Kammer der Schrecken

Well, if nothing else, "The Black Room" at least deserves a few extra points for originality! In an era where most American horror were derivative and tepid slasher knock-offs, this film comes with a totally creative and unique (albeit utterly grotesque) storyline that is certainly trashier, sleazier and nastier than all those dull slashers. The protagonist of "The Black Room", a seemingly average middle-class guy named Larry, is a heroic role-model for all of use horny males! Dig this: because his sex life with his wife Robyn suffers from routine boredom and children always interrupting at the exact wrong moment, Larry invents a fantasy place - the black room - where he satisfies his sexual need with other women. He shares his lewd fantasies with Robyn in order to excite her, but Larry actually also does rent such a room for real! He picks up horny students and prostitutes like it's the most normal thing in the world and takes them to his secret for sweet-loving, while later that same night in the marital bed his wife whisper: "Tell me again about the black room, honey". Ha! Larry is awesome! What he doesn't know, however, is that the proprietors of the room, a very seductive brother and sister, are sick psychos that murder the lust objects in the black room and transfuse their blood into the brother's body because he supposedly has a rare blood disease! "The Black Room" obviously isn't an Award-winning masterpiece, but it sure is a compelling, unpredictable and darn hot 80s horror oddity! When Robyn discovers Larry's deceitful little secret, and plots her revenge together with houseowner Jason, the film resembles more of an early 70s European sexploitation movie rather than an 80s US horror flick; - especially with that randomly bonkers vampire twist-ending! He may only have made less than a handful of films, but the least you can say about writer and (co-) director Norman Thaddeus Vane is that he tried different things (see also "Frightmare" that was released one year later). Beautiful people in this film as well, both males and females. It's one of the earliest films of Christopher MacDonald and Linnea Quigley never looked prettier in her life.

My review was written in March 1984 after a screening at Empire theater on Manhattan's 42nd St.

"The Black Room" is a pretentious, thoroughly unappealing horror picture whose poster and advertising promise a dark, sexy opus that does not materialize on screen. Filmed in January 1981, delayed release looks to grim box office.

The script by Norman Thaddeus Vane (who also takes a co-director credit) awkwardly meshes two separate stories: (1) Jason (Stephen Knight) is a California artist living with his beautiful model sister Bridget (Cassandra Gaviola). He suffers from a blood disease that requires replacement of his blood at least twice a week, and duo are given to ensnaring unwary young visitors in their mansion's Black Room, photographing their sex acts through a one-way mirror, and then killing them for their blood. Corpses are neatly buried in coffins in the garden.

(2): Larry (Jim Stathis) is a young married man having sexual problems with his wife Robin (Clara Perryman). Larry answers Jason's ad for a low-cost home in the Hollywood Hills and starts acting out his sexual fantasies in the Black Room with various women he picks up. Unbeknownst to him Jason and Bridget are killing his partners for their blood.

Absurd finale has both Jason and presumab;ly normal sister Bridget turning into zombies after Larry and Robin kill them, a supernatural tangent not justified by the preceding footage and guaranteed to anger a paying audience.

Film's sole highlight is a lengthy showcasint role for the exotically beautiful model-turned-actress Cassandra Gaviola (aka Gava), who later had small parts in "Conan the Barbarian", "Nighrt Shift" and "High Road to China". Casting of Stephen Knight. Who looks like an entirely different nationality, as Cassandra's brother is an error.

Technically, the film is sloppy, with frequent shots from the window side (peering into the Black Room) producing mirror images of the watcher. Picture is also an object lesson for itinerant filmmakers in how not to use the Steadicam.

Jason and his sister Bridget have a nice home in the hills, and there is a special room that is available to rent. It is all black, with candles and other amenities that couples might find wonderful for special occasions. Jason has a genetic disorder, thalassemia, meaning his body does not produce enough hemoglobin, so he needs fresh blood. Larry is married to Robin, with two young children which really does not allow for much intimacy. Larry finds an ad for the room, and decides it is great but while it has spiced up their life, he assures Robin it is all in his mind. One day returning from shopping, Robin finds a crumbled up newspaper that has the ad, and finds keys in the glove compartment. She needs to investigate. And Jason needs more and more blood. Sets up the tension in the third act. It is fairly mediocre, and the colors are very strong, as were in many films of that period. The trysts are somewhat tame, and the blood 'donations' are quite fake.

A man rents a room a brother & sister so he can have extramarital affairs away from his own house, however his landlords are draining the blood from everyone who enters the room.

An extremely dark and original take on the vampire genre. Set in the modern day (1981 when it was made) unlike many vampire movies of the time, the setting does give it much more credibility than its Gothic counterparts. The draining sequences are very dramatic, no fangs here but a massive machine which pumps out the blood into some very gory scenes. The performances are a lot better than you might think, the 4 leads are surprisingly good as is most of the supporting cast. The second half of the movie is great, tension mounts very well, the pace improves and the last 10-15mins are superb and quite scary at times. The film does have a couple of issues though, in the first half pacing is quite sluggish, as the set up sequences to key scenes take an age and at times fail at keeping the viewers attention, editing is also quite strange at the beginning (although that could just have been the copy I watched 1983 UK VHS).

Overall a very good surprising watch, if you enjoy weird fairly gory horror there should be plenty for you to enjoy here. Interestingly this quite rare horror was put onto the DPP's section 3 list here in the UK (meaning the police could seize it from the shelves), a real shame as this well made little horror didn't deserve the negative attention it got.

The Black Room turned out to be an engrossing semi-masterpiece. I was expecting mundane from this forgotten horror, but what I saw was more kinky, twisted and sick than I'd imagined. Something about the acting, the script , the directing or everything was different than other films. It also has the most graffically depicted blood transfusions I've ever seen. They were painstakingly slow over these shots. I had to turn away....gallons of blood... It's a shame Clara Perryman didn't do much after this film. She was excellent and made the troubled relationship with her and Jim Stathis {also great} possibly more interesting than the horror elements. Linnea Quigley plays a small role as the babysitter. She says maybe 5 words.