There are a lot of different horror subgenres or tropes or themes or whatever you want to call them. I guess subgenres, or categories, is what I’m getting at. You’ve got your slashers and your werewolves and your zombies and your general monsters and so forth. The oldest and possibly most iconic of all the subgenres (or whatever you choose to call them) is the mad scientist/evil doctor films. Director Reginald Le Borg’s The Black Sleep from 1956 is one of those mad scientist/evil doctor films. And it’s a pretty good one.

The legendary Basil Rathbone stars as Sir Joel Cadman, a noted surgeon and professor in 1870’s England. The film opens with Cadman visiting Dr. Gordon Ramsay (Herbert Rudley), currently in prison awaiting hanging. Ramsay is a former student of Cadman’s and was sentenced for death because he was accused for murder. Ramsay swears he’s innocent and claims there is no evidence to accuse him of such a crime, but you know, the legal system is the legal system.

Cadman’s visit comes the day before Ramsay is set to be hanged. Cadman gives him some tea that is laced with a substance that Cadman refers to as the black sleep. It’s a very powerful Indian anesthetic and Cadman advises Ramsay to take in the morning just before his hanging. It’s not supposed to kill Ramsay, but will rather relax him, or so that’s how Cadman describes it. The following morning when the guards come to collect Ramsay for his execution, they find what appears to be a dead Ramsay. The prison delivers Ramsay’s body to Cadman, who managed to get permission to study Ramsay’s body in the name of medical science.

When Ramsay’s body arrives at Cadman’s secluded castle, courtesy of a slimy assistant named Casimir played Bela Lugosi is a performance that is surprisingly quite good, it turns out that Ramsay actually isn’t dead but in a very deep sleep that gives off a death like appearance. Cadman is able to awake Ramsay and explains how the black sleep works. Cadman then explains that he’s working on a medical breakthrough but needs the help of a trusted surgeon, which is why he saved Ramsay. Ramsay is very grateful and honored to be assisting his former professor.

Things start off well enough. Cadman shows Ramsay his research and what he’s already discovered and what he hopes to further prove. Ramsay is very fascinated and eager to get to work. But then weird things start to pop up. Like a mad man named Mungo (Lon Chaney Jr) who chases women throughout the castle and looks an awful lot like another one of Ramsay’s old professors, Dr. Monroe. Well turns out he is Dr. Monroe and a procedure performed by Cadman didn’t quite go right and now Dr. Monroe is Mungo.

Later Ramsay assists Cadman in surgery where he witnesses some behavior that could be classified as unethical and downright wrong. It doesn’t take long before Ramsay realizes that things aren’t quite as they seem.

Like all great mad scientist/evil doctor types, the end justifies the means for Cadman. His endgame is good. He wants to advance medicine to be able to help people regardless of the situation. Specifically he wants to do so to save his dying wife. He’ll do whatever is necessary to accomplish his goals, even if that means destroying the lives of others and turning people into freaks along the way.

Speaking of freaks, The Black Sleep does have a Freaks like moment late in the film. We eventually learn that Mungo isn’t the only procedure gone wrong and there’s a basement full of the now deformed, lead by John Carradine and Tor Johnson in solid cameos. They eventually rise up and attempt to take down Cadman.

The Black Sleep isn’t a perfect movie. It’s a little slow at times and has a few extra cheesy performances. It does work however as a solid Saturday matinee. It hits all the mad scientist notes and even features some pretty impressive special makeup effects for the time. There’s a brain surgery scene in particular that is especially gnarly.

The Black Sleep is now out on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber and it’s a very good release. The picture and audio quality are both quite nice and there’s even a few special features. There is an audio commentary with film historians Tom Weaver and David Schecter which is enojoyable and informative. The real pleaser for me though is the inclusion of the Trailers from Hell episode of The Black Sleep featuring Joe Dante. Anytime you can get Dante on the special features that’s a plus.

The Black Sleep is definitely worth checking out. Yeah, like I said it can be slow at times and it’s not super original but it is fun. Give it a watch sometime, I think you’ll enjoy it.

The Black Sleep is available now on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber.