Midgegirl I know that "comparisons are odious" but I spent the whole of this film thinking, "I'd love to see Carry On Screaming again". It's pleasant enough fun, and Robert Morley, Joyce Grenfell & Fenella Fielding go a long way towards making it more fun and memorable than it deserves to be. But for me, it suffers from having a lead (Tom Poston) who just reminded me how of good Bob Hope was in The Cat & the Canary, or Harry H Corbett/Jim Dale were in Carry on Screaming. But the twist on the killer's identity was a nice surprise, and the happy/not happy ending raised a ghoulish smile as well. All in all, the film has a great 60s kitsch comedy horror vibe, but now I'm just itching to re-watch Carry On Screaming, if only to see Fenella Fielding turning up the vamp-setting to 11.

JLRVancouver Bearing little resemblance to James Whale's 1932 film of the same name and provenance, schlock-meister William Castle's "The Old Dark House" is a light-weight horror-comedy that is neither particularly scary nor particularly funny. Tom Poston is an American car salesman stranded in the ancestral home of the dysfunctional Femm family. As various claimants to the estate's wealth mysteriously die, usually by means related to victim's personal obsession, Poston's character realises that he too is on the hit list. Poston is fine (delivering many of his lines as if he was doing a Jimmy Stewart impression) as the frightened 'fish out of water' and the rest of the cast features a number of recognisable British character actors (e.g. Robert Morley, Peter Bull) but no one is given much to work with, as the story is basically a series of silly situations strung together. Unfortunately, director Castle elected to play the comedy broad, with ridiculous scenes involving an Ark or an attack by an obviously stuffed hyena, as well as a number of slapstick chase sequences, all of which diminished the potentially amusing dark-comedy. Kids, nostalgic boomers who saw the film when they were kids, and fans of Castle may find the movie worth-watching but most people will likely not see it as worth the viewing time.

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

LobotomousMonk Zotz!.. another William Castle and Tom Poston lighthearted dark adventure for all ages. Amusing quips and snappy banter abound. There are some plot contrivances (typically par for the Castle course). The Old Dark House would surely have been better suited for black and white film stock as the milieu is inherently sinister. That being said the full color palette does tend to heighten the humor elements of the story as Poston's pink puppy dog cheeks remind us of how sweet and naive a witless hero can be. However, the chromatic compromise confounds establishment of mood and thus character motivation. A third of the duration of the film passes prior to the formation of a real clue about the plot (which according to other reviewers holds little sway in the realm of fidelity to the original Priestly story or Whale film from the thirties). The staging/blocking and mobile framing are not constructed with any technical finesse or creative flair. I tend to find that Castle's best directing efforts are inspired by higher quality scripts he works with. For Castle, when the storytelling stammers his direction staggers and his authorial voice goes mute. There are shades of this crutch in The Old Dark House. Similar to Zotz!, Poston plays a character that reminds one of Leonid Gaidai's Shurik character - fumbling and bumbling through the simplest of tasks, getting himself into trouble way over his head, and gallantly dodging sexy, seductive women who throw themselves at him bosom to face. If you wanted to probe and plumb this film for some deeper value, try a psychoanalytic approach (either Freud or Lacan will do). Personally, I wouldn't bother... but you never know. As it stands, this is an amusing film that is best watched while doing something more important.