Black Room

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.

Damn, those good old days. This movie is something weird. It is made in 84, full slasher period. But this isn't a slasher, I even don't know were to place it. Face it, the first minutes all you see is nudity. Due the fact that it is an OOP it is even harder to see it unless you live over here in Europe were it became available as an freebee on the Bloodstained Romance DVD, but even that one is a hard to get already. So I thought, is this a soft erotic flick or what, because the cover is a nude girl looking towards a camera. After a while when a person hire a room, the black one, to cheat on his wife it becomes clear what it's all about, but again, first you will have to watch a nude girl dancing and doing weird stuff. It's when the tenant brings his first hooker with him that the film changes into a horror flick. Once his wife gets to know what the black room is it changes a bit into a revenge (sexual) movie. Again, weird scene's are shown, the score is creepy too and more and more you will get to know the why and who about the brother and sister hiring the black room. At the end you will be surprised again about the brother and sister...weird story, strange editing, creepy score ( a lot of delay on voices...). but the other reason why people want to see it is because Linnea Quigley is in it, but she's only 5 minutes in it and stays dressed. Still, worth watching.

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.

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.