Black Zoo

Black Zoo (1963)

Fang and claw killers stalk the city streets!

Michael Conrad, owner of a group of strange animals, trains his beasts to obey him, unleashing them on anyone who stands in his way. His wife and mute assistant begin to suspect that they too are becoming part of the black zoo.

Date of release
1963-05-15
TMDB
5.7 / 10 (10)
Runtime
1h 28m
Genres
Horror
Director
Robert Gordon

Casting

Interesting facts

Black Zoo is a 1963 American horror film directed by Robert Gordon and starring Michael Gough, Jeanne Cooper, Rod Lauren, Virginia Grey, Jerome Cowan, and Elisha Cook, Jr. It was produced by Herman Cohen and written by Cohen and Aben Kandel.

Production

Herman Cohen had the idea for the film, and hired Aben Kandel to work with him on the script. Finance came from Allied Artists.

Cohen had worked with Gough previously in Horrors of the Black Museum and Konga. He was brought into the US for the role. Gough later said this film was the favorite of the ones the actor made for Cohen because of the involvement of the animals.

The film was shot at Raleigh Studios. The animals were provided by Ralph Helfer, most notably Zamba, who played one of the two male lions (Zamba Jr. and Tammy also appeared playing another lion and a lioness, respectively). The zoo was built at Raleigh Studio (formerly Producers Studio) on North Bronson in Hollywood, California. The entire zoo seen in the picture was an interior set.

Publicity was done with the cats – including an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Cohen did not like the title, preferring Horrors of the Black Zoo.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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