Rainey Dawn Tod Slaughter is just as fun to watch as ever in this mediocre crime melodrama - he makes the film as he usually does. His flamboyant style shines here.As a I mentioned, the film is mediocre - it's the screenplay that makes it that way. The atmosphere in the film is creepy like any other old dark house type of film. There is murder, mention of ghosts, windy nights, the air of madness and a shyster played by Slaughter so it does have elements of horror although it's not a horror film.The film is worth watching if you like the older style of acting, dark house and crime films and it doesn't hurt if you like Tod Slaughter since he actually "makes" the film worthwhile viewing for his antics.7/10

MartinHafer I was surprised by this film. The featured review currently showing on IMDb for "Crimes at the Dark House" gave it a 10 and they obviously loved it. However, I found the film was pretty bad--mostly due to lots of very broad acting. No, perhaps BAD acting is what I should have said, as the acting is clearly from the Snidely Whiplash school of over-acting.The film begins on a grisly but exciting note. In Australia, a man receives a letter that he's just inherited an estate--and his 'friend' kills him and takes the letter--planning on impersonating the beneficiary. Once in England, the fake heir learns that his grand estate is mortgaged and in debt...but there is some good news. It seems that a rich neighbor had betrothed his daughter to the heir--and once he marries the unsuspecting lady, he can pay off his debts and live the life of a country squire. However, problems arise and once again, the new lord of the manor needs to kill to keep his secret.Tod Slaughter (great name) played the heir, Sir Perceval, with as much subtlety as Jerry Lewis or Pee Wee Herman. With mustache-twirling, bombastic over-annunciations and bluster, he's downright funny...though the film is meant to be a scary mystery-suspense film! Most of the rest of the actors are either adequate or bad--with no performance that rose above the crappy script. The script lacks subtlety as well--with too many very obvious moments and clichés. And, needless to say, with such bad acting, the direction was also quite horrid.The bottom line is that the film has an interesting IDEA but does nothing with it. A bad film that could have been worth seeing had the folks associated with the production been even semi-competent.

Hitchcoc I have to admit to having never seen a Tod Slaughter movie. What a great screen presence. What an absolute cad. He is the consummate conniver and master of perversity. He kills a man in Australia and takes over his identity. He becomes the Lord of the Manor and runs the household on his own rancid terms. He gets a servant girl pregnant. He marries a local landowner's daughter and does anything to get his hands on the money available to him. There are some wonderful performances, especially that of Hay Petrie, the great sniveling character actor. He consorts with Slaughter with hopes of getting some of the money himself. There are convenient murders and acts of desperation. Through it all, Slaughter laughs at the suffering of others. There is only one person in his world.

reptilicus Tod Slaughter. 60 years ago he dominated British B movies, 30 years ago no one remembered him, to-day he is being re-discovered and given the respect he has always deserved. Welcome back Tod! Modern film historians compare him to Boris Karloff and while that is a nice accolade it is not entirely appropriate. If we have to compare Tod to another British screen villain I would choose Lionel Atwill. Oh yes, Boris could be menacingly evil but there was always a motivating force behind him, a drive that so obsessed him he lost sight of everything else (check out THE DEVIL COMMANDS or THE MAN WITH NINE LIVES or even BEFORE I HANG to see what I mean.) Lionel and Tod were evil for no other reason than they simply WANTED to be; they were mean and they liked it!That having been said now lets discuss this movie. You know you are in for a great time when the picture has only just begun and a killer strikes by hammering a wooden spike into the ear of a sleeping man! That killer is our Tod (what a surprise!) and he impersonates the dead man, Sir Percival Glyde, to take possession of a large inheritance. Trouble rises when Tod discovers he has inherited nothing but a big stack of bills and if he wants to avoid Debtor's Prison he'd better find a rich wife right away! Is that a problem? Not for Tod, he has set his sights on a lovely young maiden in a nearby estate. So what if she is young enough to be his daughter she is rich and who knows, she just might have an . . .er . . . "accident" not long after the wedding.This is melodrama at its best. The false Sir Percival is hardly inside his manor house before he begins canoodling with a buxom chambermaid. When she informs him that she is expecting his child he leads the gullible girl to the boat dock where he strangles her ("You wanted to be a bride? I'll make you one! A bride of Death! Heh, heh heh!") Meanwhile there is another woman hanging around who claims that Sir Percival is already married . . . to her, and they have a daughter! Honestly stealing a fortune is such a very complicated thing! Tod has to find a way to eliminate them too. Does he? You will find out. Part of the fun of watching a Tod Slaughter film is seeing just how perversely evil he can be and knowing that at the end his fate will be a fitting one; this movie does not disappoint on any level.Is this his best film? Some people say so; though my personal favourite is THE FACE AT THE WINDOW. Now sit back, imagine yourself in a British theatre back in the Victorian days and enjoy the show. Feel free to hiss the villain and cheer the hero and heroine. Enjoy!