William
Castle seemed liked the right person to remake James Whale’s classic The Old
Dark House. Castle had a knack for
presenting horror with a light tongue-in-cheek touch, which made him perfectly
suited to the material. Unfortunately,
his version of The Old Dark House relies way too heavily on comedy, and none of
it is very funny.
Tom
Poston stars as an American car salesman who comes to a decrepit mansion to deliver
a car to his English roommate, played by Peter Bull. The place is crawling with kooky relatives who
inform Poston his roommate died suddenly under shady circumstances. Poston gets mixed up in the family squabble
for the will, and soon becomes the killer’s next target.
Castle’s
most famous films featured gimmicks that were often more fun than the movies
themselves. The Old Dark House doesn’t
have one, and it’s doubtful the wildest gimmick imaginable could’ve made it
work. It’s probably his all-time
worst. There is one memorable scene
involving a death by knitting needle, but that’s about as close as Castle comes
to blending horror and humor effectively.
Much
of the problem has to do with Poston’s performance. He was great on Newhart and all, but he is
painfully unfunny here. To be fair, he
wasn’t given much to work with as the script mostly requires him to do a lot of
double-takes and pratfalls while interacting with the oddball family. Bull fairs slightly better playing multiple
roles, although he doesn’t garner any laughs either.
The
best part is the opening credits sequence, designed by Charles Addams. His most famous creation, The Addams Family,
premiered on television the next year.
At times, this almost feels like a test run for that show, but it’s
nowhere near as much fun.
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