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Black Noon starts with a mystery woman who also has a cat witnessing a church burning and crumbling to the ground. I won’t mention who plays the woman because revealing her identity provides too many clues about her story from the get-go, but I am sure you will guess it before you finish this article. Well, right after the opening sequence, the film shows Reverend John Keyes, played by Roy Thinnes, and his wife Lorna, played by Lynn Loring, who is seen unconscious in the middle of the desert with scorching heat around them.
The holy couple is thankfully saved by Caleb Hobbs (Ray Milland), who takes them to the town of San Melas for recovery. When he wakes up Caleb presents the reverend to his exceptionally beautiful mute daughter Deliverance (Yvette Mimieux) and encourages him to stay longer. Yet, the locals have a hidden agenda hoping John and his spouse remain because they are terrorized by the evil Frog (Silva), a ruthless gunslinger that demands payment under dire circumstances.
The God’s worker consents to remain for the next few days, and before he can realize it, he is the town’s unofficial priest. He preaches in a town of idol worshippers, where the emaciated teenagers are begging to walk again and fall in love with him in return. But the more time he and his spouse spend, the weirder things become. Dead owls start to show up during the night. The priest starts having nightmares about being hunted by a bloody, top-less man. And by her too when he succumbs to impure thoughts about Deliverance. Could it be a secret Satanic plot? Only time will tell.
Black Noon was Bernard L. Kowalski’s eighth directorial picture and it shows how much experience he has in his trade. There’s nothing exceptional on display here, but neither is there any incompetence. At the end of the day, he is directing some fairly standard material, but the strength of an eager cast and solid execution makes the film very engaging.
Despite Fenady revealing most of the plot through the opening scene, the film Black Noon takes its time fleshing out the story. So while the reveals are lackluster for seasoned horror fans, the filmmakers did do one thing right by not going overboard. One has to remember that it was released in the early 70s. The only reason why it is somewhat predictable today is because so many other movies have been released later on, all of which tend to follow the same formula.
The main flaws with Black Noon can be found in its overly comical moments of exposition, its cringe-worthy preaching, and other things that are unnecessary, especially since its plot isn’t that difficult to comprehend. At the very least the town’s name should have been a puzzling anagram, but, just in case someone missed it, the last scene explains everything. Also, the filmmakers intend for viewers to fear the devil and welcome Christianity, but they also accept and relish the story’s unintentional tackiness and despair.
Gunslinging aside, the western aspects of the movie are not so pronounced. The film can be set in any town during virtually any era and achieve the same results. Regardless, the Old West is still a fun setting for a movie of this ilk. Moreover, by being focused on the horror aspect the movie does not become an awkward jumble of genres.
In conclusion, Black Noon is an engaging film that is bound to entice those horror fans who are Satan’s devotees. The film does not break the rules in any way but instead is a film that is so aptly short that it packs quite the punch for being so derivative.
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