A shadowy figure in a black hood known as “The Black Monk” rides around terrorizing the citizens of a small English hamlet on a motorcycle during the full moon. An intrepid reporter (and motorcycle enthusiast) investigates and is almost killed for his trouble. That doesn’t deter him from digging and soon, he has a hunch the Black Monk isn’t a phantom after all, but a flesh and blood henchman for a den of smugglers hiding out in the town’s crumbling castle estate. When the reporter’s girlfriend is kidnapped, he calls on the members of his local motorcycle riding club to help rescue her.
Directed by Wolf (Village of the Damned) Rilla, The Black Rider is an engaging and breezy little thriller that owes a lot to the Old Dark House mysteries of the ‘30s and ‘40s. You know, the ones where spies posed as monsters to keep snoopers away. Except instead of an Old Dark House, it’s an Old English Town. It was made around the same time as The Wild One, so having a motorcycle-riding hero was still something of a novelty.
In fact, it also reminded me a little of the Juvenile Delinquent genre as it’s an impassioned plea by motorcycle riders for acceptance by the public. Sure, the Black Monk is a bad guy, but all the other riders in the film are portrayed as easygoing guys who ride for recreation and sport. Half the movie is spent on the reporter trying to prove to his future father in-law (and editor) that motorcyclists are people too. There are times where it almost feels like pro-motorcycle propaganda financed by the British Motorcyclists’ Administration parading as a thriller.
Most of this is goofy, but I kinda dug it. It’s only an hour long and Rilla keeps things speeding along. I can’t lie and say the mystery is gripping and the performances are engaging. What I can say is that it’s a silly, semi-entertaining oddity.
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