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A reporter tries to uncover the mystery behind the killing spree of a masked vigilante known as the Black Hood.
A WORD FROM CHRIS
I was first introduced to the Black Hood via Impact Comics in the 90's, and lemme tell you, that run was frickin' awesome. The Shield, the Fly, Comet, and Jaguar were all really great titles that I feverishly collected, but the Black Hood was by far my favorite and most influential. For decades, I've always wanted to make a live action adaptation of the Impact era Black Hood, but unfortunately, that version is legally off limits to a guy like me. Sure, I could always do a fan film, but for the scale the story deserves, a shoestring budget fan film isn't gonna cut it. So I pretty much just wrote the character off.
In 2025, I began dabbling with public domain superheroes, and ended up making shorts for The Black Terror, Phantom Lady, and Miss. Fury. It was a really fun and education experience, as I had learned that the original version of the Black Hood was also public domain. So I decided to challenge myself and try my hand at it.
I knew the Impact version was still off the table, as was the equally cool biker version from the 80's. What WAS available, however, was a bit of a letdown. The actual version of the Black Hood that IS public domain is pretty damn goofy. We're talking a yellow spandex costume and a black cowl. No, not a hood, a cowl, and no, his origin doesn't get any better. Once a policeman framed for a robbery he didn't commit, Matt Burland escapes prison to clear his name, only to be gunned down and left for dead by the same criminal that framed him. Matt is then found by a hermit.... yes, a hermit, somehow, who takes him in, then trains him (a cop) to fight crime, and gives him the Black Hood costume. The whole story is absolutely ridiculous and completely illogical, but I wanted to do the Black Hood, so I accepted the challenge.
I ended up having to strip away a fair amount from Burland's backstory to make it more believable, but I did like the idea of a man being framed for a crime he didn't commit, and then escaping to seek justice, or in this case- revenge. I decided that avenging the murder of his daughter would be a lot stronger of a motivation than a robbery, and I completely removed the hermit angle because, come on, that's just stupid. I ultimately gave the Black Hood the horror slasher treatment. In fact, he actually never says a word, nor is he ever unmasked. He just shows up to kill and then disappears.
I did try to incorporate as many elements from the 1940's comics as possible, including Sgt. McGinty and Barbara Sutton, who were actual characters in the comics. I also wanted to try to LOGICALLY incorporate yellow into the Black Hood's design, so I had him wear his daughter's scarf. Additionally, I wanted to pay homage to the 80's, 90's and modern day Black Hood designs, so I ditched the spandex costume aspect and put him in a cool leather jacket, with a hooded mask and red eyes.
While I have not (yet) been able to adapt my personal favorite version of the Black Hood, I am happy I was able to play around with the character in some capacity. It was fun telling a gritty little revenge story. Production was two short nights, with the first being the McGinty & Sutton scenes, and the second being the flashback kills. Tom Proprofsky not only played McGinty, but also doubled as the Black Hood, so it was kinda funny watching him shoot himself.
The McGinty/Sutton scenes were probably the hardest to shoot as the street corner we were on, despite being 8pm on a Sunday, was somehow FLOODED with passing cars every 15-30 seconds. It was near impossible to get clean audio on anyone. In fact, it was a miracle I didn't have to dub the entire sequence. Thankfully, after countless takes, and a heap of obscenities coming from me every time a car passed, I managed to get enough coverage to cobble everything together.