Night of Terror (1933)

 

***/*****

This is a brief 60+ minute thriller from early era Lugosi, who often would go studio to studio, consistently working even as his star power wasn't rewarded despite the name value. This was a Columbia picture, set mostly at the mansion of a murdered Richard Rhinehart (Tully Marshall), while the reoccurring subplot involving a scientist, Arthur Horsnby (George Meeker), preparing a suspended animation experiment along with being buried alive is given importance, too. But there is also a maniac on the loose (fascinating trivia tidbit I read was that the actual actor behind the part is not credited or known) stabbing victims in the back with a sharp knife and leaving behind a newspaper piece with his front page headline for cops (or anyone discovering the bodies) to find.

There is a clever twist at the end to coincide with the maniac (Edwin Mitchell) on the loose, essentially dressed as a vagabond, with dirty face and missing teeth. The very final scene with Mitchell addressing the audience with a warning about telling anyone he's still alive--despite being shot by Wallace Ford's newspaper man (this was a regular character in horror films of the time) to protect Sally Blane, engaged to the scientist supposedly buried alive in suspended animation--is so campy, but feels so right for a film such as this. The gimmicked casket and tunnel to the hidden basement with stairs to a secret passage is neat, seen at the end. I did notice many who seen this film feel Lugosi is wasted in basically a minor part but besides the overt racism towards his Indian character, he in my own opinion has a rather sizable presence. He actually leads the killer using the maniac to hide his own crimes to inherit from murdered Marshall to the police through the burial hole in the graveyard. He is often always the subject of suspicion but I'm really confident few watching "Night of Terror" will not realize he's clearly not the one responsible. I like him a lot in this film because he seems to be in the know but needs to find a way to prove it and timing is everything. Marshall even treats Lugosi with disapproval. Lugosi tries to prevent Mary Frey, as his wife, Sika, to not potentially out the killer of their employer and later the employer's brother looking to inherit...the film even has a seance with Frey murdered with a knife to the back when almost revealing his identity. I have a podcast horror novelist and genre scholar I follow on YouTube who feels this film is the first slasher. It does have a lot of the ingredients including a body count, two killers, police clueless to catch him/them, red herrings, and those old dark house elements I adore with the secret passage, night creepers, family members scattered about with a chance to inherit the fortune, and bumps in the night. I will say I believe this is a specific time and era for specific fans and might be too slow and creaky if 30s horror isn't the decade you favor well. I do, so it was a fun find and I read it was considered a lost film for quite some time so YouTube having it thanks to a YouTuber who uploaded it was definitely appreciated. I do consider YouTube a valuable source for locating old horror and just abandoned early film in general.

I want to add a caveat...there is a cringe-worthy treatment of a chauffeur and servant of the house that clearly expresses in uncomfortable presentation the role of African-Americans as characters of the time. How actors were expected to portray their domestic characters as stuttery and scared of their own shadow is wholly unfortunate.