Day 5 of our 31 Days of Horror brings a double whammy in the form of the two great masters of horror cinema: Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff. 1934’s The Black Cat is very loosely adapted from Edgar Allan Poe’s story of the same name, and it is the first of seven Lugosi/Karloff pairings. When I say it leaves no holds barred, I mean it leaves no holds barred. Necrophilia, pedophilia, Satanic rituals, ailurophobia (a deathly fear of cats!), torture, flaying…they all come into play as the film unfolds in a nightmarish and truly disturbing fashion. But first: a summary! The movie begins with two American newlyweds, the Alisons, boarding the Orient Express for a …
