October 21, 2009
much imitated but a tad overrated. great atmosphere, so-so story.
Boris Karloff, Charles Laughton, Gloria Stuart
James Whale, who had audiences shivering in their boots the year before with the gothic classic Frankenstein, took a baroque twist in this strange and sly haunted-house comedy. Boris Karloff to...( read more
)
DVD Release Date: August 23, 1999
Stats: 104 reviews
Flixster Reviews (104)
-
-
November 27, 2008Good flick. Equal parts atmospheric, spooky and campy good fun, The Old Dark House is the perfect example of a fun, old horror flick great for late nights and rainy days. Ernest Thesiger is especially great as Horace Femm, a role very similar to his Dr. Praetorius in Whale's la...( read more)
-
January 8, 2007Absolutely brilliant horror/comedy from the great James Whale. Karloff, Laughton, Bond and Stuart are all great but it's Ernest Thelsiger who steals every scene he's in. Deliciously odd and funny, his character adds much to the film. The atmosphere has to be noted as well with...( read more)
-
January 11, 2009This is often called ?the lost Universal horror classic,? and it certainly has the pedigree to back it up. Boris Karloff has a role here and it was directed by Frankenstein helmer James Whale. I?m not so sure I?d call it a classic though. It feels a bit cheaper than the other ...( read more)
-
-
-
September 4, 2009Another of the "scary old house" type. Maybe my favorite of all I have seen, much better than The Bat Whispers and somewhat better than Cat and the Canary (if only because Dark Old House is a "talkie" - I would like to see the 1939 re-make of Cat... for a more balanced comparison...( read more)
-
-
February 23, 2009There was some truly creepy imagery, and the acting from the main players was generally quite good. However, the story felt too fragmented and nonsensical for me to generate any real interest in whatever was going on.
-
Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
All Rotten Tomatoes content is used under license from Rotten Tomatoes. Rotten Tomatoes, Certified Fresh, and the Tomatometer are the trademarks of Incfusion Corporation, d/b/a Rotten Tomatoes, a subsidiary of IGN Entertainment, Inc.
