Welcome, one and all, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I'm covering a horror comedy from 1932. That movie is "The Old Dark House".
Now, I came across this movie sometime ago on YouTube, when I was trying to search for older movies to cover for this series. And this one caught my interest because of it's premise. The plot to this movie involves a family that takes shelter at this house overnight during a thunderstorm, and they have to deal with this family that owns this house. And, I'm going to assume, creepy shit happens from there involving this family.Now, there's a couple of other reasons why this movie caught my interest. The first one is that this plot reminds me of another movie that is similar to this, which was "Clue: The Movie". And, as I made mentioned before, I loved "Clue: The Movie". The only difference between that movie and this one is that in "Clue: The Movie", the characters were invited to this mansion during a thunderstorm, conveniently. I won't tell you who they were invited by, you're gonna have to watch that movie for yourself. In this one, as I just stated, our characters are taking shelter from a thunderstorm, because they have nowhere else to stay for the night. Now, admittedly, this story may not sound original, but back in 1932, this was, probably something different for it's time. So I'm hoping that the movie will be able to make this premise work.
The other reason that this movie caught my interest is that this movie, as I have stated before, is advertised as a horror comedy. And I'm very curious to see how a movie from this time period is able to play itself off as a horror comedy. I should mention that I prefer horror comedies over straight up horror movies. And being that this is a horror comedy from 1932, I'm hoping that this thing will be genuinely funny. But the only way I'm gonna know how funny this movie can possibly be, is if I shut up, and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "The Old Dark House".
4 minutes later
That thing is suppose to be a map? It looks like a piece of leather that came from a wet jacket. I understand that because it's raining, it's suppose to look wet and unreadable. But, guys, I'm gonna tell you, that thing looks nothing like a map. Just thought I'd mention.
11 minutes later
OK, guys, there's something a little bit creepy about Rebecca's face changing with each shot of a different mirror, while she's talking about how her sister died. That is a little bit unsettling.
16 minutes later
Now, I have a bit of a question, and it's kind of a serious one. So, this family knows that Morgan gets violent whenever he starts drinking. If they know that much, then shouldn't they stash away the stuff Morgan drinks somewhere, so that he wouldn't be able to have access to it? Or, barring that, did the idea of just pouring out the drinks never occur to them? I understand that I may be putting too much thought into this, but those ideas just came to me, you know?
20 minutes later
You know, out of all the things I was expecting in this movie, I was not expecting this older guy to have an incredibly feminine voice for his age. It sounds very out of place to me, and I was totally not expecting that.
7 minutes later
Hold on a fucking second here. So instead of doing what Rebecca says and go to her room, Gladys and Margaret are going to stay inside the room that they are currently in. Knowing full well that Morgan has, potentially, let someone out, that has set fire to this house before, and wants to kill. I swear, guys, if neither one of them ends up being dead by the time this thing is over, I'm going to be a little pissed.
The Review
Well, guys, that was "The Old Dark House". Let me shut the movie off...OK. That was...rather interesting. Now to actually talk about this thing.
I want to start with one of the reasons why I wanted to watch this movie in the first place. I said at the start of this Reaction & Review that this movie was advertised as a horror comedy. And, as I made mentioned before, I love horror comedies. And seeing that this movie was made in 1932, I wanted to see how a horror comedy from that time period could work out. Well, after watching this movie, I'm not really sure if this movie was meant to be a horror comedy. I could see sprinkles of it being added in a few scenes, but none of it felt like I was going to bust a gut laughing. Now, one thing I didn't mention until now is that this movie is based off a novel by J.B. Priestley. I'm not really sure if there was more humor in the novel than in this movie, or if there was any humor at all. Either way, this movie does not feel like a horror comedy at all. And I am a little disappointed in that. Because, I wanted to laugh at anything in this movie, and the closest thing to it is when certain characters such as Penderel, Gladys, or Porterhouse have to share dialogue. Mainly because, they are there, mostly, to lighten the mood. And while it kinda works here, I still didn't feel like laughing. Now, it might be because my taste in humor is a little different compared to others, but, as I said, nothing here felt genuinely funny, and I feel that it was a missed opportunity for this movie to do anything with it's humor, or lack thereof. Now, I don't want you to take that as me dumping on this movie, because I'm not. I just feel like calling this movie a horror comedy is a bit misleading.
Now, setting aside the idea of whether or not this movie was meant to be a horror comedy, the writing here is still really good. Our story here is about this couple, and their friend, who have to stay over at this dark house, because the rain is just pouring down, and won't let up until morning. And then we get to learn about the Femm family, the people who owns this dark house. Well, more so Rebecca, according to Horace. But anyway, we learn more about this family's history. We learn about their silent butler, Morgan, who gets very dangerous when he's drunk. I want to touch upon that for a moment, because I'm still trying to wrap my head around the idea of that. So, this family knows that Morgan is a heavy drinker, and that he will go on a rampage while drunk. If that's the case, then wouldn't getting rid of any alcoholic drinks be the best idea? Because we are told at one point during the movie by Horace that Morgan is known to be dumb. So rather than taking advantage of this, and getting rid of the drinks so that Morgan wouldn't know where they are, they just let it be because, I guess, they didn't plan that far ahead. Again, I totally understand that it's probably trivial, and stupid, but I still think they could've done something about it. We don't really get a ton of background on Morgan, himself, outside of him being a dangerous drunk, but I'm willing to give most of it a pass. Then we have Horace, who, as far as I know, has the least amount of depth amongst the entire Femm family. The only thing that he ever reveals to our cast of characters staying overnight is that he's wanted by the police, but we really don't get anything beyond that. And then we have Rebecca, who's probably the most interesting out of the entire Femm family. She's mostly deaf, which causes our characters to have to yell at her up-close so she can understand what they're saying. There is one moment with her that seemed a little bit off to me. So, at one point during the beginning of the movie, we get to see her escorting Margaret upstairs to her room, so that Margaret can change clothes. And then Rebecca tells this story to her about how her sister died. She mentions how her was sister was sinful and godless, and then tells Margaret that she is sinful, too. Because of what she looks like, how her skin is white, and how she will rot, including the clothes she wears. And all of this from Rebecca comes across as a little bit mean-spirited. Now, mind you, between the two characters, Rebecca is the more likable character. Mainly because, Margaret does not have any real personality to speak of. But I just felt like it was a little bit off-putting to me. Now, setting aside from that, Rebecca is probably the most likable character in the entire movie.
As for our other characters, specifically the ones who have to stay overnight, most of them are rather likable and have quite a bit of depth. I'm mainly talking about characters such as Penderel, Gladys, and Porterhouse. As for Margaret and Philip, they really don't have any kind of interesting personalities or depth, at all. As for the other three I mentioned, Gladys and Porterhouse are in a...how should I say, platonic relationship, and Gladys has more of love interest for Penderel, than she does for Porterhouse. And the character depth between them is rather good. I will say that, when it comes to this sort of horror movie, it actually makes me care about most of the characters, because they are rather likable. And even though I said that Margaret and Philip don't really have a ton of depth, at least they're not painfully irritating. They're just...kinda there. But anyway, this is something that I wish certain horror movies would take note of. I want them to make me care about their characters. I am not asking for a ton of depth, especially when it comes to either horror or action movies, but, at the very least, give me a reason to care about them. And this movie proves that you can pull this off. Now, while it may fail as a horror comedy, it does still have strong writing. Enough to know that you are going to care about these characters, whether they have a ton of depth or not. Now, when I say certain horror movies, I'm mainly referring to the films I've seen, especially for this series, such as "The Neighbor No. 13." and "Shock Labyrinth". Where, those movies failed to try and establish any likable characters, and the stories for those movies suffers because of it. "The Old Dark House", on the other hand, shows you that you can still have likable characters, and tell an interesting story at the same time. And again, even though there were two characters in this movie that didn't really have a ton of personality or depth, the rest of the other interesting characters outweighs the other two, so much so that you're not going to mind the fact those two characters are kinda lifeless. Because the story is still really solid, and is able to pull through well enough.
What also makes these characters work is the acting. The acting, for the most part, is really good. I did feel like, at the very beginning of the movie, the actors who were playing Margaret and Philip overacted their scenes a little bit. Now, it may have been intentional, because they were trying to drive through a rainstorm, but I did feel like it was worth mentioning. And as the movie went on, their acting did get a lot better, and they were able to get into their roles really well. There is one actor, though, I do need to talk about, which is Boris Karloff. In case you are wondering, Karloff plays the silent butler; Morgan. And he stands out amongst the rest of the cast because he's the only actor in this movie who has no dialogue. You mostly hear Karloff grunting his lines when he has to try and play off the fact that he's kinda stupid. Which is not a bad thing at all, because he's still able to turn a great showing. One other reason why Boris Karloff stands out for me is because this is, probably, one of the very first movies that I've seen that has Boris Karloff in it. And to those who are into classic cinema will probably thinks that's blasphemy, because, apparently, I haven't really seen enough classic cinema, and to think that I haven't watched any with Boris Karloff until now is, somehow, criminal. Now, I'm not going to deny Boris Karloff's status as a legendary actor, I'm just saying that this is the first movie that I've seen him in, and he has no dialogue. And there may come a time where I will watch another movie with Boris Karloff in it, and he will have some sort of speaking role. Now, beyond all of that, Karloff's acting in this movie is great, for the few times that he has to simply grunt his lines. And the rest of the cast turns in a really good showing, too. So the acting in this movie is great, for the most part.
The only real special effect in this movie is makeup effects, and just about all of this is on Boris Karloff. The one noticeable feature you will see on him, when you watch this movie, is that he has two scars on his face. One on his nose, and one about his right eye. And they both look really good on him. There is also fire towards the end of the movie, but I'm not going to go too deep into that, on the off chance you want to go and see this movie for yourself. But I will say that it is the only other special effect that is used in this movie, and it is put to good use, too.
Camerawork is pretty good, although I did notice a couple of times in this movie where the camera will have a couple of unnecessary jump cuts. One of them happens when Penderel is talking with Gladys in a car. As they're talking, Penderel has his elbow standing while he's holding his head. And then suddenly, we cut over to when Gladys is talking, and Penderel is not holding his head anymore. It was rather noticeable, but it's not really enough where it took me out of the movie. There are also a couple of other jump cuts that happened, and I'm not totally sure if it's the version of it I'm watching on YouTube, but again, it's not going to take you out of the movie, even if you happen to notice it. Aside from that, camerawork is pretty good. Lighting here is done really well. Sound-mix is decent. There is almost no music in this movie. The only times you get to hear music is during the intro as the movie starts, and during the very end as the credits is showing the cast list. And that works incredibly well because, most modern horror movies have to shoehorn in some bullshit, bland, horror movie score that, either, doesn't really work, or is out of place. This movie relies solely on it's atmosphere, and it works beautifully here. This is what more horror movies should take note of. This movie shows you how to build atmosphere, without relying on some generic score that would hamper most horror movies.
So, when all is said and done, am I able to recommend "The Old Dark House"? If you're looking for something different when it comes to horror movies, then yes, I would totally recommend it. I do have to warn you, though, that if you are going into this movie, and you're expecting this movie to be a horror comedy, you're not going to find that here. As I stated before, this movie barely has any comedy in it, and I, personally, don't think that this movie was meant to be a horror comedy. So, on that end, it falls rather short. But as a straight-up horror movie, it lives up to that rather well. And I can totally recommend it, based off that alone. So yeah, guys, this movie was pretty good. And while it may not live up to being a horror comedy, it does do things rather well that most modern horror movies fail to do. So, I can say that this movie is sort of a trade off, and I'm more than happy to take that kind of trade off. Now, with all this mind, I kinda want to go back and re-watch "Clue: The Movie". Because, even though I normally save watching that movie during the month of Halloween, I wanted to watch something with more comedy in it, and "Clue: The Movie" has all of that. So, I'm gonna go watch that, after I'm done putting this review together.
Anyway, guys, with that, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all in the near future. Peace.
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