Overshadowed by Universal's horror films (Frankenstein, Dracula...), Ulmer's The Black Cat remains little known, although it is as horrific as they come, and contains one of Boris Karloff's best performances as the leader of a cult of devil worshippers. Bela Lugosi, the husband of a woman Karloff keeps in a glass cage, and, worse, the father of the woman Karloff has married, has a score to settle.
“The Black Cat dealt with the occult, with flourishes more redolent of diabolism than was Universal's wont, and Ulmer's uniquely pessimistic view of Christianity and the efficacy of any inquiry into the human condition gives the film thematic underpinnings that effectively neutralize the inherent camp tenencies of the genre.
“As much a set designer as a director, Ulmer's work on The Black Cat is deeply disturbing in its suggestiveness, as much for what is left out as for what has been detailed in. For Ulmer, a few sticks of wood in primary shapes, dressed with a modicum of essential props, when photographed in shadows that respect no natural light, can create a world cognizant of the legitimacy of nightmare, of encompassing despair unable to muffle the cries of profound spiritual pain.” --Myron Meisel, in “Kings of the Bs”