The Hollywood horror boom of the early 1930s gave birth to some of the most beloved and influential films in the genre. While every studio in town tried its hand at horror, it was Universal, home of the legendary monsters, who made the formula their own. Everyone knows about Dracula, Frankenstein, the Mummy, and company. But nestled in among those creatures were plenty of hidden gems, like 1934's The Black Cat. It's one of the best of its era. The 1941 remake? Less so.
Based on an Edgar Allan Poe short story, the original film of The Black Cat follows a pair of wide-eyed American newlyweds on honeymoon in Hungary. They encounter Dr. Vitus Werdegast, a psychiatrist with a dark past, and together, they end up taking refuge in the house of the famed architect Hjalmar Poelzig, with whom Werdegast has an agenda of vengeance to wreak.
