Black Zoo (1963)

Michael Conrad (Michael Gough) is the tyrannical owner of a successful private zoo that would give today's PETA activists a coronary, with wild cats in cramped cages, and a chimpanzee theatre-the act of Michael's downtrodden wife Edna (Jeanne Cooper)-that sees the chimps dressed in clothes and forced to perform circus tricks, the show culminating with one of the poor primates being rewarded with a cigarette. Amazingly, Conrad is convinced that he is treating the zoo's attractions with love and respect, and even belongs to a cult of animal worshippers who believe in soul transferrence. Clearly off his rocker, the zoo owner uses his obedient beasts to kill anyone that might threaten their way of life, sending a tiger to pounce on a snoopy reporter, a lion to maul a pushy property developer, and getting his gorilla (played unconvincingly by a man in an ape suit) to bash in the skull of Jenny Brooks, an entertainment agent who offers a circus job to her friend Edna. When Edna learns of Jenny's death and finally realises the true extent of Conrad's cruelty, she decides to skedaddle, convincing Conrad's mute son Carl (Rod Lauren) to join her. Of course, Conrad isn't about to let that happen if he can help it...To put it simply, Michael Gough makes this film. The actor goes so over the top in his performance as the bitch-slapping, lion-hugging maniac that he takes the film into camp territory, making it a whole lot of fun despite the somewhat trite set-up. Gough chews up the scenery and spits it out with relish, his hammy histrionics hugely entertaining, with his meal-time altercation with Edna being particularly memorable, the argument resulting in a hilarious spot of casserole hurling!Other highlights include Conrad inviting his big cats into his study where he entertains them with his organ (oo-err!), the zoo owner dealing with a sadistic employee by feeding him to a lion, and the eerie night-time funeral of Conrad's beloved tiger Baron.7.5/10, rounded up to 8 for the completely pointless but welcome inclusion of three pretty young art students who come to the zoo to draw the animals.

This outstanding horror film is a delightful surprise among the new wave of horror that went beyond spooky creatures of the night or even the warming of what nuclear power could do. Michael Gough, a forgotten successor to Karloff, Lugosi and his contemporary Vincent Price, is well regarded by cult fans, but overshadowed by even Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. Here, he's a zoo keeper obsessed with the love of his fur lined family. Anybody who will dare hurt them will pay...dearly.Gough is married here to future soap diva, Jeanne Cooper, and she plays a younger version of her "Young and Restless" character Katharine Chancellor. She's just as troubled and drunk as Kay was in her first years, and like Kay, you can't help but want to protect her. Gough is abusive to her, but there's more to him than meets the eye. Keep your handkerchiefs out to wipe off the drool over the mute but hunky assistant, Reed Lauren, Gough's much abused caretaker.Veteran actor Jerome Cowan gets the first eyeful of Gough's vengeance by trying to force him to sell him the zoo land, giving Gough a memorable line as he explains why Cowan must pay. The photography is colorful and editing brisk, with genuine thrills and a bit of supernatural innuendo as well. Everything about this film is very unique, and it is a fascinating discovery. Veteran actress Virginia Grey has a great cameo as a friend of Cooper's who tries to tempt her away (which results in a delightfully silly exit), and her "Y&R" co-star Jerry Douglas has a small part as well.

This forms a sort of trilogy with star Michael Gough's previous films for producer Herman Cohen, HORRORS OF THE BLACK MUSEUM (1959; although I own the VCI SE DVD, I don't have time to revisit it at the moment) and KONGA (1961; a second viewing will follow shortly). Being the only one still unavailable on disc has made it the least-seen of the three; consequently, I have had to make do with a copy sourced from a worn 16mm print replete with 'jumps' and 'misframing' that make the human figures unnaturally elongated...and, no, this wasn't the result of my watching the thing fitted to a Widescreen TV monitor! Similar to his previous Cohen efforts, Gough is a stark raving mad zookeeper who uses his animals to dispose of his foes; he also (literally) entertains his animals – tigers, lions, cheetahs, etc. – with his piano playing skills inside his living room! Unlike its predecessors, surprisingly enough, BLACK ZOO was shot in Hollywood with a mostly American cast and crew; this made for the endearingly odd sight of watching quintessentially British actor and horror film icon Gough share scenes with familiar character actors like Elisha Cook Jr., Jerome Cowan and Edward Platt. Director Gordon is likewise an American, of whose work I have now watched 2 efforts (1955's IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA), own another (1947's BLIND SPOT), and have just rented one more (1973's THE GATLING GUN)! There are 6 deaths in the film altogether: a snooping reporter is disposed of via a tiger mauling right in the very first sequence (shot remarkably similar to the famous unseen panther chase in Val Lewton's CAT PEOPLE – another link to that film is the subplot, albeit not subsequently resumed, involving a trio of girls who turn up at the zoo to sketch the animals); construction entrepreneur Cowan's invitations to sell out his property, share in the profits and visit a new striptease joint fall on Gough's deaf ears (while a lion proceeds to fell Cowan off-camera!); sadistic cage-cleaner Cook teases the zoo's star tiger one time too many, shoots it to death in self-defense and gets thrown into the lion's cage for his crime by an infuriated Gough!; the concerned agent of Gough's wife (who also performs a chimpanzee act during zoo visits) entices her to go back on the road with a circus troupe but finds a big hairy surprise waiting for her in the garage back home!; Gough himself expires when his long-suffering mute animal handler (revealed to be his own son and being incapacitated by witnessing his mother getting savaged by a lion at Gough's command!) snaps at the latter's beating of his wife for deserting him and chokes him to death in a rainy confrontation on the zoo grounds. Without the viewer realizing it, the film inventively opens with its very closing shot and, in fact, I had half-jokingly taken Gough's lifeless body (seen in a high-angle shot) for an overturned cow at the beginning!!Other highlights of the films include: a quiet dinner that admirably turns into a histrionic battle of wits between Gough and his wife over his mistreatment of the son that peaks with the latter smashing the food casserole (so proudly prepared by the wife – incidentally, Jeanne Cooper is quite impressive throughout and, surprisingly for me, this is the 8th title I've seen her in with 11 more in my unwatched pile!) on the kitchen floor; the night-time funeral procession given to Baron (the star tiger) attended by Gough, his family and a handful of big cats (not just reminiscent of SUNSET BOULEVARD [1950] – as is the afore-mentioned circular nature of the narrative, after all – but also eerily shot by cinematographer Floyd Crosby as if he was lighting one of Roger Corman's Poe adaptations)!; another rite in which a tiger-skin-wearing Shaman (the head of an animal worshipping cult to which Gough belongs) transfers Baron's soul into a baby tiger he is presented with.

This was actually the first time George Barrow himself worked for Herman Cohen. The first time out, KONGA, Barrows sent his ape suit over to London. When it returned the worse for wear, he decided he'd never do it again. BLACK ZOO was shot in Hollywood. For producer Cohen to have arranged for a foreign actor to come to Hollywood and take a job that could have been done by any number if US actors must've been quite an argument to both SAG and the Imigration Department. "Sirs, you must understand, my script calls for the zoo keeper to be the maddest, most outlandish, least subtle character ever to grace the movie screen. We just don't have an actor anywhere in the country who can do this. There is no one n the world who can out-mug Mr. Gough. I know, I've used him twice, and every time he gets bigger and badder."