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The Old Dark House

  • Film
The 100 best horror films, horror movies, The Old Dark House
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Time Out says

Alongside The Bride of Frankenstein, Whale's greatest film, a masterly mixture of macabre humour and effectively gripping suspense. A very simple story - a group of travellers stranded by a storm take shelter in the sinister, unwelcoming Femm household, a gloomy mansion peopled by maniacs and murderers - allows Whale to concentrate on quirky characters (Laughton's brash, boorish Yorkshire mill-owner, blessed with a near-incomprehensible accent, is particularly delightful) and thick Gothic atmosphere to stunning effect. But what is perhaps most remarkable is the way Whale manages to parody the conventions of the dark house horror genre as he creates them, in which respect the film remains entirely modern. (Frm JB Priestley's novel Benighted.
Written by GA

Release Details

  • Duration:71 mins

Cast and crew

  • Director:James Whale
  • Screenwriter:Benn W Levy, RC Sherriff
  • Cast:
    • Boris Karloff
    • Melvyn Douglas
    • Charles Laughton
    • Gloria Stuart
    • Ernest Thesiger
    • Raymond Massey
    • Lilian Bond
    • Eva Moore
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