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Ah, I just gave this one a spin. I quite agree with Tom Weaver's earlier observation that, in disparate ways, THE BLACK SLEEP presages the Hammer Horror cycle just around the corner. And, if I might humbly add to that, dually (perhaps paradoxically) serves as a final bow for the "old style" a la Universal.

Now, I'm somewhat...quite, in fact...inclined to hand ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN that honor; but that film, while a marvelous and marvelously respectful coda to the classic style, did not exactly bridge the gap between new and old. THE BLACK SLEEP, on the other hand, integrates the two styles by placing its veteran bogeymen amid gory surrounds and Victorian gaslight. Such was also attempted, to equally mixed results, in HOUSE OF THE LONG SHADOWS, which in turn provided a final, nostalgic go-around for its genre legends of the 60s and 70s. There as in BLACK SLEEP, four reigning Kings of Horror unite to take their final bows in a time-honored Hammer/AIP mise en scene commingled with the then-new level of filmic mayhem...the 80s slasher cycle.

Some things would've helped BLACK SLEEP's case along. For one, it really should have been made in color. Two, Boris Karloff was the obvious choice to play Cadman, just as Odo screams for Peter Lorre. I'm fairly sure Howard Koch wanted the latter, but he proved too expensive. As for Rathbone, he looks like he really doesn't want to be there; Karloff might've extracted some vital depth and sympathy from the role. Having these two, particularly Karloff, on board would've increased the sense of final bows and "remembrance of things past". Thirdly, a script polish might have been in order. The film suffers from long, talky, indoorsy passages that should've been broken up with some bit of gruesomeness or the other. Sadly, much of this is saved for the climax. Some exteriors would no doubt have helped too.

Still, it's blessed with a number of clever touches: the shots from Chaney's POV; the startling revelation of the mutant woman's deformity; an exposed brain spurting spinal fluid. Indeed the visceral aspects are uniformly memorable, lest we forget the female attendant being thrown into the fireplace and running frantically through the halls. If only said abode could have been accentuated with a bit more ambiance...but the interiors are dull and undistinguished a la the disappointing medico-torture world of THE RAVEN; not good for such an insufferably homebound adventure.

Far from perfect but historically interesting nonetheless.