Blackenstein (1973)

 

Director: William A. Levey

Screenplay: Frank R. Saletri

Cast: John Hart as Dr. Stein; Ivory Stone as Dr. Winifred Walker; Joe De Sue as Eddie Turner (as Joe DeSue); Roosevelt Jackson as Malcomb; Andrea King as Eleanor; Nick Bolin as Bruno Stragor

A Night of a Thousand Horror (Movies) #205

 

Green haze looms over a Gothic mansion, turning into the title of Blackenstein, one of the most infamous films of the blaxploitation era. Consciously aware the representation of African-Americans onscreen is still at a place, when this review is written, that is fraught and in continual need of being emphasized, the blaxploitation era comes to me as a paradox, on one hand a needed moment of representation in front of and behind the camera, also however an era of white producers cashing in and the the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) protesting the movement for giving African-Americans a bad image. This paradox is something to consider the more films from this movement I see, but Blackenstein, among the horror subgenre within it, was still infamous as not being very good among these films. It has aspects of its era that stand out, which show its historical place. It also evokes, when we cut to a science lab in that mansion, when Ed Wood in the Tim Burton 1994 film on him, when he wanted on a set for Bride of the Monster (1955) a machine that produces sparks for his mad scientist set.

I did com to Blackenstein with surprisingly high expectations - the director helmed Hellgate (1989), a weird South African shot film - and the proper opening credits show promise, introducing Dr. Winifred Walker (Ivory Stone), leaving an airport set to a nice soul song. The premise, in its cheese, does promise a character drama bolted to a premise Ed Wood Jr. could have come up with. On one hand, Dr. Stein (John Hart) who owns the mansion looks a suspicious mad (white) scientist, the only Caucasian figure of prominence in the cast, who with the patients who live in his home dabbles in creating a youth serum that needs to be used every twelve hours, or a "RNA" formula with an unfortunate side effect of turning one's leg tiger orange with black stripes. On the other hand, he is not a villain however, wanting to help people including graft new limbs to those without, Winifred becoming his assistant explicitly to have him help her estranged fiancée Eddie (Joe De Sue). Eddie, a former Vietnam War vet, has had all his limbs blown off due to a landmine explosion, just one lyric away from the synopsis of Metallica's One¹.

It is set up as a melodrama instead, like an older horror film decades before, where his assistant Malcomb (Roosevelt Jackson), a deeply voiced man, has fallen in love with Winifred as they have worked together, but she is still in love with Eddie. To change things to his favour, Malcolm splices the chemicals used to attach new limbs to Eddie with the RNA serum, which causes primal throwback, as a voiceover during the scene he does this repeats over and over again, and turns Eddie into a mindless monster. On one hand, he becomes snazzy dresser in all black smart clothes, but on the other, his head is turned into the shape of a potato as a result as well as becoming bloodthirsty. It is from here Blackenstein was painful to sit through, as this drama gives way to scenes of Eddie stalking people killing them, all as dry as toast and at a snail's pace. Baring one character, a male hospital orderly who signalled his demise for mocking Vietnam vets and Eddie, no one after that is anyone of note, just random bystanders. Usually it is a terrible sign for me, in any horror film, where a monster exists that just chokes their victims to death. Blackenstein would have easily come from the fifties or even earlier; even when it has gore and animal organs used, the film has a tendency to immediately cut away from the attacks to their immediate aftermath, so you do not see a lot.

You do not see a lot anyway, as even restored, the night scenes of Eddie in the outside world are difficult to actually watch and get images of. Beyond this, you have a string of repetitious scenes of Eddie killing people, cutting to the other characters trying to figure out what is going on, which is all bland. There are touches of note, but not many. A creepy man trying to seduce a woman by touching her hair is a distinct scene of random victims, only because the film punishing her rather than him annoyingly. There is also a stand-up comedian talking about a talking dog in a bar, by accounts a real one named Andy C, a long tangent abruptly included for a joke which is not really funny, but is proven the most memorable and charming aspect after Blackenstein descends into this nadir.

Blackenstein even from that title sounds ridiculous, but I would have been fascinating to see a good film from this with this melodramatic pulp premise. One of its few virtues is that most of the cast, and people with important roles, are African Americans which at least remotely progressive, even if the film does indulge in gore and some lurid nudity for a cheesy plot. Even if the titular character is ridiculous to look at, the idea of an African American man being experimented on by a white scientist would be a loaded premise with some interest. [Major Spoiler] Even the ending, where Blackenstein is ripped to shreds by police dogs, has more uncomfortable in the modern day let alone before when it was made. [Spoilers End]. But, as always with bad horror cinema, when it is padded out or without lack of care it turns any premise, no matter how dumb, which had potential into something tedious.

 

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1) Yes, that song was based on Johnny Got His Gun, both the Dalton Trumbo 1939 novel to the 1971 film he also directed which the Metallica music video for One uses clips from. At the point of this review, I have never experienced either, so neither would be appropriate to reference.