Fledgling DVD imprint Casa Negra continues to impress with their efforts to exhume lost Mexican classics and their latest release continues their unwavering streak of quality, both in terms of the film itself and the presentation. A little Poe, a little Serling, a little Universal Horror, 1958’s The Black Pit of Dr. M truly deserves the lost classic tag, standing easily among the ranks of great, classic horror films.
The supervising doctor at a large asylum Dr. Masali has a long standing fixation with the afterlife, a fixation he shares with his partner, Dr. Aldama. Masali and Aldama have struck a bargain with one another: whichever of them dies first will, on pain of damnation, make every effort to find a way to bring the other safely into death and then back to life again. When Aldama passes Masali summons his soul back to earth with the help of a medium to remind him of their bargain. Yes, Aldama’s spirit concedes, there is a way Masali can experience the afterlife but the cost will be high. If Masali wishes to brave those costs Aldama will return in three months to conclude the bargain …
A classic cautionary horror tale filled with obsession, pride, ghosts, madness, prophetic dreams, disfigurement and more, the Black Pit plays at times like a feature length episode of The Twilight Zone, at others like an archetypal Universal monster picture. It is the story of a man led by pride to set himself against the fundamental laws of nature and the horrific fall his pride leads him to.
Rafael Bertrand’s performance as Masali is strongly reminiscent of Vincent Price in his prime, smooth manners and high intelligence thinly masking his lurking obsession, and his charismatic performance is matched by his supporting cast, high quality production values, and the assured hand of director Fernando Mendez – little known in these northern lands, but a well respected director in his day with over thirty films to his credit. While many are drawn to these old Mexican genre films for their camp value The Black Pit is an entirely different animal, a serious minded picture with high gothic style that compares very favorably with anything to emerge from the Hammer or Universal horror factories.
The DVD release again shows Casa Negra’s unrelenting commitment to quality. The video has been completely restored, the transfer newly struck from vault elements. Visually it is pristine and presented in the original 4:3 ratio. The audio track has degraded some on the original elements but the warned-of distortion is barely noticeable. Included with the original Spanish audio is the English dub as Casa Negra again demonstrates their commitment to make all of their releases fully Spanish / English bilingual. Also included in the package are a director biography, audio commentary by Frank Coleman, a photo essay detailing the influx of Mexican genre pictures to the US through the sixties, and more. Once again an excellent release for a very strong film that comes highly recommended.