The Old Dark House (1932)

Another curious incursion of James Whale in the world of fantasy and horror films, Boris Karloff repeating his favorite player, with whom he had already filmed "Frankenstein" as it strives to specify producer with a sign in the prologue ... "This is the same actor," he says.

"The Old Dark House" goes more or less, as do a lot of movies. Its onset is over how promising, with the typical situation of a winding road car during a night of great storm and whose occupants will find refuge in an isolated mansion in the middle of the dark forest. Whale dosing knows very well the dramatic aspect of the story, including various elements of comedy and relaxed and the mood of the verbiage in some of the "refugees" that are found in the dark house.

The particular history and presentation of both the owners and the guests of the house serves as a bridge to link a series of short stories and new relationships that work best when they have moments disturbing when, by force, adopt a tone of romance that breaks the structure and intentions of the story more accurate.

Both the environmental aspect in your grim and unsettling atmosphere, as the gloomy decor of each corner are very well made, despite arriving at certain times to appreciate its true characteristics of plasterboard. In this regard, the interaction between the exterior of the house with a storm of such magnitude that eventually lead to landslides, with the effects produced in their hearts, doors and windows are opened and closed by the action of the storm with subsequent entry of rain, long curtains windswept penetrating like ghosts through the corridors ... is an aspect to take into account in developing an atmosphere of pervasive nightmare that does not support escape and is one of the strengths of the movie.

In short, an entertaining story, which is welcome and that, despite the ups and downs arising from a referred romance that breaks your rhythm, you get to keep the interest up to the end and is one of the best examples of horror movies his time and a milestone in the path of the always peculiar and exquisite director James Whale.


6/10