PR in the Philippines

(SeaPRwire) –   The early 1930s Hollywood horror craze spawned some of the genre’s most cherished and impactful films. Though every studio in town dabbled in horror, Universal—home to the iconic monsters—mastered the formula uniquely. Everyone recognizes Dracula, Frankenstein, the Mummy, and their counterparts. But among those iconic figures were numerous underrated treasures, such as the 1934 film The Black Cat. It ranks among the best of its time. The 1941 remake, however? Not nearly as good.

Adapted from an Edgar Allan Poe short story, the original The Black Cat centers on a naive American couple on their honeymoon in Hungary. They meet Dr. Vitus Werdegast, a psychiatrist with a shadowy history, and together, they seek shelter in the home of renowned architect Hjalmar Poelzig—someone Werdegast is determined to take revenge on.

Billed extensively back then as the much-anticipated showdown between Boris Karloff and Béla Lugosi—two of Universal’s top horror stars—The Black Cat is an unexpectedly twisted film. It’s far grimmer than most of its peers, featuring a plot involving illegal drugs, abduction, torture, and human sacrifice, which peaks with Lugosi’s character flaying Karloff’s alive (a scene depicted entirely in shadow, making it all the more unsettling). It’s astonishing that The Black Cat hit theaters in this form, considering the Hays Code was being strictly enforced around that time and usually wouldn’t let such a deranged work escape censorship.

The movie was a major success, but as the decade progressed, the Hays Code made it increasingly difficult for horror films to be as edgy as they needed to be, leading to a decline in their popularity. They didn’t vanish entirely, but between the Code’s restrictions and audiences growing tired of overcrowded markets, a change was necessary. Over at Paramount, executives found success with a mix of horror and comedy—their 1939 Bob Hope-starring film The Cat and the Canary was a big hit. Universal had some experience in this genre blend too: 1933’s The Invisible Man is a horror film, but it also includes slapstick humor, plenty of dark comedy, and jokes about nudity. So the studio decided to try lightning in the same bottle again, reusing the Poe story that had given them a hit just a decade earlier. They also brought Lugosi back for a supporting role to help audiences link the new film to the old one.

The 1941 version of The Black Cat bears little resemblance to Poe’s original story. Henrietta Winslow, a woman who loves cats, invites her greedy relatives to her estate to settle her will. Her niece, granddaughters, and their partners are eager to get their hands on the money immediately and are willing to do whatever it takes. Enter chaos. And cats, naturally.

This iteration of The Black Cat has some enjoyable concepts, playing with classic theatrical conventions and a traditional spooky house setting. But the screenplay is a disaster—a haphazard, rushed piece that feels like it never left the draft phase. It’s sluggish, the horror elements aren’t particularly frightening, and the jokes fall flat. Each of its mismatched genre components is poorly executed, a far cry from Universal’s capabilities at the time. Turning a horror-comedy into a murder mystery seems like a bad idea when the climactic reveal is so hurried and unfulfilling. The only thing holding it together (just barely) is the cast: Lugosi, Basil Rathbone (then famous for his Sherlock Holmes roles), Oscar winner Gale Sondergaard, and Anne Gwynne—an early scream queen and Chris Pine’s grandmother! However, making the film wasn’t a pleasant experience for them. Sondergaard later said she “hated doing the thing. It was beneath me.” Critics shared her sentiment.

In the same year as the The Black Cat remake, Universal put out Hold That Ghost—a horror-comedy starring the beloved comedic pair Abbott and Costello. This film was a much bigger hit and launched an entire franchise where the duo starred alongside Universal’s monsters, including Frankenstein, the Invisible Man, and Jekyll and Hyde. These movies were tailored to the pair’s established comedic style, so audiences were already predisposed to enjoy them. They were crafted around their strengths, whereas The Black Cat felt like a blatant copy of something audiences didn’t want.

Horror-comedy is a fantastic mix when done right—take Jordan Peele’s films, The Evil Dead series, or Apple TV’s new Widow’s Bay, for example. There’s plenty of potential in balancing humor and darkness, and vice versa. Universal had nailed this blend before and would do so again after The Black Cat. Unfortunately, with this remake, the studio lacked the courage to fully commit to the genre mix, resulting in a minor Universal monster film that can’t hold a candle to its delightfully bizarre original.