The Black Room

This 1935 film hands Boris Karloff two parts at once. Twin boys are born to a barony in sixteenth-century Europe, where an old prophecy holds that if twins ever arrive, the younger will kill the elder. The elder inherits the castle on their father's death and rules as a selfish, cruel man, while the younger, whose right arm is useless, is well liked and harmless. Roy William Neill draws the horror not from the supernatural but from a man walking deliberately toward the prophecy meant to doom him. Karloff separates the brothers through voice and posture, and the film's real tension lives in the scenes where the two performances meet. Despite its short running time it is tightly built and stands apart from most B pictures of the period. Who it's for: viewers after classic-era horror and a demonstration of Karloff's range. Who it's not for: anyone expecting modern horror pacing or explicit violence; the effect is entirely in the setup.