Yet another Old Dark House deal. However this one is pretty decent, its got a better sets then most of the other films of this kind and its pretty nicely shot. It also has Bela Lugosi as a Chandu type character as an added bonus.
The story is a typical who dunnit. There’s a maniac killer at large, a group of people gathered to this old mansion and get killed one by one. There’s a wil, a seance and the only thing missing is an escaped gorilla.
Super cheesy old school fun.
Another one of these “old dark house” films. Its truly amazing how many films like this there are. The Cat and the Canary, The Bat,The Old Dark House, House of Mystery, The Phantom, House on Haunted Hill and countless others and their numerous remakes. This is an obvious The Old Dark House ripoff right from the start but it also borrows heavily from The Bat.
On a stormy night a theater producer his secretary and a playwright get their car stuck in mud and they seek refuge from a nearby house owned by some doctor. The doctor has a creepy patient who is acting like a loon which makes everyone nervous and pretty quickly things get spooky.
Its been done before and after this film but its not bad. Murder mystery in an old dark house at a stormy night with some screwball comedy added.
3/5
One of my favorite pre-code horror films. The title is self explanatory. The film is about a scientist who manages to make himself invisible and now he wants to turn back to his original state. The chemicals that he used also had some unwanted side-effects to his mental health so now he is deranged and manic.
The film starts very mysteriously and slow paced and builds up gradually telling you more information about how it all happened. Claude Rains is excellent as the invisible man, its a shame he only did a few horror films.
The special effects are amazing, really ambitious stuff for the 1930s and better than most of the stuff done decades later. I also liked the fact that it managed to be pretty true to the original story by H.G Wells. Of course there were changes but most of the story and the invisible man’s personality is just like in the book.
Pretty much the only thing I don’t like is the woman who screams hysterically all the time. She would also appear in Werewolf of Londontwo years later. I didn’t mind the fact that there was some comedy in the film, especially because it was so black but I just can’t stand the woman. Sorry. Anyway an excellent film nonetheless.
5/5
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