The Black Room

1982 Directed by Elly Kenner and Norman Thaddeus Vane

Horror Marathon 2024 Day 20 Film 40

A bored husband rents out a sex room to enact his fantasies while pretending to his wife that the stories he tells her are just in his head- “word paintings,” as he tells it. The room itself is this fully dark space, with candles and wine and a glowing table- it all seems fit for some vampiric exploration. Little does the husband know that the person he’s renting from will wait until he’s gone to knock out the women the he brings and drain them of blood!!!!

This has a nice twist on vampirism- with the cold flow of transfusion being required for the vampire to live. The vampire also has a sister, and together they seem to flirt with the husband and enchant his desires for sleazy sex. The first quick edit kill is also pretty well done- coming on with an unsettling feral quality. Later whenever there’s a focus on the transfusion just seeing the distillation of blood comes along as a fetishy addiction.

I especially liked the wife’s role in the film too- where she also wants her desires met, and eventually finds that her husband is cheating on her. Rather than simply chastising him she wants to explore the room herself. His inability to explore that space with her and his fear of female sexuality reminded me a bit of Eyes Wide Shut. The husband and wife and vampire brother and sister seem to have interchanging jealousy - both seemingly tied to escapism and lack of control.

Sadly rather then them both embracing their insight into this escape they argue that they’ll both be on their best behavior for now on (we’ll see how long that lasts). The dull finale shortchanges the interesting themes- becoming more of a standard monster movie with some cluttered choreography.