HOUSE OF THE BLACK DEATH Lon Chaney Jr! John Carradine! Free on YouTube

‘Shock! Male witchcraft in evil terror!’
House of the Black Death is a 1965 horror film about two warlock brothers who use their own powers and covens of witches to battle over the family fortune.

The movie was directed by Harold Daniels (Diabolical Wedding; Terror in the Haunted House) and [uncredited] Reginald LeBorg and Jerry Warren, from a screenplay by Rich Mahoney, apparently based on R. Warner-Crozetti’s novel The Widderburn Horror.

The film is also known as Blood of the Man Beast (American alternative title), Blood of the Man Devil (American reissue title).

The Taurus Films production stars Lon Chaney Jr., John Carradine, Andrea King (The Beast with Five Fingers; Blackenstein), Tom Drake (The Cyclops; Deadly Inheritance; The Spectre of Edgar Allan Poe) and Dolores Faith (The Phantom Planet; Mutiny in Outer Space; The Human Duplicators). Jerome Thor (10 to Midnight), Sabrina [Norma Ann Sykes] (Satan in High Heels), Sherwood Keith, Catherine Petty and George Mitchell.

Katherine Victor (Mesa of Lost Women; Teenage Zombies; The Cape Canaveral Monsters; Creature of the Walking Dead; The Wild World of Batwoman; Fear No Evil; Frankenstein Island) has a minor role.

Reginald Le Borg (Diary of a Madman; The Black Sleep; The Mummy’s Ghost) is credited as the 2nd unit director.  LeBorg has recalled that he did very little actual directing. He said his work “consisted of little more than some shots of actors wandering around amongst the trees in the forest scenes.”

Plot [contains spoilers]:
Two elderly brothers who are warlocks, Belial (Lon Chaney Jr) and Andre (John Carradine), have been feuding with each other for years over the family estate. Belial, who sports small goat’s horns on his forehead and runs a coven of witches, has been using his black magic to bewitch members of the family.

Andre keeps warning people that his brother Belial is evil and up to no good. Belial turns Andre’s son Paul (Tom Drake) into a werewolf by way of a magical spell and bewitches Andre’s daughter into dancing and gyrating sensuously.

“It’s embarrassing to see old-time acting pros in such a rock-bottom movie, although in the cases of Carradine and Chaney, fans ought to have been used to it by this point. Chaney, in robe and cowl and sporting little forehead horns, often looks and acts quite innocent and amiable in his role as the evil warlock while Carradine, playing the kindly warlock, is scowly and sour-bellied.” Tom Weaver, John Carradine: The Films book

Buy Jerry Warren Collection DVD: Amazon.com

Cast and characters:
Lon Chaney Jr … Belial Desard
John Carradine … Andre Desard
Andrea King … Doctor Katherine Mallory
Tom Drake … Paul Dessard
Dolores Faith … Valerie Dessard
Sabrina [Norma Ann Sykes] … Belly-dancer
Jerome Thor … Doctor Eric Campion
Sherwood Keith
Catherine Petty
George Mitchell
Katherine Victor … Lila
Margaret Shinn

Shooting title:
Night of the Beast 

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