The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Light the candles and bring out the blankets-The Old Dark House is a great scary movie on a gloomy evening or afternoon! Five travelers are lost and stranded in a rainstorm, forced to seek refuge in a very creepy looking house. Boris Karloff, in a Frankenstein meets Ape-Man get-up, answers the door, and even though he's enormously frightening, the five walk in the house and place themselves at the mercy of some very creepy people.Husband and wife team Raymond Massey and Gloria Stuart are probably the stupidest of the bunch. Raymond leaves his wife alone to go exploring up the dark, rickety staircase, and when he hears someone crying from behind a door, he tries to open it. Gloria, who has just been made aware that Boris Karloff not only is scary but has incredible strength and is a bit insane, insists on changing her clothes then walks down an empty corridor in a very revealing dress. As you can see, these people aren't very bright. Then again, no one in a horror movie ever is!Charles Laughton and his mistress Lilian Bond show up, but since it's Charles Laughton, she quickly leaves him as soon as she meets Melvyn Douglas. Eva Moore and Ernest Thesiger are the homeowners, and they make every scene as creepy as they possibly can. Don't watch this one by yourself!

This was quite an experience, I wasn't expecting anything less from the great James Whale. The Old Dark House (1932) its probably among my favorite horror films from Universal, it has a great cast playing interesting likable characters, and a great director who makes everything work.The horror element in this film its quite effective, its eerie and creepy, but even if it didn't have those horror elements to it the movie would have been worth watching, is just fun to listen to these wonderful characters talk, the writing is quite clever and develops the story in such a way that it keeps you interested and engrossed. The performances, the mystery, the suspense, the horror, the thrills, an eerie mood and a great set are what makes this film great.I definitely recommend it.

A darker or stormier night would be hard to imagine, what with all the landslides and floods (and I've been caught out of doors not once but TWICE during hurricanes) and the claustrophobic OLD DARK HOUSE itself the stuff of nightmares. Who could ask for more: a mysterious old "couple," their monstrous manservant, an androgynous, bedridden old patron, and a psychotic pyromaniac locked away in the attic. Throw in two groups of weary travelers and let the games begin. Once again, James Whale tells a Whale of a tale and Karloff, though wordless throughout the proceedings (as in James Whale's first FRANKENSTEIN feature), manages to conjure up some powerful emotion(s); his struggle with three men (Melvyn Douglas, Raymond Massey and Charles Laughton) reminds one of his wrestling match with Colin Clive and Edward Van Sloan in FRANKENSTEIN, as well. All around, a pretty nice way to spend a dark and stormy night.

It's one of director James Whale's most offbeat films along with "Bride of Frankenstein" (IMHO his masterpiece). It's based on the J.B. Priestley novel and it was filmed during the Pre-Code Era. I'd say it's a mixture of horror film, spoof and black comedy...in some aspects it's related to "Arsenic and Old Lace", although it has a darker mood.On a very stormy night, a group of travelers find shelter in an eerie and scary welsh manor, inhabited by the "weird" Femm family, and there begins a quick chain of events (the film lasts only 72 minutes) until the film's conclusion. The weary and wet travelers include Raymond Massey and Gloria Stuart as a married couple who are traveling through the country with happy-go-lucky friend Mr. Penderel, played by Melvyn Douglas. Other travelers who arrive to this Huge House, are Charles Laughton, playing a rich businessman of humble origins with his lover, Lillian Bond, who's great and very sexy in her role of a joyous chorus-girl.Then we have the Femms: Religion fanatic Rebecca Femm, who has an obsession with "sinners", expertly played by sinister-looking Eva Moore; her wishy-washy brother Horace Femm, played by the great Ernest Thesiger, who impersonated "Dr. Pretorius" in "Bride of Frankenstein"; 102 years old Sir Roderick Femm, who is played by actress Elspeth Dudgeon, who's listed in the cast as "John" Dudgeon (creepy character!) and "seemingly harmless" psychopath and pyromaniac Saul Femm, played by Brember Wills.Boris Karloff deserves to be mentioned apart, who impersonates the scarred butler, Morgan, who lusts after Mrs. Waverton (Gloria Stuart), perhaps because she gets to wear a sexy 1930s low-cut dress, the type which pre-Code Jean Harlow wore.Whale's direction is excellent. I was especially impressed with the shot of the front of the spooky old house in which the Femms reside as seen from the eyes of the passengers in the car. Whale liked to use a subjective camera, which was unusual for many early thirties movies. The camera is the viewer as that viewer moves through the scenes.Best of all was the late Gloria Stuart's commentary on the Kino DVD, which was excellent. She is such a pleasure to listen to as she reminisces about the movie, and talks all about everyone involved. I never would've known anything about the brilliant actress Eva Moore if it wasn't for her great commentary. She provides so much insight, and is so funny and charming at the same time. She also talks about other things, and other aspects of her career. It's almost like having a conversation with her, she's that relaxed. She speaks very highly of James Whale, and says that he's the best director she ever worked with. She points out different aspects of his filming, especially his use of shadows. She says that making this movie was the high point of her career, and that she never made another movie that she enjoyed working on as much as this one. Take that James Cameron!Highly recommended.