MOVIES & MANIA score:
‘The homicide thriller with a distinction: you die laughing!’
The Outdated Darkish Home is a 1963 British comedy-horror movie about an American automobile salesman who ends-up spending a stormy evening on the mysterious and lethal mansion of a consumer’s household.
The film was directed by William Fortress (The Tingler; Mr. Sardonicus; Home on Haunted Hill; et al) from a screenplay by Robert Dillon (X: The Man with X-Ray Eyes) for Hammer Movies. It’s a remake of the 1932 movie of the identical identify directed by James Whale, each loosely primarily based on the novel Benighted by J. B. Priestley.
Plot:
Tom Penderel, an American automobile salesman residing in London, delivers a automobile to an outdated mansion in Dartmoor and discovers that his eccentric former roommate, Casper Femm, is lifeless.
Tom is invited to remain on the home by members of Casper’s household, together with his twin brother Jasper, and his nieces, the demure younger Cecily and the seductive Morgana.
Every of the kinfolk is required to return to the dilapidated mansion earlier than midnight every night or forfeit his share of the household fortune. Throughout the evening, one of many Femm household dies each hour…
” …the image seems very good certainly however fails miserably to frighten or amuse […] the movie’s solely actual contact of distinction is supplied by Bernard Robinson’s magnificently dilapidated units; certainly, bits of them would reappear in The Kiss of the Vampire…” Jonathan Rigby, English Gothic: A Century of Horror Cinema e-book
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“The listing of profitable horror comedies is a brief one, and sadly, The Outdated Darkish Home is just not on it. It’s not tough to look at, being simply “sick” sufficient to be often humorous however Hammer plus Fortress didn’t add as much as a lot.” Tom Johnson and Deborah Del Vecchio, Hammer Movies: An Exhaustive Filmography e-book
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“So outrageously dangerous that it turns into pleasurable…” Phil Hardy (editor), The Aurum Movie Encyclopedia: Horror e-book
“I anticipated little or no and was pleasantly shocked. The script most likely ought to have taken extra probabilities, extra alternatives with Outdated Darkish Home conventions. However the outdated decaying home seems nice in colour, and the solid is completely in sync with gifted comedian actor Tom Poston (finest recognized to my technology from the Newhart TV collection) and gifted character actor Robert Morley…” David Elroy Goldweber, Claws & Saucers e-book
” …a laboriously arch and broad mix of humor and the creeps. It nonetheless leaves the outdated J. B. Priestley property as defunct as a doornail. Even a picturesque solid, headed by Tom Poston, Robert Morley, Janette Scott and, particularly, Joyce Grenfell, can’t rejuvenate it.’ The New York Instances
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“Totally horrible remake of the 1932 film utterly failing as both a horror film or a comedy spoof. No chills, no thrills and no laughs.” Alan Frank, The Horror Movie Handbook
“Tom Poston, who had beforehand starred in Fortress’s lame comedy Zotz! was unwisely chosen for the lead in The Outdated Darkish Home. Even a supporting solid of sensible British character actors couldn’t overcome Poston’s annoying and unfunny efficiency.” Gary A. Smith, Uneasy Desires: The Golden Age of British Horror Movies, 1956 – 1976 e-book
“A few of the deaths are fairly ingenious however nonetheless can’t save the movie. Not solely does this fail as a horror movie and a comedy, but it surely’s a reasonably ineffective whodunit, too […] The Outdated Darkish Home additionally options presumably the worst animal assault within the historical past of cinema. An indeterminate, clearly stuffed creature is subjected to countless close-ups, with a faint snarling sound within the background. The particular results group by some means tried to make the factor salivate.” Ryan Taylor, The Shrieking Sixties: British Horror Movies 1960 – 1969 e-book
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“Fortress is heavy-handed, the script is just too far-off from the supply, and the color movie inventory simply takes away from any ambiance. The truth that Bull and Morley used to commerce their finest strains with one another over smoked salmon for lunch offers you an thought of the type of movie it was…” Andy Boot, Fragments of Concern: An Illustrated Historical past of British Horror Movies e-book
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Movie Details:
The drawings within the title sequence had been by Charles Addams, whose complete profession was apparently impressed by the 1932 model of The Outdated Darkish Home (1932).
Filmed from nineteenth April to twenty second June 1962, the movie was launched within the US by Columbia in 1963 (in black and white!) and within the UK in 1966, having been reduce to safe a BBFC ‘A’ score.
William Fortress doesn’t even point out The Outdated Darkish Home in his autobiography, Step Proper Up! I’m Gonna Scare the Pants Off America
Forged and characters:
Tom Poston as Tom Penderel – Aaahh!!! Actual Monsters TV collection
Robert Morley as Roderick Femm – The Wind; Theatre of Blood; A Examine in Terror
Janette Scott as Cecily Femm – Paranoiac; The Day of the Triffids
Joyce Grenfell as Agatha Femm
Mervyn Johns as Potiphar Femm – The Day of the Triffids; Useless of Night time
Fenella Fielding as Morgana Femm – Carry On Screaming!
Peter Bull as Caspar/Jasper Femm – Footsteps within the Fog
Danny Inexperienced as Morgan Femm
John Harvey as Membership Receptionist
Amy Dalby as Gambler
Filming areas:
Bray Studios, Down Place, Oakley Inexperienced, Berkshire, England
Cheyne Stroll, Chelsea, London, England
Oakley Court docket, Windsor Highway, Oakley Inexperienced, Windsor, Berkshire, England
Trailer:
Free to look at on-line on YouTube:
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