Strange, Stylish, and Far Ahead of Its Time

Read Time:6 Minute, 9 Second

MOVIE REVIEW
The Old Dark House
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Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Horror, Thriller
Year Released: 1932 (2025, Masters of Cinema 4K UHD release)
Runtime: 1h 12m
Director(s): James Whale
Writer(s): Benn W. Levy (screenplay), based on the novel Benighted by J. B. Priestley
Cast: Boris Karloff, Melvyn Douglas, Gloria Stuart, Charles Laughton, Lilian Bond, Ernest Thesiger, Eva Moore, Raymond Massey, Elspeth Dudgeon, Brember Wills
Where to Watch: available July 28, 2025. Pre-order your copy here: www.eurekavideo.co.uk

RAVING REVIEW: You could argue that THE OLD DARK HOUSE was too strange, and too early. Released in 1932, sandwiched between the earth-shaking shock of FRANKENSTEIN and THE INVISIBLE MAN, James Whale’s genre-blending haunted house film didn’t quite fit the mold of Universal’s monster-driven horror renaissance. It wasn’t a monster movie, and it wasn’t a straight gothic either—it was something else. Something campy and dry, macabre and absurd. And for years, it was nearly forgotten. Thanks to a meticulous 4K restoration and limited-edition release from Eureka’s Masters of Cinema series, that wrong gets spectacularly righted.

The setup is simple: a group of storm-battered travelers take refuge in a remote Welsh mansion, where they’re greeted not with shelter but with the deeply strange Femm family. What begins as an already uneasy dinner soon spirals into an escalating sequence of bizarre confrontations, reveals, and locked doors hiding even more twisted truths. Boris Karloff plays Morgan, the mute, drunken butler whose presence is both intimidating and tragic. And he’s only the tip of the house’s madness.

The film isn’t shy about leaning into the grotesque, but it’s the comedy that lingers most. Ernest Thesiger as Horace Femm is perhaps one of the finest examples of early horror eccentricity—his dry, effete line readings make every scene feel like a wink to the audience. Eva Moore’s fire-and-brimstone Rebecca Femm is as terrifying as any monster, her deranged religiosity more unnerving than anything supernatural. Together, they create an atmosphere that’s constantly teetering between farce and fright, and that’s where the movie thrives.

This 4K edition brings the film’s visual language into focus. Arthur Edeson’s cinematography, long underappreciated due to decades of faded prints, is finally getting its due. Candlelit corridors flicker with menace, faces emerge from shadows with ghostly precision, and the set design—jagged, angular, almost expressionist in feel—becomes something more alltogether. The film’s use of lighting and shadow is inventive even by today’s standards. Whale’s control over visual tone, pacing, and atmosphere is on full display, and this release lets it all shine with unprecedented clarity.

That clarity isn’t just aesthetic—it recontextualizes the movie’s place in the history of horror. Often thought of as a precursor to the horror-comedy boom of the 1940s, THE OLD DARK HOUSE is much more than just a genre stepping stone. Its sharp self-awareness and satirical bite place it closer to something like Wes Craven’s A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET or SCREAM than to its 1930s contemporaries. It plays with audience expectations, toys with cliché, and delivers genuine surprises all under the guise of what could easily have been a stock haunted house tale.

The performances are strong. Melvyn Douglas lends the film a dose of reluctant heroism, while Gloria Stuart brings a mix of grace and bite. Charles Laughton, in an early screen appearance, is all bluff and bravado as Sir William Porterhouse, and Lilian Bond brings warmth and humor to her chorus-girl role. But it’s Brember Wills as the deeply unhinged Saul who may leave the deepest impression.

One of the more striking revelations is just how British the humor is. With a screenplay by Benn W. Levy and Whale’s unmistakable camp sensibility, the film veers toward absurdist comedy in a way that confused many 1930s audiences. It bombed in the U.S. but performed far better in the UK, and it’s easy to see why. There’s a confidence in its dry wit that plays much better now than it did then.

The wealth of special features on this 4K release offers more than just window dressing. The commentaries—especially the one featuring Gloria Stuart—add depth to the production history, while the video essays and archival interviews help place the film in its proper historical context. The included booklet is essential reading for anyone interested in horror’s evolution, with standout writing from Craig Ian Mann and Philip Kemp that doesn’t just praise the film but challenges you to think about why it didn’t fit in—and why that’s a good thing.

This restoration doesn’t just preserve a film—it elevates it. For years, THE OLD DARK HOUSE was seen as the oddity in Whale’s horror quartet, less iconic than FRANKENSTEIN, less flamboyant than BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, less novel than THE INVISIBLE MAN. But viewed today, it’s arguably his most personal, most stylistically audacious work. It’s a film that mocks its genre while indulging in every twisted trope it can find, and yet it never loses its emotional weight.

What’s more, the remaster confirms what fans have long believed: this isn’t just a curiosity or a cult favorite—it’s a foundational text in horror filmmaking. With its impeccable casting, eerie visuals, and off-kilter humor, it paved the way for decades of genre hybrids. There’s a direct line from Whale’s careful genre subversion here to everything from YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN to GET OUT.

Eureka’s Masters of Cinema treatment ensures THE OLD DARK HOUSE finally gets the presentation it’s always deserved. For a film once considered lost and largely overlooked in its time, it’s a satisfying vindication. This is James Whale at his most unfiltered—and that’s saying something.

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[photo courtesy of EUREKA ENTERTAINMENT]

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