The Old Dark House (1963)
Directed by William Castle

Film Review

Adapted from J.B. Priestley's novel Benighted, James Whale's The Old Dark House (1932) is one of the classics of the horror genre, and probably ranks as just about the most influential film of its kind.  William Castle's 1963 remake, intended more for laughs than chills, pales in comparison and struggles to be much more than a dreary farce, more suitable for children than an adult audience.  Before he made this, his one and only collaboration with the British company Hammer Films, Castle had had a run of successes in the horror genre, these including House on Haunted Hill (1959) and 13 Ghosts (1960), which frequently employed cheap gimmicks to titillate the audience during their screening.  The Old Dark House is one of Castle's weaker films, marred by a silly script that is rendered even more painful by Tom Poston, whose irritating mannerisms and prat-falls soon become excruciating and cruelly distract from some pleasing comic turns from rest of the cast.

As the smouldering jet-haired vamp, Fenella Fielding gives most value in the role that she would effectively reprise, to far greater effect, in Carry on Screaming (1966) a few years later.  Joyce Grenfell is an odd but delightful addition to the mix, happily knitting away ("I did 150 miles last year") before getting unfortunately impaled to death on her own needles.  Mervyn Johns takes a leaf or two out of the book of Genesis as a latter-day Noah looking for a pair of humans to complete the animal-laden ark he has knocked up in the back garden.  Janette Scott is of course too sweet and innocent to have anything whatsoever to do with the killings, so the number one suspect has to be the trigger-happy Robert Morley, who looks perfectly at home in a crumbling old manor populated by Grade-A weirdoes.  It's a cast brimming with comic possibilities but a truly dismal script and Tom Poston's unwelcome "laugh at me, I'm funny" presence ensures the comedy never gets much above the level of third rate vaudeville.

Film Synopsis

American car salesman Tom Penderel shares an apartment in London with his friend Caspar Femm - he lives there during the night, Caspar using it only during the day.  When he delivers Caspar's new car, Tom accepts an invitation to visit his friend at his ancestral home in rural Devon.  When Tom arrives at the old dark house he is alarmed to find Caspar laid out in a coffin, having died a short while earlier.  He then gets to meet Caspar's motley assortment of relatives, who include the endlessly knitting Aunt Agatha, eccentric boat builder Petiphar, vamp-like Morgana and her protective father, twin bother Jasper and gun-obsessed Uncle Roderick.  The only member of the family who appears remotely normal is the pretty Cecily, to whom Tom is instantly attracted.  Uncle Roderick points out Tom's resemblance to the ancestor who built the house with the fortune he amassed as a pirate.  Tom then learns that every member of the family must return to the house before midnight each day in order not to forfeit his or her share of the inheritance.  When the relatives start dying, one by one, Tom realises that a killer is in their midst - and that he might be the next intended victim!