SoTrumpBelieve Must See Movie...

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

Clarissa Mora The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Rainey Dawn This version of the story is altered from the original somewhat but that's not the worst of it. The worst part of it is the fact it's an obvious comedy (that isn't very funny). The original not only had a much better story it also hid the comedy, making it a subtle comedy.Basically, the original 1932 film hid behind the mask of a really good horror movie with some comical splashed into it - making the film a really good horror movie overall. This "remake" wants you to know that's it's a comedy upfront.This film I would say is worth a one time watch if you like a blatantly obvious comedy-horror and scary old houses. The 1932 film is highly recommend viewing, this 1963 "remake" I could never recommend.4/10

Scott LeBrun In this second screen version of J.B. Priestleys' book, Tom Poston plays Tom Penderel, an American living in London who makes his living as a car salesman. He shares a flat with Caspar Femm (Peter Bull), who uses the place in the daytime while Tom sleeps there at night. One day Caspar implores Tom to come visit him at the Femm estate, which is up for grabs. Tom is then forced to deal with the wacky Femm family for one every eventful evening.One would have expected a collaboration between gimmick master William Castle and Britains' legendary Hammer Studios to be more fun. It's more of a comedy than a horror film, and only a fitfully amusing one. There are some funny gags, but it just falls flat a lot of the time. It basically serves to make fun of the entire "old dark house" genre, complete with the expected tropes (like a dark, stormy night). It's decent light entertainment, but is eminently forgettable. It looks great, which is what the viewer expects from Hammer films (a lot of the crew are the usual Hammer suspects). But it doesn't have the level of atmosphere that's really required for most stories of this type.The likable Poston leads a sterling British cast that helps to keep this version of "The Old Dark House" watchable for 87 minutes. Robert Morley is gun nut Roderick Femm, Janette Scott the striking blonde Cecily, Joyce Grenfell the doddering matriarch Agatha, Mervyn Johns the upbeat Potiphar, Fenella Fielding the slinky Morgana, and Danny Green the hulking, silent Morgan. (If Popeye had been turned into a live action feature in the 60s, Green might have made for a good Bluto.)This kills time without too much pain, but it's far from grade A Castle *or* Hammer.Title illustrations by Charles Addams.Six out of 10.

Coventry One would expect a collaboration between the American director William Castle and the British production studios Hammer to result in a terrific must-see film, considering they were both horror genre giants in their respective continents during the early sixties. Castle became world famous and appreciated thanks to his morbidly themed but nevertheless light-headed Gothic horror spectacles ("House on Haunted Hill", "Mr. Sardonicus", "13 Ghosts"…), and on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, Hammer studios boomed with the gruesome re-imaging of the legendary Universal classics from the thirties ("Dracula", "The Mummy", "Frankenstein"…). Knowing this, "The Old Dark House" seems to be the ideal marriage, since it's more or less a remake of the underrated 1932 Universal masterpiece and a great opportunity for a director like Castle to showcase his creativity. Strangely enough, however, the film is somewhat of a disappointment and it's only rescued from inglorious mediocrity thanks to a handful of nice gags and an entertaining final act; including a surprising plot-twist and an exciting race against the clock – literally! The rest of the film clumsily bounces back and forth between talkative mystery and immature comedy. Please don't get me wrong, "The Old Dark House" is never boring and I still prefer it over most of the soulless horror junk being released nowadays, but I simply expected a little bit more… American car salesman Tom Penderel drives out to the god-forsaken British countryside in order to deliver a car at the request of his odd pal Caspar Femm. The two share an apartment, but they never see each other since Caspar always mysteriously vanishes before midnight. When he arrives at the sinister Femm country estate, he learns that all the eccentric family members are obliged to stay at the house and gather at midnight, or otherwise they lose the rights to their part of the inheritance of their notorious ancestor (a pirate). Synchronous with Tom's arrival, the family members are being killed off one by one. Tom should leave while, but he fell for the charming cousin Cecily and the remaining Femms suspect him to be the killer. "The Old Dark House" begins delightfully, with animated opening credits by none other than Charles Addams – the creator of the immortal blackly comical series "The Addams Family – and brings forward several great Gothic aspects, like a moody old castle and never-ending thunderstorms. Some of the supportive characters are also uniquely bizarre, like the crazy uncle who's building an arc or the grandmother that doesn't stop knitting, but overall the film isn't absurd or spooky enough. The actual "horror" footage in the film is limited, a few inventive death scenes and a laughably inept moment with a stuffed hyena.

Spikeopath The Old Dark House is directed by William Castle and adapted to screenplay by Robert Dillon from the novel Benighted written by J.B. Priestly. It stars Tom Poston, Robert Morley, Janette Scott, Joyce Grenfell, Mervyn Jones, Fenella Fielding, Peter Bull and Danny Green. Music is by Benjamin Frankel and cinematography by Arthur Grant.In essence a remake of James Whales' 1932 adaptation of the Priestly story, William Castle's film is very much an oddity and pitched somewhere between a live cartoon and a feverish campy dream. Even if you ignore Whale's popular movie, which while not easy to do is something you should at least try to do, this version is just too nutty for its own good.It's not a complete wash out as a film at all, there is some value to be had with a roll call of quality British thespians acting it up alongside "token" American Poston. It's colourfully lurid and the pratfalls are honest and often smile inducing. But it at times comes over as a picture to be viewed with a considerable intake of liquor! Then the murders would become suitably grotesque in a Munsters/Addams Family kind of way and the live wire Poston should be tolerable.Typically of a Castle production there's cheapness within (oh my that Hyenna), but again that can be ignored in context to the strangeness of the piece anyway. The opening credits are neat and set the tone for the cartoonery, a tone kept up by Frankel's musical accompaniments, while the production design for the house is, well, strange. Hard to recommend with confidence to anyone other than boozers or cartoon loving insomniacs, The Old Dark House is at the least unforgettable. 5/10