In San Francisco, in 1890, there have been a string of gruesome murders. With London’s Jack the Ripper still firmly in the public’s mind these recent deaths in America have everyone on edge. At each murder is left a strange carving. There have been four murders and four carvings. Each carving is slightly different from the last. They are of a head with another face emerging from the back. The victims have been slashed as if by animal claws.
Brett Kingsford (Leslie Nielsen) is a wealthy playboy that dabbles in solving crimes. He is asked by Commissioner Harvey Misbach (Gilbert Green) to investigate the murders. As he is leaving the police station he runs into a friend of his, Robert Vandenburg (Peter Mark Richman). Robert is engaged to another friend of his, Evelyn Lang (Judi Meredith). As they are talking Robert appears to enter a hypnotic trance. When he recovers from it he appears to have no knowledge of the event. Kingsford makes a note of the strange behavior but thinks little about it.
Kingsford checks with one of his sources, Chi Zang (Peter Brocco) and learns that the carvings are of an evil Sumerian god. Zang shows him, what looks like, another carving of a Sumerian demon holding a seven spoke wheel. The demon is said to inhabit an animal or human. It must compete a ritual of seven killings, one for each spoke of the wheel. After that it can inhabit another human being of its choosing. The carving scratches Kingsford’s hand when he picks it up. Zang tells him that it is not a carving but an actual mummified demon.
Later Kingsford is attacked by the killer in Robert’s import business showroom. Robert takes him to his physician, Dr. Burdett (Vaughn Taylor) to have his wounds attended to. At the doctor’s Kingsford finds out that Burdett and Robert knew one of the victims, a nurse Hannah (Harriet Vine), and that Hannah use to share an apartment with another one of the victims. The more Kingsford investigates the more associations he finds between the victims, Robert, and an archeological dig in Bagdad. When Dr. Burdett turns out to be another victim, Kingsford is convinced that Robert is somehow connected to the murders.
“Dark Intruder” was released in 1965 and was directed by Harvey Hart. It is a made for TV horror film and was a pilot for an unsold television program. The series was supposed to be titled “The Black Cloak”. The film was produced by Sir Alfred Hitchcock’s television production company, Shamley Productions, which was associated with Universal Pictures. After the series was not picked up the pilot was expanded and released to theaters.
The movie was predictable, but actually interesting. At less than an hour it moves fast and has quite a bit of information thrown at you, but it also has a lot of cool period cinematography and gothic atmosphere. It doesn’t take long to figure out the plot and the ultimate ending. Despite knowing what was going to happen the movie was still engaging and as a short quick film it was a lot of fun.
The part of Professor Malaki was played by Werner Klemperer, but the voice was provided by Norman Lloyd.