"Embraced by the Devil Monster... his kiss the password to oblivion!"
The Black Room is a 1935 horror film starring Boris Karloff.
Anton de Berghman is a noble prophesied to kill his twin brother. After returning home for the first time in years, he finds the barony in revolt. You see, his brother Gregor is a cruel sociopath, ruling the barony with an insane bloodlust. Eventually, Gregor kills Anton and steals his identity, not knowing that the prophecy could still come true...
This film contains examples of:
- 0% Approval Rating: Baron Gregor is so despised by the populace that there are assassination attempts made against him every time he appears in public.
- Abdicate the Throne: Gregor gives up the barony to his brother Anton to avoid being overthrown. He then kills his twin and takes his place.
- Aristocrats Are Evil: The Big Bad is Gregor de Berghman, a psychopathic Baron who treats everybody with extreme cruelty.
- Big Bad: Gregor de Berghman, a psychopathic Baron who treats everybody with extreme cruelty.
- Blackmail Backfire: A servant girl reveals that she knows where Gregor's been hiding the bodies in order to get her to marry him. He kills her instead.
- Cain and Abel: Anton is a kindly, studious fellow. His brother, Gregor, is a psychopathic baron who murders women For the Evulz.
- Chekhov's Gun: After being murdered, Anton falls into the pit in the Black Room still clutching a dagger in his hand. At the end of the film, Gregor falls into pit is fatally stabbed by the knife in Anton's hand, thus fulfilling the prophecy.
- Disney Villain Death: Gregor is knocked onto a knife being held by a corpse in a pit.
- Disposing of a Body: Gregor hides his victims in the Black Room.
- Evil-Detecting Dog: Anton's dog can tell that his master has been replaced, and constantly tries to kill the impostor.
- Frame-Up: Gregor gets away with murdering Colonel Hassel by framing Albert for it.
- Genre Mash Up: Ruritanian Romance meets Horror Film.
- Kill and Replace: Gregor abdicates the barony in favour of his twin brother Anton, then murders Anton and assumes his identity to continue being baron while enjoying Anton's greater popularity.
- Obfuscating Disability: When Gregor takes on Anton's identity, he also fakes his brother's hand deformity.
- The Place: The Black Room is secret room within the castle where Gregor hides the bodies of his victims.
- Predecessor Villain: Gregor's family began with Brant de Berghman, who murdered his brother Wolfram, much like Gregor is prophesied to do.
- Prophecy Twist: Who said that the younger brother had to be alive when he killed the older?
- Revealing Reflection: Colonel Hassel realises that Gregor has murdered his brother Anton and taken his place when when he is fixing 'Anton' a drink and sees 'Anton' signing a document with his supposedly crippled hand in the reflection of the mirror over the drinks cabinet.
- Ruritania: Set in a barony in Tirol in the early 1800s. The nearest major city is Budapest.
- Serial Killer: Baron Gregor de Berghman has been murdering attractive young women in his barony, and judging from the amount of bones in the pit in the Black Room, he has been doing it for some time.
- The Sociopath: Gregor de Berghman, who murders his brother for the barony and proceeds to use his newfound power to kill random women and cover it up.
- Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace: Done by a dog, no less, who attacks his supposed master, stopping his wedding.
- Torches and Pitchforks: Twice the townsfolk form an angry mob and storm the castle to confront Baron Gregor: first when Paul finds Mashka's shawl outside Gregor's room the morning after she disappears, and then again when Gregor is exposed at the wedding and they realise he has murdered Anton.
- Twin Switch: A dark version. Gregor abdicates the barony in favour of his twin brother Anton, then murders Anton and assumes his identity to continue being baron while enjoying Anton's greater popularity.
- Villain Protagonist: We follow Gregor de Berghman, a murderous baron.
- You Can't Fight Fate: Despite killing his younger brother, Gregor still dies by his corpse's hand, which was still holding a knife.
