The Old Dark House

4/24/2019

Beware The Night. As a violent storm rages, five travellers in a remote part of Wales take refuge at a creepy looking mansion that's home to the "odd" Femm family... Weird, exciting and positively funny haunted house film with a top cast that's directed by one of Horror's greatest directors, James Whale. Based loosely around J.B. Priestley's novel "Benighted", the piece is further boosted by excellent camera work from Arthur Edeson and a screenplay that positively zips with memorable moments. Upon release in America the film was poorly received, yet unsurprisingly given it's British dryness, it was well liked in Britain. Even spawning an imitation in the form of The Ghoul, with both Boris Karloff and the irrepressible Ernest Thesiger again starring. The Old Dark House got a reissu

6/13/2022

James Whale really did put together an excellent cast for this comic horror film. On a foul night; five stranded travellers seek shelter in a creepy old Welsh manor house - occupied by the even creepier "Femm" family and their almost anthropoid servant "Morgan" (Boris Karloff). As the evening progresses, lots of drink is taken and we meet the servant's pyromaniac brother and mayhem ensues. There are super performances from Melvyn Douglas, Ernest Thesiger and Raymond Massey with Eva Moore as the horrid "Rebecca" and a fantastically over-the-top Charles Laughton as "Sir William Porterhouse". The sets are a bit on the basic side and the lighting could have done with some more wattage, but it is all eerily directed with a plenty of wit and charm - well worth a watch.