named Angela (Shirley Anne Field)… when Bancroft learns of this he is furious, believing that Rick's romantic dalliance with the woman may be the one chink in his murderous plan. He sees their romance as something that must be dealt with as swiftly and ruthlessly as possible.As mentioned earlier, there are a couple of touches which raise the film above the gutter. One is Gough's extraordinary unrestrained performance as the madman Bancroft. This may well be Gough's finest hour within the exploitation genre - he enjoys himself something rotten as the fiendish villain of the piece. The other is the imaginative murders, which include such delights as spiked binoculars and a home-made guillotine. Although not especially shocking by modern standards, these killings were probably quite horrifying back in the fifties. It's such a shame that in most other areas the film is a considerable let-down. The characters are boring overall; the dialogue is hopelessly wooden; the plot doesn't hold up to close scrutiny. Worse still, the extended American print incorporates a deadly-dull 12 minute monologue about hypnotism, delivered in monotonous tones by a laughably uptight doctor prior to the "real" film getting underway. This lengthy and wholly pointless segment should be avoided – if you do end up viewing a version that includes it, just skip through to the main feature (you won't miss anything). Horrors Of The Black Museum is generally a misfire - albeit a misfire with occasional points of interests - and is just about worth a look for Gough's maniacal and energetic lead performance.

Call me crazy(and many do!)...I have a thing if you will for Michael Gough - the Third-rate Horror King! Konga! Black Zoo! Horror Hospital! Berserk! Trog! Satan's Slave! He did these - and a few more - whilst being a proper, mainstream British actor. He really did have quite an amazing career. Here again, Gough overacts his way as a crippled author way too interested in some murders in Londoin involving weapons he knows are in the police's infamous arsenal of murder weapons - their Black Museum. Watching Gough oil his way through scenes, bark out orders or diatribes about some silly nonsense, accentuate his crippled affectation, or just leer or look condescendingly on some poor unfortunate person make this film work for me. Made in 1959 the film does have some grizzly murders: a pair of murderous binoculars. A bedroom mini-guillotine. Fantastically large ice tongs. The murders are, for the time, quite bloody. Producer Herman Cohen, who would work on many of the above films with Gough, always knew how to put a good show on for the audience. This film is no different. As always in these films, the acting far exceeds my expectations. Gough is Gough. He is the film's main attraction in my opinion. You just got to love that voice and that bi-colored hair! But the supporting players are all very decent with Geoffrey Keene doing a very serviceable job as a police inspector. He was in many of the Bond pictures post 1970. Gerald Anderson is good as a physician. Grahmn Curnow is interesting as Gough's murderous assistant. Not great mind you. Then there is June Cunningham as Gough's mistress. First, let us say that she is sexy. Very sexy. Blonde. Buxom. What more could you want? If you said nothing more, then good because that is exactly what you get. Cannot act at all. But the scene where she belittles Gough is a great scene just for the humor - mostly unintended and its sleazy aspects. What about the scene where she mugs for the camera shamelessly dancing by herself. It was very, very funny. Now, we come to what was the most painful aspect of the film. The 13 minute Hypnovision lecture by eminent hypnotist Emile Frachel. He is long-winded, boring, and repetitive. I was almost hypnotized to turn the film off. The only thing I saw at all in the subsequent film that dealt with Hypnovision was the ways some scenes would fade with red, because we were taught in that 13 minute opus that colors mean certain things. YAWN! Anyway, I enjoyed this film. It is better than some might have you think. It is fun and entertaining. It has Michael Gough. He may not have been one of the mainstream horror icons, but he has a place there in my heart and memory.

Michael Gough, with a limp and a silver-headed cane, plus a dramatic white streak in his hair, and honing the accent he would use decades later as Alfred, the butler, in BATMAN, hobbles around London as crime historian Edmond Bancroft, inspired by Edgar Lustgarten, who hosted numerous true-crime films between 1953 and 1967. Bancroft's cellar houses a cheesy private version of Scotland Yard's "Black Museum", the original of which he disparages as containing only souvenirs of "dead" crimes. Bancroft's includes the instruments of unsolved killings - understandable, since he's instigating them. Using a vaguely explained electronic mechanism, he induces super strength in his meek assistant (Graham Curnow)before sending him out to commit the murders which provide him with material. The film's best scenes involve veteran Beatrice Varley as Aggie, the junk-shop dealer who sells Bancroft the knives, axes etc with which the crimes are committed, but, when she tries to blackmail him, is herself despatched with a set of iceman's steel tongs. Effective use of CinemaScope by ex-cinematographer Arthur Crabtree, who retired from film-making after this production.